What is special about Rochester and Strood?
— Rochester has the second oldest cathedral and school in Britain, after Canterbury.
— Medway, the unitary authority area in which the constituency is situated, has one of the highest rates of private home-ownership in Britain, with 92 per cent of homes in private hands.
— Rochester has one of the few remaining airports in Britain with only grass runways – though it has filed a planning application to build a paved runway.
— Morrisons in Strood was Gordon Brown’s first engagement after announcing the date of the 2010 general election.
— Strood was once the largest producer of steam rollers in Britain.
The deadliest battles
British involvement in the Afghan war came to an end after 13 years and the loss of 453 servicemen. How does that compare with other post-second world war conflicts?
British military deaths
Korean war, 1950-53
1,139
Falklands war, 1982
258
Iraq war, 2003-09
179
Aden emergency, 1963-67
90
Yugoslav civil war, 1991-1999
72
Gulf war, 1991
47
The cost of a domain
The domain name ebola.com was bought for $200,000 by an organisation called the Weed Growth Fund, which believes cannabis will turn out to be a treatment for the disease. How much for a domain name?
As if the saga of HS2 could not get any worse, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander will reportedly announce today that, actually, the railway line will not be open by its latest proposed date of 2033, and that 2035 is now more realistic. But I wouldn’t book your ticket just yet. Some analysts believe the line
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