Barometer
Ikea’s founder was a billionaire skinflint – but others were even worse
Tight money Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, was worth an estimated £40 billion. Yet the eighth richest man in…
What did Ukip do in five years that took Sinn Fein 66?
Redundant robots Fabio, a robot assistant in an Edinburgh grocery store, was retired after scaring customers. We worry about artificial…
Which UK employer pays men 80 per cent less than women?
Big losers Construction company Carillion collapsed with debts of £1.5 billion. How does that compare with other UK corporate failures?Overend…
Are things really getting better? The numbers tell us so
Many people are gloomy about 2018. But some things are improving every year… Natural disasters These killed 9,066 people in…
How did psychic predictions for 2017 play out?
Did that happen? What psychics foresaw for 2017:— ‘Crash in euro, Denmark and Italy leaving the EU; North and South…
What Christmas really costs us — and how much of it we waste
Christmas splurge How much extra do households spend at Christmas?— £500, according to the Bank of England. Over the course…
Stolen spikes: the strange history of the Irish border
Border skirmishes What did the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic used to look like? — In 1923 a…
As Prince Harry gets engaged, how many other single men marry divorcees?
Pit stopped After complaints from the Durham Miners’ Association, a rugby club at Durham University cancelled a pub crawl in…
The Queen wed 70 years ago… but she has 20 more to go to break a record
Enduring love The Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. They are not the first public figures to…
If EU nationals are leaving the NHS, why are their numbers going up?
No. 2 iron English Heritage launched a crowdfunding campaign for repairs to Abraham Darby’s 1779 bridge at Ironbridge, Shropshire. This…
Where was the very first tax haven?
Pennies from haven Last week’s huge leak of the ‘Paradise Papers’ has put the Channel Islands and the Isle of…
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Lynx on the loose — A Eurasian lynx escaped from a zoo in Wales, pre-empting plans to introduce six of…
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Littler Hitlers Cabinet secretary Damian Green appealed to commentators to halt the ‘ridiculous rise of routine comparisons to Hitler’. A…
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More or less a million One in 79 Britons is now a millionaire thanks to property price rises. The word…
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Out with a whimper Usain Bolt managed only a bronze in his last appearance in the 100 metres at the…
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But me no butts Boris Johnson, being taught a Maori head-to-head greeting, joked that it might be ‘misinterpreted in a…
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Veggie skills Forest Green Rovers, described as the world’s first vegan football club, was promoted to the Football League. Some…
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God forbid Irish police investigated Stephen Fry over a complaint of blasphemy, which is no longer a criminal offence in…
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Spend, spend, spend London mayor Sadiq Khan ended support for the Garden Bridge, probably killing it off. How are other…
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Pippa goes public Church of England lawyers ruled that the public must be allowed to attend the wedding of Pippa…
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Back to the Foot year This year’s election has been likened to that of 1983 when, under Michael Foot’s leadership,…
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Cabin fodder British Airways proposes to stop serving free meals on long-haul flights. — Although passengers once took it for…
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Nice littler earners Cressida Dick, the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, will take a voluntary pay cut from £270,000…
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First through the exit Is Britain the first country to leave the EU? — As a full part of France,…
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Princes among men British DJ Mark Dezzani was hoping to be elected prince of Seborga, a self-proclaimed independent state in……
