The right to buy
The Prime Minister floated the idea of granting housing association tenants a blanket right to buy. How many social homes have been sold over the years?
– Since 1980, 2.19m homes have been sold in England. The most sold in any one year was 167,123 in 1982/83 and the fewest was 8,474 in 2008/09. In 2020/21, 17,262 were sold. Although receipts from sales are supposed to fund replacement dwellings, this has not happened. Since 2010, when the Conservatives returned to power, 235,460 social homes have been sold. But the overall number of social homes has grown only by 94,000, from 3.972m to 4.066m.
Abortion rates
The US Supreme Court appeared to be on the verge of overturning Roe vs Wade, which would end US-wide right to abortion and leave the matter to individual states. Which states have the highest and lowest abortion rates per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44?
Highest
New Jersey 28.0
New York 26.3
Maryland 25.0
Florida 18.6
Connecticut 17.7
Lowest
Wyoming1.3
South Dakota3.1
Kentucky3.8
Idaho3.9
Missouri4.0
Source: worldpopulationreview.com
Who’s that?
The Prime Minister was described as ‘out of touch’ because he had to ask who the ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly is. According to a YouGov poll, 91% of British adults say they have heard of her. Some TV personalities with a higher rate of recognition:
98% David Attenborough
97% Holly Willoughby, Graham Norton, Gordon Ramsay, Amanda Holden
96% Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross
95% Nigella Lawson, Phillip Schofield, Jamie Oliver, Claudia Winkleman,
94% Fearne Cotton, Gary Barlow
93% Paul O’Grady, Richard Hammond, Noel Edmonds
Amateur hour
Mo Farah suggested he might abandon a comeback after being beaten in a road race by a 25-year-old club runner who works at the Up&Running store in Surbiton. Some other amateurs who beat the professionals:
– The former UK snooker champion Shaun Murphy said amateurs shouldn’t be allowed to compete in the UK Championship after being beaten in the first round by Chinese amateur Si Jiahui last year. The same had happened to Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2019, when he was beaten by James Cahill.
– In 2016 the Australian football team was beaten 7-0 by a team of 15-year-old boys.
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