Working out the Kinks
American singer and vegan activist Moby called the Kinks’ song ‘Lola’ ‘transphobic’ and ‘unevolved’. According to the band, the song was based on a real incident when their manager, Robert Wace, spent the night dancing with a cross-dressing man in a bar in Paris, was alerted to the stubble on his dancing partner’s chin but replied that he was ‘too drunk to care’. The band admitted they did attract such attention because of their name, which was supposedly inspired by their dress sense. As for the name Lola, it had different connotations at the time, as the name of a racing car marque which featured in motor races during the 1960s.
Meta versed
A US court ruled that Meta, the owner of Facebook, is responsible for harm caused by ‘addictive’ technology incorporated into the site. Who uses Facebook?
– 55.26% are male, 44.74% female.
– India has the largest number of users, at 581m. However, this is only 40% of the population. The Philippines has the highest percentage of residents using Facebook, at 88%. In the UK (and the US) it is 81%.
– The age profile of users globally is:
18-24 15.71%
25-34 24.97%
35-44 18.68%
45-54 16.31%
55-64 14.31%
65+ 10.02%
Source: demandsage.com
Trust issues
Dax Harkins, the chief executive of National Savings and Investments, resigned after savers’ money went missing. Who trusts their savings with the government?
– In 2024/25, NS&I had £240bn worth of deposits, up from £230bn in the previous year. This included:
– £133bn of Premium Bonds
– £31bn in Direct Saver accounts
– £27bn in Guaranteed Bonds
– £21bn in Savings Certificates
– £17bn in Income Bonds
It has £2.99bn worth of unclaimed assets – accounts which people have forgotten about, or which their heirs never knew about.
Home run
How much more affordable are houses?
– The ratio of average house prices to average earnings peaked at 9.06 in 2021. By 2025 it had fallen back to 7.63, the lowest at any point in the past decade. But how does that compare historically?
2000 4.19
2005 6.79
2010 6.86
2015 7.54
2020 7.86
2025 7.63
Source: Office for National Statistics
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