Barometer

On this day Would 19 July make a suitable ‘freedom day’ (assuming Covid restrictions are lifted even then)? There is an ominous warning from history. In 1919, 19 July was designated ‘Peace Day’, on which victory in the Great War would be celebrated with parades and banquets, three weeks after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. In London 20,000 service men and women marched on a seven-mile route past the temporary Cenotaph. Many demobbed servicemen felt aggrieved, however, that so much money was being spent on celebrations when many of them were out of work and still without the housing they had been promised.

Rare Lili Other than the new royal baby, is there anyone in the world formally called Lilibet? — There are 141 Lilibets in the US. None have been born since 1999 — when 8 were born, according to the US Social Security Administration. — Lilibet Foster, born in the US Virgin Islands in 1965, is a documentary-maker whose film Speaking in Strings, about the violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, was nominated in the 72nd Academy Awards. — In answer to a freedom of information request in 2017, the Office for National Statistics refused to provide a full breakdown of the first names of people living in Britain. But it does publish a list of the top 100 girls’ names for recent years, which haven’t included Lilibet.

Game, set, chat Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open after being fined $15,000 for failing to appear for a post-match press conference. Have players always been expected to give interviews? — Wimbledon was first televised live in 1937, the year of Fred Perry’s third and final victory against Gottfried von Cramm. A photo from 1938, when Bunny Austin was beaten by the US player Donald Budge in the final, shows that the post-match interview was already part of the coverage. Vaccine clots How many people in the UK have died from blood clots related to the AstraZeneca vaccine? Up to 27 May the Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has recorded 332 serious cases and 58 deaths.

Marrying in office It was announced Boris Johnson will marry his fiancée, Carrie Symonds, next year. This will be only the fourth time a serving prime minister has married while in office. — Robert Walpole married Maria Skerrett, daughter of a wealthy merchant, on 3 March 1738, following the death of his first wife. Sadly, Maria died in childbirth a year later. — In the 15 months the Duke of Grafton was prime minister he found time to divorce his first wife and marry his second, Elizabeth Wrottlesley, on 24 June 1769. — Lord Liverpool married Mary Chester, a friend of his deceased first wife, at Hampton Court on 24 September 1822. Cancer detection How has cancer treatment been affected by the pandemic?

Call to arms Is hugging important to health? A study by Carnegie Mellon University and published in the journal Psychological Science in 2015 claimed so. Psychologists interviewed 404 adults about their social lives, including how often they got into personal conflicts and how often they shared hugs with people they knew and trusted. The volunteers were then exposed to the common cold virus and quarantined to see whether or not they fell ill. The scientists concluded that social contact had a protective effect against the virus — and that hugging accounted for a third of that effect. Job prospects In which sector are you most likely to land a new job over the next three months?

At Redwall Abbey Does fiction provide any guide as to the ultimate fate of Labour’s Red Wall? — Redwall Abbey was the setting for a series of children’s novels written by Brian Jacques between 1986 and his death in 2011. It revolved around the peace-loving creatures of Mossflower Wood who were forced to fight invading vermin. The first of the novels, called Redwall, featured an orphaned mouse who had become a novice monk and was forced to fight off an evil, one-eyed rat. At the end of the final novel, published posthumously, an otter and hedgehog emerged triumphant over the ‘vermin’ — a loose band of creatures which included rats, foxes, wildcats, magpies, rooks and crows. Critics complained that the plots were somewhat repetitive.

Flat spin Which prime minister spent the most on their Downing Street flat, according to figures reported over the years? Margaret Thatcher £0 (Kept 1960s kitchen. Is reputed to have paid for her own ironing board) Tony Blair £127,000 spent on larger flat above No. 11 (including wallpaper reputed to have cost £70 a roll) Gordon Brown £84,000 David Cameron £92,900 (with £64,000 spent on kitchen and bathroom) Theresa May £25,500 Boris Johnson Between £88,000 and £200,000 (according to various reports) But all were eclipsed by the £650,000 of public money spent by former Lord Chancellor Derry Irvine on his flat in the Lords, including £59,000 of wallpaper.

Falling from grace Six Premier League football clubs had announced their intention to join a European Super League, from which it would be impossible to be relegated, before changing their minds. When were they last relegated from anything? — Manchester United were relegated from the top tier of English football in 1974, and promoted back the following season. — Manchester City were relegated to the third tier in 1998, climbed back to the second in 1999 and the Premiership in 2000. They were relegated again in 2001, and promoted again the following year. — Liverpool were relegated to the old Second Division in 1954, and promoted to the First in 1962. — Chelsea were relegated for a season to the Second Division in 1988.

D of E awards A few of the late Duke of Edinburgh’s lesser-known titles and honours: — Royal Chief of the Order of Logohu (Papua New Guinea); Grand Commander of the Order of Maritime Merit of the San Francisco Port Authority; Grand Cross in Brilliants of the Order of the Sun of Peru; Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon (Iceland); Member First Class of the Order of the Supreme Sun (Afghanistan); Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (Japan); Grand Cross with Chain in the Order of the Queen of Sheba (Ethiopia). Paying their respects The Duke of Edinburgh will have only 30 mourners at his funeral, thanks to Covid restrictions. How many people have attended or watched royal funerals?

Positive thinking The government wants us to test ourselves for Covid-19 twice a week, using lateral flow kits which will be freely distributed. What is the risk of being ordered to self-isolate as a result of a false negative? — While the NHS claims that these tests produce false positives in 0.1% or fewer cases, an evaluation by Porton Down and Oxford University last year found a false positive rate of 0.3% in a hospital setting, rising to 0.39% in the community — in other words, about one in every 256 tests. — According to the Office for National Statistics infection survey, in the week to 27 March one in every 370 people were infected (not necessarily showing symptoms) — 0.27% of the population.

Mounting losses The England football team beat San Marino 5-0, taking to 56 the number of competitive games that the micro-nation has gone without a victory since 1990. Has any other football team exceeded this record?— In English league football, the record number of games without a win is 36, held jointly by Derby County (2007/08) and Macclesfield Town, who have achieved the feat twice, in 2012 and 2018.— San Marino, who have won one match, a friendly against Liechtenstein in 2004, can take heart from Fort William FC, which went 73 games without a win before hammering Nairn County 5-2 in a cup game in 2019. Big canals The Suez Canal was blocked by a grounded container ship. Which are the biggest shipping canals?

A long way from home A walrus turned up off the Pembrokeshire coast, thousands of miles south of its normal habitat. Some other lonely visitors: — In July 2020 an albatross, a native of the southern hemisphere, was spotted near Flamborough on the Yorkshire coast. It was one of 30 sightings over the past few decades.— In September 2018 a beluga whale, normally resident near Svalbard, Norway, was found swimming off Gravesend.— In May 2016 a 25ft bowhead whale, more usually seen off Greenland, was spotted in Mount’s Bay, Cornwall.— In August 1999 a great white shark, common to South African, Californian and Australian coasts, and rarely found north of Spanish waters, was seen off Cornwall.

Calculated risk It is a year since Neil Ferguson’s Imperial College team published the paper that inspired the government to call the first lockdown. How good were its scenarios? — It modelled four Covid-suppression measures: isolating cases for seven days, their household contacts for 14 days, social distancing to reduce household contacts by 75 per cent and the closure of schools and hospitals. It assumed these measures would be repeated for 12-18 months before a vaccine became available. — The model was run with different values for the basic reproduction number, which it estimated to lie within the range 2 to 2.6. If the government introduced none of these measures it estimated there would be between 410,000 and 550,000 deaths.

Good for the goose The government indicated that it will ban foie gras, out of animal welfare concerns. While it is often thought of as a French product, its origins have been traced back to Egypt in 2500 bc — thanks to a bas-relief at the Necropolis of Saqqara outside the ancient city of Memphis. The painting depicts workers holding geese around the necks and feeding them — although there is no great sign of force being used. Viewer discretion ITV reported an audience of 11 million for Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. In the US 17 million were said to have watched. What are the previously most-viewed TV interviews (combined US and UK audiences)?

French lessons France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in jail, with two of them suspended, for corruption and ‘influence peddling’ after seeking to bribe a judge. Some other French leaders who have been convicted in criminal courts:— Jacques Chirac got a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for setting up fake jobs to claim public funds for political purposes.— Christine Lagarde was convicted in 2016 of making payouts to a businessman while she was finance minister in 2008. She was not punished and went on to be appointed head of the European Central Bank.— In 2020 former PM François Fillon was given a five-year sentence, three suspended, for paying his wife for a job she never did.

State of the art Graffiti on Edvard Munch’s first version of ‘The Scream’ was revealed to be the work of the artist himself. There is a tradition of artists damaging their own work: — In 2018, a Banksy, ‘Girl With Balloon’, was partially shredded moments after being sold for $1.4 million at Sotheby’s by a device fixed inside the frame. — In 1920, Dadaist Francis Picabia arranged for his friend André Breton to rub out his chalk drawing, ‘Riz au Nez’, shortly after it went on display in Paris. — In 1960, ‘Homage to New York’, a sculpture by Jean Tinguely, auto-combusted after going on display in the city’s Museum of Modern Art.

Target practice The government hit its target of giving a first Covid vaccine to 15 million of the most vulnerable people by the middle of February. Some other government targets which have been met (sort of): — 100,000 Covid tests a day by the end of April. The government did claim to have achieved this — but did so by counting testing kits which had been posted out and not necessarily returned. — There was a rise of 7,600 people applying for teacher training courses last year, which meant that the government hit its target for secondary school teachers to the tune of 106% and primary school teachers by 130%. — The target of spending 0.7% of GDP on aid has been achieved every year since 2013. The target has now been temporarily reduced to 0.5%.

Temper, temper A Zoom video of a disruptive parish council meeting in Handforth, Cheshire, went viral. It is not the first such incident. — In December 2014 a fight broke out at a meeting of the allotments committee of Brierfcliffe parish council near Burnley, over a former parish councillor’s claim for a right to graze her sheep on council land. — In October 2015 police were called to a parish council meeting in Long Melford, Suffolk, after members of the public in attendance became an ‘angry mob’. — In November, police were called to a meeting at Hindolveston parish council in Norfolk following reports of verbal and physical abuse over a planning application.

Best before The government plans to introduce labels on domestic appliances informing consumers how long they are likely to last. Which appliances have lasted the longest? — In 2017, Sydney and Rachel Saunders of Exeter, both in their eighties, were reported to be getting rid of appliances bought soon after their marriage in 1956 and still working. They included a Baby Belling cooker, bought for £19; a Servis washing machine, bought for £60; and a Burco dryer. — In 2013, a couple from Montgomery in New York state were reported still to be using a General Electric refrigerator which was made between 1929 and 1931. Flu away How many people took up the offer of a flu vaccine this winter compared with last?

New normal Why have so many people started saying ‘normalcy’ rather than ‘normality’? — Normalcy has been traced back to 1857 when it was used in geometry to denote a state where lines were perpendicular to each other. It was rarely used outside mathematics until 1920, when the then US presidential candidate Warren Harding made a speech in Boston referring to a ‘return to normalcy’ following the Great War. He said: ‘America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy.’ He was ridiculed for what was regarded by many as a malapropism. Although ‘normalcy’ is now in common use in the US, it was still the lesser-used word at the last count.