Churchill insurance
There was outrage that Winston Churchill is to be dumped from the £5 note in favour of wildlife. But was Churchill actually a good example with money? Shortly after he became prime minister in May 1940, he was faced with two crises: the capitulation of France to the invading German forces and the prospect of personal bankruptcy. He had an overdraft of £5,602 (£274,000 in today’s money), while his income from writing was to diminish as a result of his taking high office. The situation was only resolved when businessman Sir Henry Strakosch made an anonymous donation of £5,000, paid via his business partner – and Churchill’s friend – Brendan Bracken. It was one of several occasions when Churchill had to be bailed out by friends.
Crude calculation
The Strait of Hormuz is not alone in being a narrow waterway used as a vital route by oil tankers. How does it compare?
Malacca Strait (between Malaysia and Indonesia) 23m barrels per day
Straits of Hormuz 21m (in normal times)
Suez Canal 5m
Bab al Mandeb Strait 4m
Bosphorus 3.5m
Panama Canal 2.2m
Catching it
An outbreak of meningitis believed to have spread from inside a Canterbury nightclub killed a student and a school pupil. In 2024/25 there were 378 confirmed cases of the disease and 31 deaths – following a general downwards trend from a peak of 2,595 cases in 1999/2000. Which age group is most at risk? (Cases in 2024/25)
Under 1 39
1-4 30
5-9 26
10-14 19
15-19 65
20-24 30
25-44 59
45-64 57
65+ 53
About 55% of cases were among under-25s.
UK Health Security Agency
Let’s bounce
Who holds an SIA licence, permitting them to work as a security guard or nightclub bouncer in the UK?
– There are 457,393 active licences. Some 407,138 are currently held by men and 50,255 by women.
– 242,037, just over half, are UK citizens.
– The next most common nationalities are Pakistani (73,043), Nigerian (28,774) and Indian (22,788).
– The most common age is 26, although some are remarkably elderly. 272 are aged over 80, 9 over 90 and 1 is aged 100.
Security Industry Authority
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