Barometer | 25 September 2010

Party conferences • Public-sector pay • Who we blame for the deficit • British mammals

Party conferences
When the Liberal party and SDP merged in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats, diehards of both parties went on alone.
— Not even David Owen’s attempt finally to wind up the SDP in 1990 prevented some carrying on: 20 years later it has two councillors in Bridlington and three in Aberavon, South Wales. Its 2010 conference will be held at the Community Centre, Victoria Road, Bridlington, on Sunday 26 September at 10 a.m. sharp.
— The Liberal party boasts 24 councillors and put up five parliamentary candidates in the 2010 election. Its annual assembly this year will be held on Saturday 16 October at the Society of Friends Meeting House in Wolverhampton.

Public-sector pay

Some 9,000 public-sector staff earn more than David Cameron’s £142,500 as Prime Minister. Among the highest are:

Chief executive, Royal Mail £2.4m
Chief executive, Network Rail £1.4m
Director general, BBC £838,000
Highest-paid GP £475,000
Highest-paid council chief £299,925
Commissioner, Met Police £280,489
Highest-paid teacher £232,500
Source: Bureau for Investigative Journalism

Who we blame for the deficit

Asked how much responsibility each of the below bore for the deficit — at £160 billion when Brown left office — those polled said:

UK banks 75%
Bank of England 66%
Global recession 65%
Brown and Darling 64%
Cameron and Osborne 49%
Source: Populus

British mammals

The government is to grant farmers licences to kill up to 5,000 badgers in an attempt to control the spread of bovine TB. The cull is unlikely to have much of an effect on the badger population: the adult population is around 300,000 — of which 50,000 are estimated to be killed in road accidents every year.