Barometer | 19 May 2012

Breaking bad

A Ming vase sold for £550,000, having had a hole drilled in it to turn it into a table lamp. Without the hole it would have been worth four times as much. Owners of antiques work hard to keep them safe from thieves, but they are themselves often the problem.

— Last year the owner of a £14,000 Japanese porcelain vase reduced its value to £2,000 by chipping it while he packed it for BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.

— Last November the owner of a Qing vase took £200,000 off its value after she decided to chisel off the rim to even it up a bit.

— Last week a $20m Stradivarius cello at the Royal Palace in Madrid was broken after it fell off a table during a photoshoot.

Children in need

The government wants to cut the number of pupils on the register of special educational needs. What are the main reasons pupils go on the register?
Behavioural, emotional and social difficulties      30%
Moderate learning difficulty      24%
Specific learning difficulty      16%
Speech/language/emotional needs      8%
Autistic spectrum      7%
Physical disability      4%
Hearing impairment      3%
Visual impairment      1%

Source: Department for Education

Pumped

What does the world pay for a litre of petrol?
Most expensive:
Norway      £1.59
Denmark      £1.54
Italy      £1.54

Cheapest
Venezuela      1p
Saudi Arabia      10p
Kuwait      14p
Britain is the tenth most expensive, at £1.45.

Source: Bloomberg

Moneyball

Manchester City won the Premier League after huge expenditure on players. Can you buy football success? Here are the wage bills of some Premier League teams in 2009/10, and how they have done since: