Barometer | 30 May 2013

Minority sports

The annual cheese-rolling race took place at Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire, won by an American who had flown over for the occasion. Some more minority sports: Chessboxing Contestants compete over 11 rounds, each one consisting of 4 minutes of chess followed by 2 minutes of boxing. National championships are held in India Unicycle polo Self-explanatory. Ten teams are registered in the UK, but the home of the sport is Germany, where 53 teams play Sheep-counting Invented by professional sheep-counters employed by Australian auction houses. Held inaugural national championships in Australia in 2002.

Bank of optimism

The Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King upgraded his forecast of GDP growth for the second quarter of the year. How seriously should we take the Bank of England’s forecasts for economic growth?

Forecast- May 2007	Outcome -May 2007
+2.8%	-6 %
Forecast- May 2008	Outcome -May 2008
+2.5%	+1.2 %
Forecast- May 2009	Outcome -May 2009
+2.5%	+1.4 %
Forecast- May 2010	Outcome -May 2010
+3.5%	+0.5%
Forecast- May 2011	Outcome -May 2011
+2.9%	+0.5%

Source: Bank of England’s inflation forecasts/ONS

Everyone up Everest

It is 60 years since the first ascent of Everest. Cumulative totals for the number of people who have climbed the mountain:

1953	2
1963	15
1973	38
1983	158
1993	613
2003	1,919
2011	5,656

On 23 May 2010 a record 170 people reached the top of Everest, more than had climbed in the first 30 years following the 1953 expedition. The last year that no one climbed Everest was 1974. Source: 8000ers.com

Spoilt cruises

2,000 passengers were evacuated from a cruise liner in the Caribbean after a fire. What was most likely to ruin your cruise in the past 12 months, judging by incidents recorded on www.cruisejunkie.com?

Outbreak of illness	35
Power loss	27
Passengers lost overboard	22
Fire	12
Sexual assault	12
Collision	10
Ship run aground	10
Drug busts	7
Bomb scare	3