Service record
The government is to form a design panel to improve motorway services stations. These have not always charmed the British public, not least the very first: Watford Gap services, which opened in 1959 on the same day as the first stretch of the M1.
— It quickly became a night-time haunt of rock stars travelling between gigs, but not all were impressed by the food. In 1977 the folk singer Roy Harper recorded a track on his Bullinamingvase album called ‘Watford Gap’ and containing the lyrics: ‘…And the people came to worship on their death-defying wheels,/ fancy-dressed as shovels for their death-defying meals…Watford Gap, Watford Gap, a plate of grease and a load of crap.’
— The track was dropped on a rerecording of the album, supposedly because a director of record company EMI was on the board of services operator Blue Boar.
41 days later
Who benefits from a long election campaign? Days between prorogation of Parliament and election outcome:
| 1983: 27 days | Conservative |
| 1987: 27 days | Conservative |
| 1992: 24 days | Conservative |
| 1997: 41 days | Labour |
| 2001: 35 days | Labour |
| 2005: 28 days | Labour |
| 2010: 28 days | No majority |
| 2015: 41 days |
Valleys of debt
Unsecured debt, according to the accountancy firm PwC, has risen to nearly £9,000 per household.
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