The Colston chronicles

Who, exactly, was Sir Edward Colston? Colston was born into a family of merchants and spent the first years of his career working for his father, trading cloth, wine, sherry and port around the western Mediterranean and North Africa. In 1680 he joined the Royal African Company which had been set up 20 years earlier by the Duke of York, the future James II, initially to exploit gold reserves in west Africa. In the 1680s it moved into the slave trade. Colston served one year as deputy governor of the company (the governor being James II). Colston also owned 40 of his own ships. He left the Royal African Company in 1692 and thereafter dedicated himself to public works in Bristol, spending £70,000 of his own cash (£15 million in today’s money) to build almshouses, a school and a hospital, among other things. But during this time he never lived in Bristol — he resided in Mortlake, where he is still honoured with a Colston Road.

Bad cops

Who is most likely to be killed by US police? – Per million killed in 2016

Native Americans – 10.1
Black –  6.7
Hispanic – 3.2
White – 2.9
Asian – 1.2

And where are you most likely to be killed by US police? – Per million killed in 2016

Alaska – 10.8
New Mexico – 10.4
Oklahoma – 8.2
District of Columbia – 7.4
Arkansas – 7.4

You are least likely to be killed by police in Delaware (only 1 killing for 945,000 inhabitants), followed by New York state (1.26 per million).

Air space

Gatwick Airport was reported to have had just seven flights on one day, carrying a total of 21 passengers. How does that compare with Britain’s least-used airports in normal times? Average number of passengers per day:

Land’s End airport – 148
Alderney – 164
St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly – 260
Stornoway – 349
Durham Tees Valley –  386

(More than its railway station, which has only one train a week, on Sundays, and which saw only 8 passengers in 2013/14)