Ranking railways
A director of the Rail Delivery Group claimed that Britain’s railways were the ‘envy of Europe’. Could it be true? For an independent analysis, the Boston Consulting Group compiles a Rail Performance Index of European rail systems (latest ed. 2015).
— The UK came 8th out of 25 countries, behind Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany and Austria.
— The UK came top for safety, but dropped to joint 15th place for quality of service (which includes fares as well as punctuality).
— The index is also plotted against the public cost of the rail system. Britain’s railways came out at average value. The best-value rail systems were Finland, Switzerland, France, Sweden and the Netherlands. The worst value were Bulgaria, Portugal, Slovakia and Latvia.
Slapping on tariffs
Will food be more expensive after Brexit? Here are some of the EU tariffs we have to charge on imports from the rest of the world at present but will not have to after Brexit:
| Beef/veal | 12.8% plus €176.80 per 100 kg |
| Ham | €77.8 per 100 kg |
| Chickens, ready to cook | €32.5 per 100 kg |
| Tuna | 22% |
| Tomatoes | €143 per 100kg |
| Aubergines | 12.8% |
| Asparagus | 10.2% |
| Grapes | €177.3 per 100 kg |
| Honeydew melon | 8.8% |
| Coffee (unroasted) | 8.3% |
| Chocolate bars | 8.3% – 43% |
Hot items
Products whose sale increased in July thanks to the heatwave (up on July last year):
| Sausages | +7% |
| Sun cream | +12% |
| Sparkling wine | +13% |
| Ice cream | +17% |
| Burgers | +24% |
Source: KantarWorldwide
Full tanks
The Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) was criticised by Oxfam for promising donors the chance to meet ministers. Which are the richest think tanks in the UK?
| Overseas Development Institute | £28.9m |
| Institute of Development Studies | £19.6m |
| International Institute of Strategic Studies | £16.8m |
| Chatham House | £13.7m |
| Institute of Fiscal Studies | £7.5m |
| Royal United Services Institute | £5.7m |
| European Council on Foreign Relations | £5.1m |
The IEA came 13th on the list at £2.1m.
Source: Transparify
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