Poll positions

Lord Kinnock called on Andy Burnham to make voting compulsory. Around 24 countries have some kind of compulsory voting, including:

– Australia, where it was introduced in 1924. Turnout increased to about 90%.
– Belgium, where in theory repeat offenders can be banned from voting for ten years (which rather defeats the object).
– Greece, where until 2000 non-voters could be refused passports.
– Egypt, where you can in theory be jailed for not voting.
– Luxembourg, which has the power to hit offenders with €1,000 fines.

In the red

Some of the countries with the highest ratio of central government debt to GDP:  (2024)

Sudan 272%
Japan 201%
Singapore 177%
Lebanon 164%
Greece 170%
Italy 133%
Bahrain 134%
US 103%
The UK is 12th, on 101%.

Source: World Population Review

No-fly zones

There was yet another air traffic control failure, affecting flights in Scotland and the north of England. Some other bad days to travel to and from UK airports:

27 May 2017 IT failure at BA’s HQ leaves 75,000 passengers stranded.
19 December 2018 reported drone sighting at Gatwick affects 140,000 passengers.
28 August 2023 Air traffic control meltdown caused by conflicting information supplied by flight passing through UK airspace delays 700,000.
20 March 2025 Fire at Hayes substation, which supplies electricity to Heathrow Airport, disrupts 200,000 passengers.
8 September 2026 Another air traffic control breakdown delays 330,000.

Healthy appetites

How much do we spend on food?

In 2025 the average household spent £50.03 per person on food and drink each week. £3.72 was spent on alcoholic drinks consumed at home, and £2.81 on those consumed elsewhere. The average UK household spent 10.9% of its disposable income on food and drink, compared with 10.7% a decade earlier. 1% of fruit and vegetables consumed by households were home-grown, down from 2% during the Covid pandemic.

Source: Defra