Barometer | 16 November 2017

No. 2 iron

English Heritage launched a crowdfunding campaign for repairs to Abraham Darby’s 1779 bridge at Ironbridge, Shropshire. This is often called the first iron bridge in the world but in fact one was built ten years earlier to carry the Great North Road over the River Ure in North Yorks. While Darby’s bridge was built to show off its iron structure, the Ure bridge’s cast-iron beams were disguised by stone paving slabs. As the main road from London to Scotland, it bore far heavier loads than the Darby bridge — until 1945 when it finally collapsed.

Carbon culprits

Global carbon emissions are predicted to rise by 2 per cent this year — the first increase for several years. Which countries are, officially, the worst offenders?

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Druin Burch

Lucy Letby and the killer nurse I worked with

Source: World Bank

Pay stations

Southern Railway train drivers accepted a 28 per cent pay rise over five years, taking their basic salary for a four-day week to £63,000 and putting them in the top 7 per cent of UK earners.