When did footballers’ wives become ‘WAGs’?

Wagtime

Footballers’ wives Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney are locked in a libel trial dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’. The term WAGs, as it happens, was first unleashed on the public 20 years ago this week while the England football team and their families were spending a five-day bonding session in Dubai, prior to the 23 players flying out to South Korea for the 2002 World Cup. The term WAGs, reported the Sunday Telegraph, had been used for ‘wives and girlfriends’ by staff at Jumeirah Beach Club, where they were staying and enjoying the facilities, which included two swimming pools with underwater music and belly-dancing workshops. The bonding session seems to have done the trick – while at first staff said ‘conversation was stilted’, by the end ‘the kids were playing together and the wives were comparing bikinis’.

New arrivals

What do we know about Ukrainians who have been resettled in Britain following Russia’s invasion of their country?

– 82% are female.

– 44% are aged between 30 and 49.

– 31% have been settled in London.

– 34% report being either fluent in English or having a fair command of the language.

Poor deal

Have the rich or the poor suffered most from inflation over the past 17 years? Effective inflation rate since 2005 by income decile, arrived at by weighting CPIH (consumer prices including housing):

Per household income | Inflation rate

Lowest decile 50.8%

2nd 49.5%

3rd 49.9%

4th 47.8%

5th 46.6%

6th 46.2%

7th 44.6%

8th 44.1%

9th 44.5%

Highest decile 45.6%

Source: ONS