Growing fanbase
A photograph of the Queen meeting Boris Johnson revealed that she uses a Dyson electric fan. How many of us own fans?
— Sales of electric fans rose from 471,403 in 2008 to 648,829 in 2017, according to Prodcom figures collected by the Office for National Statistics.
— The retailer AO.com reported that sales rose six-fold during last week’s heatwave compared with a week earlier.
— Fans are popular in Britain because so few homes have air conditioning. A Mintel survey from 2009 revealed that only 0.5% of homes have air conditioning. In the US the figure is 87%.
— The use of air conditioners and electric fans currently accounts for 10% of all global electricity consumption, according to the International Energy Agency.
Crowded cabinet
Is the cabinet getting too big? While the number of paid cabinet ministers is limited to 22, including the prime minister, there is an ever-increasing number of ministers attending cabinet.
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