Barometer | 18 February 2016

Selling with honesty

An Essex estate agent sold a flat in Westcliff-on-Sea for £22,500 over the £125,000 asking price after advertising it with the words: ‘Wipe your feet on the way out…this property is full of rubbish, there is mould on the walls and I think there may even be fleas.’ The original honest estate agent was Roy Brooks, who operated from Chelsea in the 1960s and won fame by describing properties he was selling with such accolades as ‘erstwhile house of ill-repute’, ‘rather theatrical — in keeping with the pretentious style of the owner’ and ‘ten rather unpleasant rooms with slimy back yard’. The latter property, advertised for £4,650, would now be worth 1,000 times that..

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Dan Walker, who has been appointed to present BBC Breakfast, is said to believe in creationism. Is he unusual? A 2009 poll asked whether people believed in ‘Young Earth Creationism’ — that the Earth was created by God in the past 10,000 years.

Definitely true	11%
Probably true	21%
Probably untrue	22%
Definitely untrue	38%
Don’t know	8%

The age groups most inclined to believe were 18–24s and over-65s.
Source: ComRes/Theos

Drinking and dying

The government was reported to be considering reducing the drink-drive limit in England and Wales from 80mg per 100ml to 50mg. How much alcohol was in the bloodstream of drivers and motorcyclists killed in 2013?

0–19 mg/100ml	77.3%
20–49	4.2%
50–79	1.9%
80–109	1.6%
110+	15.1%

Source: DfT

Endlessly at home

William Wragg, 28, the Tory MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester, revealed that he had moved back in with his parents to save money. Is that common at his age?
— According to the ONS, 26% of 20-to-34-year-olds still live with their parents, up from 21% in 1996.
— Londoners were least likely to be living in the parental home (22%), perhaps because of the number of people who move to London early in their careers.