The Spectator

Barometer | 30 April 2015

Plus: How Miliband-style rent controls are already working; the riches of Len Blavatnik; and who gets wolf-whistled

issue 02 May 2015

One-way stretch

A study at Louisville University in Kentucky concluded that collisions are twice as likely in one-way streets as in similar streets with two-way traffic.
— The one-way street is an older concept than many might imagine. Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire of London began in 1666, was one of the world’s first one-way streets. An order restricting cart traffic to one-way travel on that and 16 other lanes around Thames Street was issued in 1617.
— Data on traffic flow at the time is hard to come by, but the idea was not copied for over 300 years, until Mare Street, Hackney, became a one-way street in 1924.

Blavatnik’s billions

Ukrainian-born businessman Len Blavatnik was named by the Sunday Times as Britain’s richest man, worth £13.2bn. Some other recent estimates of his wealth:
$10.1bn (£6.5bn): Jerry Kroth in his book Duped: Delusion, Denial and the End of the American Dream (2012)
$18.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in