In fact

August 19, 2003
  • About half of British households do not have a dining table. [National Post, 5th July 2003]
  • Men and women differ genetically by 1 to 2 per cent-as wide a gap as the one that separates women from female chimpanzees. [Boston Globe, 6th July 2003]
  • At 365 square kilometres, the Gaza strip is slightly smaller than Sheffield. And the West Bank and Lincolnshire are about the same size-6,000km2. [Prospect research]
  • Tony Blair is the first serving prime minister to send his children to a state school. [On a Clear Day by David Blunkett, Michael O'Mara Books]
  • 150 newspapers have been launched in Baghdad since the fall of Saddam. [Jack Straw, House of Commons, 15th July 2003]
  • The Anglican Church of Nigeria has 18m members-more than England, America and Canada put together. [BBC News Online, 8th July 2003]
  • Federal spending in the US has increased by 13.5 per cent during the first three years of the Bush administration. During the first three years of the Clinton administration, spending rose by 3.5 per cent. [Cato Institute]
  • In 1910, 20 per cent of the world's Swedes lived in the US. [The Economist, 14th June 2003]
  • Peaches and almonds are both part of the rose family. [Canberra Times, 12th March 2000]
  • The Czech Republic's fertility rate-1.16 children per woman- is the lowest in the world. [United Nations Population Division]
  • Over the year to March 2003, operating profits at Japan's 1,000 largest companies rose by almost a quarter. [Financial Times, 21st April 2003]
  • South Koreans throw away more food than North Koreans eat. [Prospect, page 50]