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Barometer

Runaway runners and other other sporting refugees

Plus: A royal visits league table, and the earning power of degrees

19 April 2014

9:00 AM

19 April 2014

9:00 AM

Done a runner

Mami Konneh Lahun, a 24-year-old athlete from Sierra Leone, went missing after finishing as the 20th-placed woman in the London Marathon. She is not the first athlete to have done a runner.
— In the 2002 Commonwealth Games, 20 of her compatriots failed to return home.
— After the London Olympics, 21 athletes went missing, including seven from Cameroon and three from Sudan.
— The entire Eritrean football team failed to go home after a fixture in Kenya in 2009.
— But the gold medal for asylum-seeking goes to 40 Nigerians who went missing after travelling to Britain in a stated attempt to qualify for the Open Golf Championship.

Royal visits

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited New Zealand. Which Commonwealth countries have received the most senior royal visits since 1952?

Queen
Canada 29
Australia 16
New Zealand 10
Jamaica 6
Fiji 6
Barbados 6
Bahamas 5
Bermuda 5
Cyprus 4
Prince Charles/Prince William
Canada 15
Australia 13
New Zealand 9
Jamaica 4
Fiji 4
Barbados 1
Bahamas 1
Bermuda 1
Cyprus 1

Degrees of wealth and poverty

According to the Good University Guide the average starting salary for a graduate has fallen from £24,293 to £21,702 since 2007. Which graduates earn the most — and least?


Most

Dentistry £30,775
Medicine £29,383
Geology £29,182
Chemical engineering £27,722
Economics £26,940

Least

Opthalmics £13,722
Celtic studies £16,120
Drama/dance/cinematics £17,584
Art and design £17,635
Music £17,714

Dodgy behaviour

A commuter paid £43,000 to avoid prosecution for fare evasion. Percentage of passengers on various forms of public transport estimated to evade their fares:

National Rail 3 to 5%
Tube 2.4%
London buses 2.1%
London Overground 1.7%
Docklands Light Railway 1.7%

Source: ATOC/TfL

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