ETCETERA / Index

Convictions per month by an average magistrate: 3

Lanes of motorway required to match the performance of a one-track main line railway equipped with high-tech signalling: 10

Covered freight cars owned by British Rail in 1979: 11,493

In 1993: 1,679

Population per railway goods wagon in the UK: 1,529

In France: 334

Percentage of Belgium's national goods transported by inland waterway: 18

Feet of railway line per Welsh resident: 6

Fraudulent-claims officers at DSS offices: 2,853

Hours DSS Income Support computer spent crashed in 1992: 883

Wives, husbands and betrothed admitted from the Indian sub-continent per day in 1992: 22

Taxpayers' bill for settling human rights infringement claim by a caned Brighton College pupil: pounds 20,000

Weekly benefit paid to an ex-service person with an amputated foot: pounds 35.60

Staff, administration and expenditure costs of the Citizen's Charter 1992-93: pounds 800,000

Percentage of women who think cooking dinner is the most romantic gift to give a man: 75

Sources: RM/Home Office (1991-92 England & Wales: 1.04m convictions, 29,686 magistrates); Amtrak; Dept of Transport; ibid; ibid; RM/Eurostat/Info 93; Eurostat; RM/Dept of Transport; DSS Benefits Agency; ibid; RM/Home Office; RM/Press Association; DSS; Duchy of Lancaster; D Weiss, The Great Divide (USA)