Mounting losses

The England football team beat San Marino 5-0, taking to 56 the number of competitive games that the micro-nation has gone without a victory since 1990. Has any other football team exceeded this record?
— In English league football, the record number of games without a win is 36, held jointly by Derby County (2007/08) and Macclesfield Town, who have achieved the feat twice, in 2012 and 2018.
— San Marino, who have won one match, a friendly against Liechtenstein in 2004, can take heart from Fort William FC, which went 73 games without a win before hammering Nairn County 5-2 in a cup game in 2019.

Big canals

The Suez Canal was blocked by a grounded container ship. Which are the biggest shipping canals?

Maximum draft   |  Maximum beam

Suez 20m (66ft)  |  77m (254ft)
Max. weight: 240,000 tonnes

Panama 12.6m (41.2ft)  |  33.5m (110ft)
Max. weight: 80,000 tonnes

Kiel 9.5m (31.2ft)  |  32.5m (106ft)
Max. weight: 74,000 tonnes

Manchester 7.3m (24ft)  |  19.35m (63.5ft)
Max. weight: 15,000 tonnes

Easter days

What have been the most common dates for Easter since 1900?

12 April has been Easter Day 7 times
31 March and 16 April 6 times
27 March, 1 April, 11 April, 15 April, 20 April 5 times

By contrast, of all possible dates, Easter has fallen only once on 24 March, 25 March, 24 April and 25 April. 23 March, 28 March, 2 April and 13 April have seen two Easters apiece.

Steel deal

Efforts went on to save Liberty Steel. How big is the UK steel industry?

— In 2016 the industry was worth £1.6 billion, accounting for 0.7 per cent of manufacturing output and 0.1 per cent of total economic output.
— It employed 32,000 people.
— Total output was 8 million tonnes, compared with 808 million tonnes from China, the world’s largest producer.
— The UK was the fifth largest producer in Europe, after Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

Source: House of Commons Library