Bank job
Should we buy shares in companies which print banknotes in expectation of one getting to print millions of drachma notes?
— In May, according to the ECB, there were a total of 17.6bn euro notes in circulation. Given that Greece accounts for approximately 2.5% of the GDP of the eurozone, 441m of these were Greek, and might need replacing with drachma notes in the event the country leaves the euro.
— However, there is already a good business in printing replacement euro notes. In May, 2.76bn notes were taken out of circulation and 2.88bn new ones were put into circulation.
— Therefore, if Greece were to leave the euro and all Greek euro notes to be replaced with drachmas, it would only lead to a one-off monthly boost of 16% in the number of banknotes being printed in the eurozone.
Faraway coast
Education secretary Nicky Morgan has announced that Ofsted is to seek out ‘coasting’ schools. It is a good job she is not education secretary in Canada or New England, where the word has the opposite definition of what she intends, having connotations of daredevil sport.
— Coasting, there, is a 19th-century word for tobogganing. A woodcut from Harper’s Weekly in February 1877 called ‘Coasting in the Country’ depicts anything other than gentle, complacent activity: it shows one pair of children haring down a snowy slope with a look of fear, while ahead of them a sledge has overturned, leaving its occupants in an entangled mess.
Runway show
How many runways does an international airport need?
Annual Passengers | |
Atlanta | 22.7m |
Beijing | 21.6m |
Dubai | 19.6m |
Tokyo | 18m |
Los Angeles | 16.4m |
Heathrow | 16.3m |
Hong Kong | 16.3m |
Runways | |
Atlanta | 5 |
Beijing | 3 |
Dubai | 2 |
Tokyo | 4 |
Los Angeles | 4 |
Heathrow | 2 |
Hong Kong | 2 |
Geography of fear
Where are most of the world’s deaths from terrorism?
% of the 17,891 terrorism deaths in 2013 | |
Iraq | 35.4% |
Afghanistan | 17.3% |
Pakistan | 13.1% |
Nigeria | 10.2% |
Syria | 6% |
Somalia | 2.3% |
India | 2.2% |
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Get 10 issues for just $10
Subscribe to The Spectator Australia today for the next 10 magazine issues, plus full online access, for just $10.
You might disagree with half of it, but you’ll enjoy reading all of it. Try your first month for free, then just $2 a week for the remainder of your first year.
Comments
Don't miss out
Join the conversation with other Spectator Australia readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.
SUBSCRIBEAlready a subscriber? Log in