Barometer | 27 June 2019

To debate or not to debate

Is Boris Johnson wise to shun TV debates?
— Prior to the 2015 Labour leadership election, TV debates had not been part of party leadership debates, and have only been part of general elections since 2010.
— The first election to feature a TV debate was the 1960 US presidential election, when JFK and Nixon met for four debates. The first, staged by CBS, went out on TV and radio, when radio audiences favoured Nixon and TV audiences favoured Kennedy. Nixon had just left hospital, and had applied a product to cover up his five o’clock shadow. Under the TV lights it began to melt, making it look as if he was dribbling. Six per cent of the electorate said the TV debates had played a role in making up their mind, and Nixon went on to lose by 0.2 per cent.

Emergency calls

How many 999 calls turn out to be genuine emergencies? Some FoI requests to police forces asked this question for the year 2010/11. They showed that out of
7.6 million 999 calls that year, 1.9 million (only 25%) were genuine emergencies. There was a wide variation between police forces. Those with the biggest problem with non-emergency calls were:

By contrast, 65% of 999 calls to Derbyshire police were deemed genuine emergencies.

FTSE donations

Environmental activists threatened to protest against BP’s sponsorship at the British Museum. How much do FTSE 100 companies donate to charity, as a total?

Glasto glamping

Tickets for the first Glastonbury festival, in 1970, cost £1 (which included free milk). How much could you spend this year?