Cake discrimination
A bakery in Northern Ireland was found guilty of discriminating against a gay couple for whom it refused to bake a cake celebrating gay marriage. Cake-baking has become the epicentre of gay rights.
— In April a lesbian couple were awarded $135,000 in damages against Melissa’s Sweet Cakes, in Oregon, after shop owners refused to bake them a wedding cake.
— In a similar case, 111 Cakery, based in Indianapolis’s gay district, closed down after being attacked on social media for refusing to bake a cake for a gay couple.
— One cake that did get baked, however, was one commissioned by Republican senators in Texas in February to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Texas Marriage Amendment, which outlaws gay marriage.
On the right lines
A Network Rail signalman was revealed to have been paid £111,066 last year. Some more extravagant salaries on the railways:
| Patrick Butcher, finance director, Network Rail | £922,000 |
| MD, Network Operations | £880,000 |
| Virgin West Coast train driver | £55,389 |
| London Underground driver | £52,000 |
Brothers in arms
Which is bigger: Labour or the unions?
| Union | No. of members |
| Unite | 1.31 million |
| Unison | 1.27 million |
| GMB | 617,064 |
| USDAW | 433,400 |
| NUT | 330,719 |
Source: TUC/House of Commons library
Death on the roads
The Police Federation called for the blood alcohol limit for driving in England and Wales to be reduced from 80 to 50 mg per 100ml, as it already is in Scotland. How do these limits compare internationally? (Road death rate per 100,000 in brackets)
| Alcohol limit | |
| Zero | Hungary (10.4), Libya (25.4), Iran (43.8), Brazil (22.1) |
| 20 mg/100ml | Sweden (4.1), Poland (14.3), Colombia (18), Algeria (14.5), China (20.8) |
| 30 mg/100ml | India (20.8) |
| 35 mg/100ml | Russia (21.9) |
| 40mg/100ml | Mexico (13.9) |
| 50mg/100ml | Portugal (10), Netherlands (4.4), Italy (8.4), Germany (5.7), France (6.6), Spain (6.1), Argentina (12.2), Turkey (9) |
| 80mg/100ml | US (13.9), England and Wales (4.8), Venezuela (35.8), Zambia (37.9) |
| No limit | Niger (14.9), Kenya (28.2) |
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