Repeat until fade

More than three million voters disappointed by the result of the EU referendum have signed a petition demanding a re-run.
— They may have in mind the Danish referendum on the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, rejected by 50.7% of voters. A year later, after exemptions were offered to Denmark, the country voted again and approved the treaty by 56.7%.
— Or it could always go like the 1997 Winchester by-election. Having lost his seat by two votes in the general election, Conservative MP Gerry Malone challenged the result. In the re-run, Lib Dem Mark Oaten won with a majority of 21,556.

Jam yesterday

Concert-goers on the way to Glastonbury were stuck in a five-hour traffic jam. They were the lucky ones.
— In August 2010 motorists on National Highway 110 from Inner Mongolia to Beijing were caught in a 60-mile jam caused by roadworks. It lasted 11 days, with some motorists stuck for six days.
— In February 1980, motorists returning from skiing holidays caused a 109-mile jam on the A6 between Lyon and Paris.
— In April 1985 there was a 40-mile M1 jam between Milton Keynes and Rugby.

Singles market

The Wimbledon men’s singles champion will win £2 million, against £2,000 for the first professional championships in 1968. How much would winners get if the prize had merely gone up with RPI inflation?

Actual prize
1968
£2,000
1976
£12,500
1986
£140,000
1996
£392,500
2006
£655,000
2016
£2 million RPI adjusted
1968
£2,000
1976
£5,000
1986
£11,700
1996
£18,100
2006
£23,000
2016
£28,000

Bubbling up

Ten people were injured on a rollercoaster in Motherwell. How does the accident rate on such rides compare with that on ordinary trains?
— From 1990 to 2004 52 people died on rollercoasters, averaging 3.5 a year.
Source: International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions
— Americans take 1.7 billion rides a year, averaging around 1 mile, giving a fatality rate of two per billion passenger-miles.
— The death rate among US rail passengers is 0.15 per billion miles – making roller-coasters about 13 times more deadly.
Source: Research and Transport Economic, 2013

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