Barometer | 14 January 2012

War horses

Steven Spielberg’s film War Horse was released this week. How many horses were killed in British Army service during the first world war?
— According to the Official History of the War Veterinary Services, it was 484,143.
— Michael Morpurgo, on the other hand, says he asked the Imperial War Museum before writing War Horse in 1982, and was told ‘at least a million’.
— And on the German side? 9,586,000, according to the dedication of a German history of the war published in 1929.

Sick buildings

Hammersmith Flyover has been closed because it has a form of corrosion known as ‘concrete cancer’. Some other victims:
— Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, demolished in the late 1980s
— A wall in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, retained from Cardiff Arms Park
— 600 council houses in Bristol
— 143 street lights in Weston-super-Mare
— Birmingham Central Library, according to the city council, which wants to demolish it; critics who want it listed disagree.

Chefs and thieves

The chef Antony Worrall Thompson has been cautioned for shoplifting from Tesco, leading to accusations that he was favourably treated because of his fame. What sentences were thieves given in 2009?
Penalty notices for disorder 48,161
Cautioned 60,730
Absolute discharge 549
Conditional discharge 22,488
Fine 15,578
Community sentence 42,044
Suspended sentence 7113
Immediate custody 19,942
Another 13,507 people were acquitted of theft or handling stolen goods after trials.
Source: Ministry of Justice

Scot-free

David Cameron has offered Alex Salmond a referendum on Scottish independence, so long as it contained only an ‘in or out’ question. How would Scottish independence change his party’s prospects?

House of commons now
Conservative 305
Labour 256
Lib Dem 57
Other 32

House of commons without scotland
Conservative 304
Labour 215
Lib Dem 46
Other 26
Conservative majority 17