ETCETERA / INDEX

Year UK oil supplies will run out, at current rate of decline: 2016

Sterling-equivalent expenditure per pupil in British Columbia, Canada: pounds 3,166

Expenditure per pupil in England: pounds 1,635

Daily spending of unelected Universities Funding Council: pounds 6,857,000

Months between regular IRA bombings of the City of London: 3

Weekly NHS spending on drugs acting on the skin: pounds 2,000,000

Written complaints to NHS health authorities in 1990-91: 37,350

Current annual cost of preparations for privatising tax collection: pounds 1,300,000

Household burglaries per hour: 91

Minutes taken to construct a standard personal computer: 10

Cities in Italy imposing a total central

traffic ban: 11

In Britain: 0

Percentage of glass containers recycled in Switzerland: 71

In Britain: 21

Cow-pat equivalents of nitrogen falling in rain on each hectare of UK land: 8,000

Sources: BP/RM/Arthur Andersen Petroleum Services; Canadian Education Associations; RM/Dept of Education (primary and secondary); RM/UFC (average working day); O M Lewis; Dept of Health/RM; Dept of Health; HM Treasury; RM/OPCS; ICL/Apricot (Ashton-under- Lyne);Ideas For Tomorrow Today; RM/Transport 2000; Federation Europeenne du Verre d'Emballage, Brussels; ibid; Rothamsted Experimental Station