Name check
306 business people signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph saying that Britain would be better off outside the EU. Some notable collections of signatures:
— 364 economists signed a Times letter about the dangers of monetarism in 1981.
— 5,154 physicists signed a paper in Physical Review Letters last year reporting a more accurate recording of the mass of the Higgs boson particle.
— 75,000 people signed a petition protesting against the government’s leaflet on why we should vote to stay in the EU.
— 540,000 signed a petition demanding a stay of execution for Beau, a Missouri dog accused of killing a duck.
— 1m Spaniards signed a petition in 2013 demanding that their government resign.
— 2.2m people signed a petition to demand George Zimmerman’s prosecution for killing Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012. He was prosecuted and acquitted.
Places of refuge
Countries with most refugees as a percentage of population:
| Lebanon | 17% |
| Jordan | 8.3% |
| Nauru | 4.9% |
| Chad | 3% |
| Turkey | 2.3% |
| South Sudan | 2.2% |
| Mauritania | 1.9% |
| Djibouti | 1.7% |
| Sweden | 1.5% |
Source: UNHCR
Department of discontent
Which government department has the unhappiest civil servants?
% OF STAFF WHO RESIGNED IN PAST YEAR
| Treasury | 6.3% |
| Culture, Media and Sport | 4% |
| Health | 4% |
| Justice | 4% |
| Cabinet Office | 3.5% |
| Transport | 3.3% |
| Energy and Climate Change | 3.3% |
Tales out of school
Ofsted says 100 illegal schools operate in England under the banner of home-schooling. A freedom-of-information request to 190 councils last year found that there were at least 36,600 children being home-schooled, with parents giving the following reasons:
| Philosophy/lifestyle differences | 13% |
| Dissatisfaction with local school | 9.3% |
| Cultural/religious reasons | 6.2% |
| Bullying | 4.8% |
| Special needs/medical problems | 4.3% |
| Rejected by preferred school | 3.4% |
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