Nearly half of the UK's 8.6m people living alone are 65+
People aged 65 and over account for most of the growth since 1996, and the number of men aged 65 and over living alone has roughly doubled, the ONS says.
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Set designers build the whole stage in miniature first
A model box is a scale version of a theatre set. It shows the director, builders and actors the stage before construction, and the RSC now has a digital one.
Britain and the US make big firms publish CEO pay ratios
UK firms with over 250 staff set CEO pay against workers at the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles. US public firms divide it by the median worker's pay.
Big British employers must publish their gender pay gap
Employers in Britain with 250 or more staff must file and publish their gender pay gap each year. From 2027 they must also publish an action plan.
A lung drug passed its main test and missed two others
NICE's appraisal of nintedanib shows how a trial proves a drug works: one pre-set outcome, a null hypothesis, and a p-value that either clears the bar or not.
Carbon capture buries a sliver of the CO2 the world emits
Carbon capture and storage takes about 45 million tonnes of CO2 a year, the BBC reports, against emissions above 40 billion. Britain regulates the pipes.
Architects are building thick walls and deep windows again
Sunlight through glass is usually a home's main summer heat source, says the Passivhaus Trust. Some architects now answer with heavy walls and deep windows.
Eleven countries saved the Pacific trade deal the US abandoned
When the US quit the TPP in 2017, the other 11 signatories kept most of the text, parked 22 US-backed clauses and signed the CPTPP in Santiago in 2018.
How Cornish came back after nearly dying out
Cornish had shrunk to a handful of speakers by the 1700s. A 1904 handbook began its revival, and it now has official UK backing under a European charter.
Barbados swapped the Queen for its own president in 2021
On November 30, 2021, 55 years after independence, Barbados swore in Sandra Mason as president and removed Elizabeth II as head of state.
A London cabbie learns 25,000 streets to earn a green badge
London's black cab licence rests on the Knowledge: three or four years learning every street near Charing Cross, then oral tests until examiners approve.
Gerald Holtom drew the peace sign for the Aldermaston march
Gerald Holtom drew the peace symbol in 1958 for a nuclear disarmament march from London to Aldermaston, and it later spread across the world.
Cosmic radiation doubles with every 6,000 feet you climb
One long flight gives you about a week of background radiation. A 2019 UK law protects crew who could pass 1 millisievert of cosmic radiation a year.
In the UK's North Sea, 78p of each £1 of profit goes in tax
The UK Energy Profits Levy adds 38% to the tax on North Sea oil and gas profits, for a 78% total. It has raised about £12bn and runs until March 2030.
In the UK, a dangerous building waits for a council's notice
Under the Building Act 1984, a council must serve notice before it makes a dangerous building safe. In Boston, a fire-hit wall stood unsupported meanwhile.
Britain sells its airwaves to the highest bidder, round by round
The UK sells mobile frequencies by auction. The 3G sale in 2000 ran 150 rounds and raised £22.5 billion. The 5G sale in 2018 raised £1.4 billion.
The UK is cutting aid to its lowest share of income since 1999
Britain's aid spending is set to fall to 0.3% of national income by 2027 to pay for defence. Aid to Africa falls by more than half, and polio funding ends.
The UK's Climate Change Act binds ministers to net zero by 2050
The 2008 Act made net zero by 2050 a legal duty for UK ministers, with five-year carbon budgets. The UK met the first three but is off track for the next two.
Clay and sandy soil fail a garden in opposite ways
Clay holds water but packs hard, and sand drains fast but feeds little. Sarah Raven suggests persicaria for clay, and nepeta and thyme for sand.
The account a UK customer described, against the one they ran
UK banks must check transactions against what they know of a customer. Santander flagged a mismatch in 2014, acted in 2015, and was fined £107.7m.
UK MPs shut the door on Black Rod. Speakers say it isn't defiance
MPs shut the door on Black Rod at the State Opening. Most read it as defiance, but Speakers have ruled it lets the Commons establish who is knocking.
Australia's 1975 dismissal and the palace letters
Sir John Kerr sacked Gough Whitlam in 1975. Letters released in 2020 show the palace told him a week earlier that the reserve powers still existed.
Two examiners judge a UK PhD in one viva
A UK PhD viva is an oral exam held after the thesis is submitted, where two examiners question the candidate before recommending a result.
Learning London's streets grows a cabbie's hippocampus
Trainee London cabbies who pass The Knowledge grow a larger posterior hippocampus. Those who fail do not, a UCL study of 79 trainees found.