Society Scots are more likely to gamble than people in the rest of the UK. In 2016, 66% of Scots spent money on gambling compared with 56% in England and 55% in Wales. The most popular form of gambling was the National Lottery, with over half of Scots buying at least one ticket during the year. A quarter had bought at least one scratchcard. Source: Gambling Commission.
The number of people who earn more than £1m each year has risen to 18,700, with over a third living in London. Source: Wilsons.
People between the ages of 45 and 65 should aim to have several alcohol-free days each week in order to lose weight, improve sleep and reduce the risk of high blood pressure and cancer. Source: Public Health England.
People over the age of 45 years old find cutting back on alcohol far harder than eating healthily or exercising. 20% of his age group drink more than the recommended 14 units each week. Source: YouGov.
In 2016, the UK population reached 65.6m â the largest figure to date. 18% of the population were over the age of 65, and 2.4% were over the age of 85. Source: Office for National Statistics.
Economy Building societies are better than banks in terms of customers satisfaction, with Principality, First Direct and Nationwide coming out top in a customer poll. Source: Which?
3,116 restaurants and pubs have closed down in the past year, mainly due to slow sales and increased competition. Source: CGA/ AlixPartners.
20% of night workers feel more productive and enjoy the flexibility of working ‘twilight hours.â Source: Huawei.
Subscription deliveries of items including magazines and beauty products are set to double in value to £1bn by 2022. Subscriptions for male grooming in particular are expanding rapidly. Source: Royal Mail.
Education Almost one in 10 young adult women in the UK has poor skills with reading and writing. Source: National Literacy Trust.
Special needs provision for pupils in Birmingham is ‘weakâ and below the national average. Children in the city who require special needs services attend school less often, make poor academic progress, and are excluded more frequently than pupils in other areas. Source: Ofsted.
Religious education (RE) in schools should be renamed ‘religion and worldview’ to reflect the diversity of modern Britain. The subject should continue to study major faiths, but also non-religious worldviews. Source: Commission on Religious Education.
Science The first steps have been taken by the UN towards legally protecting the high seas from deep-sea mining, over-fishing and the patenting of marine genetic resources. ‘High seas’ refers to ‘the open ocean far from coastlines.’ Source: United Nations.
The successor to the Hubble Space Telescope â the James Webb Space Telescope â will be launched 14 years late in 2021. It will orbit the Sun some 1.5m km from Earth and may be able to detect whether the atmosphere of planets is being modified by alien life. Source: NASA.
Research has found that ultra-fast vibrations â a million times faster than the beating of a hummingbird’s wings â can be used to heat small amounts of liquid. The process could be useful in many engineering applications, including the prevention of ice building up on aircraft and wind turbines. Source: Edinburgh University.
Health 75% of parents believe that their childâs mental health suffered while they waited for NHS support. More support from local community groups could avoid young people self-harming, dropping out of school, or even committing suicide during this waiting period. Source: YoungMinds.
Demand for advice on heatstroke more than doubled during the heatwave this summer. The relevant pages on the NHSâs website had 1.5m visitors between June and August. Source: NHS Digital.
Foods which are packed with probiotics, otherwise referred to as ‘good bacteriaâ have been deemed as useless, having no significant effect inside the body. Source: Weizmann Institute of Science.
The most inactive country in the world is Kuwait, with 67% of the adult population not taking regular exercise. The most active country is Uganda, with only 5.5% of the adult population inactive. Source: World Health Organisation.
Recreation In the year up to June 2018, 1.3m million passengers were stuck at airports due to severe flight delays. Over 13,000 passengers were delayed for three or more hours. Source: Which?
A 70m plastic tunnel attached to the side of a supermarket in Bude has become the highest-rated TripAdvisor attraction in a Cornish seaside resort. Source: TripAdvisor.
Oddities We spend around five years of our lives feeling bored. Mundane tasks such as washing up, buying socks, and taking out the bins were identified as some of the dullest aspects of UK life. Source: British Heart Foundation.
Mead is making a comeback, having featured in ‘Game of Thrones.â Sales have risen by 10% in the past year, and by a third since the programme was first aired in 2011. Source: Metro.
Waitrose have issued a ‘student storecupboard’ list of essentials for students about to leave home for university. The list includes Swiss vegetable bouillon powder, rose harissa paste and organic cyder [sic] vinegar. Source: i.