Absolute mayor
Andy Burnham wants more devolution and elected mayors. Do voters want that?
– Since 2001 there have been 55 referendums on whether to establish the post of elected mayor. Only in 17 cases was there a majority in favour.
– The towns and districts keenest on having an elected mayor were Middlesbrough (84% in favour), Croydon (80%) and Mansfield (70%).
– The areas least keen on an elected mayor were Guildford (81% against), Bath (79%) and West Devon (77%).
Ratings game
Which attracts the biggest TV audience in Britain: Wimbledon or the World Cup?
– England’s opening match in this World Cup, vs Croatia, attracted a peak audience of 15.4m. England’s quarter-final defeat to France in 2022 had an audience of 19.4m.
– This compares with the 8.8m who watched last year’s Wimbledon men’s final, either on TV or the internet.
– In 2013, when Andy Murray reached his first final, the audience hit 17.3m. For his second final in 2016, however, it fell back to 9.2m, which was exceeded by the 10.2m who watched the Euros final later the same day (England were not playing, having been knocked out by Iceland).
Catching your death
The World Health Organisation blamed Europe’s heatwave for 1,300 deaths. Which causes the greater number of annual deaths – extreme heat or cold?
COLD
Africa 1.18m
Asia 2.4m
Europe 657,000
South America 116,000
UK 44,600
US 154,800
China 967,000
India 655,400
Australia 14,200
HEAT
Africa 25,550
Asia 224,000
Europe 178,700
South America 25,250
UK 8,000
US 18,750
China 71,300
India 83,700
Australia 2,300
Source: Monash University
Near misses
An initial report revealed that the train which ploughed into the rear of another near Bedford had passed through a red light. How many instances are there of trains passing signals at danger (SPADs)?
– In 2025/26 there were 311 SPADs: 15 ‘potentially severe’, 69 ‘potentially significant’ and 225 of ‘no significance’.
– This was the highest number in any year since 2019/20, when there were 360 SPADs.
– The number has declined over the past 30 years. In 1999/2000 – the year of the Paddington crash – there were 593 SPADs.
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