Farewell, Chagos

The government announced that it would hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. There are 13 other British Overseas Territories, only ten of which have a permanent population. The most populated are:

Cayman Islands 78,554

Bermuda  62,506

Turks and Caicos 38,191

Gibraltar  33,701

British Virgin Islands 31,758

– Pitcairn Island is the only British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean, which has been integral to the claims that, even now, the sun never sets on the British Empire – even if there is an overlap of just 20 minutes between sunrise in Diego Garcia and Pitcairn Island in June.

– With the Chagos Islands gone, the sun will begin to set on the British Overseas Territories.

Migratory patterns

How has the number of irregular migrants arriving in Britain changed?

                                    2018 | 2023

Arrived by small boat 299 | 29,437

Arrived at airport 4,769 | 3,854

Arrived at port 1,052 | 327

Found in the community 7,257 | 3,081

Home Office

Let’s bounce

Who works as a bouncer or security guard?

There are 439,115 people who hold Security Industry Authority (SIA) licences.

– 390,973 are male and 48,142 female. 241,736 are British citizens.

– The most common other nationalities are: Pakistani 58,449, Nigerian 23,196 and Indian 23,060.

– 119,993 are resident in London and 30,275 in Manchester.

– The most common age for a holder of an SIA licence is 27.

– 236 are in their eighties and 6 in their nineties. The oldest is 99.

Uphill slog

How are government efforts to encourage cycling coming along?

– The amount of cycle traffic in England in the year to June 2024 was 8.2% higher than it was in 2013.

– However, it was 7% down on the year to June 2023.

– The peak year for cycling was in the year to the end of June 2021, during the pandemic, when it was 63% higher than in 2013.

– After the pandemic ended it fell steeply. Cycle traffic is now 2.9% lower than it was in 2019.<//>