Barometer | 27 October 2016

Folio society

A new collection of Shakespeare’s work credits Christopher Marlowe as co-author of the three Henry VI plays. Some other candidates claimed to have written Shakespeare plays:

FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626). His poems are said to share a similar structure. But lacks motive to use Shakespeare as a pen name.

WILLIAM STANLEY, 6th EARL OF DERBY (1561-1642): A Jesuit spy claimed he was secretly writing plays.

EDWARD DE WERE, 17th EARL OF OXFORD (1550-1604): Theatre patron said to have used pen name because an aristocrat could not take credit for public plays. Dead for the last 12 years of Shakespeare’s life.

ROGER MANNERS 5th EARL OF RUTLAND. Said to have corroborated with the Earl of Southampton — although the last three plays were produced after Rutland’s death.

Duty calls

Which industries would pay the most in tariffs if Britain and remaining EU states were to trade under WTO rules (assuming the amount of goods stayed the same)?

Source: Civitas

Cleared for take-off

The government made a third runway at Heathrow its preferred option. Compare Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok airport, built from scratch on a reclaimed island:

Heathrow third runway

First proposed 1949

First plans 1990, detailed plans 2003

Government decision 2016

Construction begins 2019?

Opens 2025?

Chek Lap Kok

First proposed 1974

Masterplan prepared 1982

Decision made 1989

Construction began 1991

Opened 1998

Tooth test

The Home Office declined to use dental checks to verify the ages of asylum-seekers claiming to be children. Saint Jerome would have agreed. His Letter to the Ephesians, from around 400 AD, contains a phrase that evolved into the English proverb ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’. To do so, he implied, would be rude — studying a horse’s front teeth was a way of judging the age of the animal.