Pit stopped
After complaints from the Durham Miners’ Association, a rugby club at Durham University cancelled a pub crawl in which members were to dress as coal miners or ministers from Mrs Thatcher’s government.
— Attitudes towards the 1984-85 miners’ strike were not always so censorious. In 2001, the conceptual artist Jeremy Deller staged a re-enactment of the Battle of Orgreave, involving 800 re-enactment enthusiasts as well as 200 miners who had been there on the day. Staged at Orgreave itself, it was filmed and shown on Channel 4 with few complaints.
Ups and downs
Which industries saw the biggest rises and falls in real-terms productivity (i.e., greater than inflation) since 2007? CPI inflation over the period was 25.9 per cent.
| RISING REAL-TERMS PRODUCTIVITY | |
| Textiles | +90% |
| Administration services | +72% |
| Chemicals | +62% |
| Food and drink | +37% |
| Hotels and catering | +36% |
| Transport and services | +30% |
| Wholesale and retail | +27% |
| Recreation and culture | +26% |
| FALLING REAL-TERMS PRODUCTIVITY | |
| Energy | +23% |
| Agriculture | +15% |
| Construction | +14% |
| IT | +13% |
| Finance and insurance | +11% |
| Public services | +10% |
| Mining and quarrying | -13% |
Source: ONS
Second tries
Prince Harry, a bachelor, is to marry Meghan Markle, a divorcee. How common are such marriages? In 2011, the 249,133 recorded UK unions broke down as follows:
| Neither party married before | 165,467 |
| Single man, divorced woman | 21,265 |
| Divorced man, single woman | 24,302 |
| Both divorced | 30,282 |
| No data | 7,817 |
Still lives
The Department of Health announced it would investigate every stillbirth. How does Britain compare internationally? Figures are for stillbirths in every 1,000 births.
| LOWEST | |
| Finland | +90% |
| Singapore | +72% |
| Denmark | +62% |
| Norway | +37% |
| Iceland | +36% |
| Germany | +30% |
| UK (35th) | +27% |
| HIGHEST | |
| Pakistan | +23% |
| Nigeria | +15% |
| Bangladesh | +14% |
| Djibouti | +13% |
| Senegal | +11% |
| Somalia | +10% |
Source: WHO
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