Barometer | 20 September 2018

Trans mission

Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt ordered research into a huge rise in referrals of under-18 girls to transgender services. What are the relative numbers of men and women seeking this help?

— The Tavistock and Portman Trust reports a rise in gender identity referrals from 97 (41 per cent born female) in 2009-10 to 2,519 (72 per cent born female) in 2017-18.
— A 2009 survey by the Gender Identity Research and Education Society found 80% seeking medical care for gender variance were born male and 20% female.
— A 2015 study by the US Census Bureau revealed that 65% who had changed their social security gender identity were born male and 35% female.

Flawed forecasts

Most popular

Matthew Lynn

Nationalising British Steel won’t fix a thing

The IMF said UK growth would struggle to top 1.5 per cent a year in coming years, even if Brexit goes smoothly. What is its record on forecasting UK economic growth?

Forecast date	For year / Predicted / Actual
April 2008	2008 / +1.6% / - 0.5%
April 2008	2009 / +1.6% / - 4.2%
July 2009	2010 / +0.2% / +1.7%
July 2012	2012 / +0.2% / +1.5%
July 2012	2013 / +1.4% / +2.1%
Jan 2014	2014 / +2.4% / +3.1%
Jan 2014	2015 / +2.2% / +2.3%
July 2016	2016 / +1.7% / +1.9%
July 2016	2017 / +1.3% / +1.8%

Steep freeze

The Human Organ Research Preservation Trust, which offers cryogenic suspension for people who hope they can be brought back to life in future, won an appeal against a decision to end its charitable status. How many people are cryogenically preserved?

The US-based Cryonics Institute (offering full suspension for $28,000) says it has:
— 1,536 paid-up subscribers
— 170 humans under cryogenic suspension
— 154 pets under cryogenic suspension
— 269 humans who have had their DNA but not their bodies preserved

Bad neighbours

A pair of elderly neighbours are said to have run up legal bills of £120,000 in a dispute over a car-parking space blocking a garden gate in Maidenhead.