A slip of the tongue
George W. Bush condemned a political system where one man could wage a ‘brutal and unjustified invasion of Iraq’ before correcting himself and saying ‘Ukraine’. Some other Freudian slips by US politicians:
– In the 2012 US election Senator John McCain, who had been the Republican candidate four years earlier, made a speech in which he attempted to look forward to a Mitt Romney presidency, but somehow managed instead to say: ‘I am confident that with the leadership and the backing of the American people, President Obama will turn this country around.’
– At another event in the same election, Romney himself introduced his running mate, Paul Ryan, as ‘the next President of the United States’.
– As for Barack Obama, he made a speech on penal reform arguing that America must make sure it was not ‘incarcerating non-violent offenders in ways that renders them incapable of getting a job after they leave office’.
Oil profits
How profitable have Britain’s two largest oil companies been in recent years?
BP / Shell
2021 £11bn / £18.1bn
On turnover of: £128 bn / £213bn
2020 -£-17.2bn / -£19.9bn
2019 £6bn / £17.9bn
2018 £11.6bn / £27.7bn
2017 £4.9 bn / £15.2bn
Retail price peaks
The Consumer Prices Index reached 9% and the Retail Prices Index (RPI) 11.1%.
How does that compare with post-war peaks in RPI?
June 1948 9.7%
Jan 1952 13%
April 1956 7.3%
April 1958 4.9%
May 1962 5.7%
April 1965 5.6%
March 1969 6.3%
Aug 1971 10.3%
Aug 1975 26.9%
May 1980 21.9%
June 1989 8.3%
Sept 1990 10.9%
Cost of living misery
How is the cost of living impacting on our sense of wellbeing?
25% of adults report feeling lonely some or all of the time.
34% say they are suffering high levels of anxiety.
88% say the cost of living has risen over the past month.
41% say they are buying less food when shopping.
38% say they are spending more.
43% are still worried about Covid-19.
Source: ONS
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