Barometer | 8 February 2018

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: