Barometer | 26 March 2011

Night shift

The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, says the corporation may cut the £150 million a year it spends on night-time programming, with the ‘theoretical possibility’ that insomniac viewers might be left with a black screen.

— Although it is now taken for granted, 24-hour television is a relatively recent phenomenon. It wasn’t until 1972 that daytime ITV viewers could be sure of anything to watch, while BBC2 used to go off-air in the daytime until 1986.

In the same year Yorkshire television became the first terrestrial station to offer night-time viewing, which consisted of music videos.

— BBC1 continued to send viewers to bed with a ‘closedown’ ceremony involving the national anthem until 8 November 1997.

Money pit

George Osborne said he was ‘starting to pay off the nation’s credit card’ although he will be adding to it until 2017. Here is how much countries are adding, per person, to their national debts each year.

Annual budget deficit per capita

United States £3,278

Japan £3,135

Ireland £2,790

United Kingdom £2,017

Iceland £1,801

France £1,437

Germany £1,061

Italy £880

Switzerland -£49

Norway -£4,129

The price of a seat

George Osborne has taxed private jets for the first time. How much does it cost to fly to New York next Friday?

Private jet                             British Airways
£21,700         Six people      £4,164
£33,180        Ten people      £6,940
£54,320         19 people       £13,236
£101,410      500 people      £347,000

Source: www.privatefly.com, www.ba.com

Bear facts

Knut, a hand-reared polar at Berlin Zoo, has died aged four, fuelling the debate over whether polar bears should be kept in zoos. About one in seven animals of endangered species lives in a zoo. Worldwide registered zoo populations:

Male                                             Female

97        Polar bear                         92
467      Black/brown/grizzly bear   517
451      Lion                                   657
170      Tiger                                 203
489      Chimpanzee                     769

Source: International Species Information System