Barometer | 28 December 2012

Counting the years

2013 might look an uninteresting number for a year but it is in fact a mathematical rarity: a year whose digits, when rearranged, can form a simple arithmetic progression: i.e. 0,1,2,3.

— The last such year was 1432. The next will be 2031, after which we will have to wait until 2103 for the next one.
— The good news, for those who believe in ominous dates, is that nothing terribly bad happened in 1432. Florence defeated Siena at the Battle of San Romano, there was a civil war in Lithuania and a small revolt against the Ottoman Empire in Albania.

Faith, hope and quinoa

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Rod Liddle

Reform and the problem with the Overton window

2013 will be the:

— International Year of Quinoa (a South American grain), according to the UN
— European Year of Citizens, according to the European Commission
— Year of Faith, according to the Pope
— Year of the Mathematics of Planet Earth, according to a group of scientific societies
— Year of Statistics, according to another set of learned societies
— Year of the Student, according to a consortium of student unions in Colorado
— Year of Creating Jobs for Emiratis, according to the government of UAE

Who’d have predicted?

A reminder of some predictions for 2012:

— ‘A landslide for Romney approaching the magnitude of Obama’s against McCain’ (Dick Morris)
— ‘An Iranian revolution is seen before late summer where Ayatollah Khamenei or President Ahmadinejad are removed from power.’ (Professional psychic LaMont ‘Monte’ Hamilton)
— ‘It’s going to be a right balls up.’ (Russell Brand on the Olympics
— UK GDP to grow by 2.6% (Office for Budget Responsibility, Nov 2010)
— Yohan Blake to win men’s 100 metres at the Olympics (CNN/Sports Illustrated)

And a better one:

— Greg Rutherford to win men’s long jump at the Olympics (CNN/Sports Illustrated)

Bills of the future

Some tax changes for 2013:

— Highest rate of income tax falls from 50 per cent to 45 per cent in April
— Child benefit for people earning over £50,000 a year to be clawed back through tax system
— Council tax relief on empty and second homes to be at the discretion of councils
— Council tax benefit abolished (councils may introduce their own schemes)