How to sell snake oil
Ex-cabinet secretary Lord O’Donnell accused Brexiteers of ‘selling snake oil’. How do you sell snake oil? Some eBay listings:
— Original snake oil. £11.99 for 125ml. ‘Natural hair treatment. No chemicals. Feeds the hair and protects from precipitation. Free from alcohol. Country or region of manufacture: Saudi Arabia.’
— Snake oil strengthening hair mask with mamushi snake oil. £25.22 for 500g. ‘The effective remedy of supplementary hair care. The mask is perfect for dry and damaged hair.’ Some listed ingredients: aqua, cetearyl alcohol, paraffinum liquidum, cetrimonium chloride, mamushi oil, parfum’ (no actual snake oil).
Women’s march
Which countries beat Britain to granting women the vote?
| 1755 | Corsican Republic |
| 1838 | Pitcairn |
| 1856 | Norfolk Island |
| 1881 | Isle of Man (unmarried women with property) |
| 1893 | New Zealand |
| 1902 | Australia (South Australia from 1895) |
| 1906 | Finland |
| 1913 | Norway |
| 1915 | Denmark |
| 1917 | Russia, Armenia, Estonia, Canada |
The Brexit brain gain
There was an increase in overseas students applying to study at UK universities (contrary to claims that Brexit would dissuade applicants). Which countries supplied the most applicants in 2017?
| China | 11,920
|
| Hong Kong | 5,320 |
| France | 4,590 |
| India | 4,470 |
| US | 3,840 |
| Italy | 3,750 |
| Ireland | 3,740 |
| Poland | 3,700 |
Source: UCAS
Slipping the net
Student Lauri Love won a High Court case against extradition to the US on hacking charges. How prolific are UK hackers?
— In 2013 Deutsche Telekom produced a list of the 15 countries where most cyber attacks originate. Britain did not even make it on to the list. The top countries were:
| Russia | 2,400,000 |
| Taiwan | 907,000 |
| Germany | 780,000 |
| Ukraine | 566,000 |
| Hungry | 366,000 |
| USA | 355,000 |
| Romania | 351,000 |
| Brazil | 337,000 |
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