The taxes of sin
Bonn has introduced a flat-rate tax of €6 a night for prostitutes working in the city, payable at a ticket machine. Attempts to tax prostitution have been made since at least Roman times: a receipt from Roman Egypt suggested that a male prostitute paid four drachmas in tax for a two-month period.
— Sweden has taxed prostitutes since 1982 at the normal rate; workers qualify for sick leave pay and a pension.
— The Netherlands imposes a sales tax of 19 per cent on each act.
— Nevada has proposed a tax at a flat rate of $5 for every sex act.
Whether the weather
A Glaswegian woman living in New York was ridiculed for saying she didn’t think that Hurricane Irene could exceed anything that the Scottish weather could throw at her. How did the reality measure up?
NYC during Irene Scottish record
Highest wind gust:
67mph Fraserburgh, 1989: 142mph
Rainfall in 24 hours
7.6in Stoy Main Adit, 1974: 9.4in
Tidal surge
33in Leith, 1953: 48in
Miraculous recoveries
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, was back on his deathbed more than two years after his release from jail in Scotland. Being released on compassionate grounds has often led to a miraculous extension of life. Regulations advise that prisoners should be released if they are expected to live three months or less. The following did better:
Ronnie Biggs, still alive, two years and two weeks following his release from prison in Norfolk, suffering from pneumonia
Ernest Saunders, former Guinness boss, is still alive, two decades after being released from a fraud sentence following a diagnosis of ‘pre-senile dementia’. He is the only patient ever to have recovered from it.
Home help
The National Housing Federation predicted that the rate of home-ownership in England would fall below 64 per cent of households by 2021. Here’s how it has shifted over time:
1918 23%
1939 32%
1953 32%
1961 43%
1971 51%
1981 57%
1991 68%
2003 71%
2010 67%
Source: Communities and Local Government
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