Barometer | 5 November 2011

• Initial problems

The leaders of the eurozone countries have hatched a plan to bundle up dodgy Greek government debt and sell it to the Chinese. Without any apparent sense of irony, the debt will be sold in the form of a Special Purpose Investment Vehicle — known as Spiv for short. Some other unfortunate acronyms:
— Canadian Reform Alliance Party (since merged with the Conservatives)
— Committee to Re-Elect the President: formed to raise money for Richard Nixon’s election campaign in 1972
— Area Rolling Stock Engineer: position held by British Railways functionaries
— South Lake Union Trolley: (reputed) original name for tram line in Seattle
— SS: now-replaced emblems on the arms of traffic wardens on Southend-on-Sea, derived from the town’s postcode

• Making billions

The Earth’s population has officially passed seven billion. These are the years in which the population reached previous milestones:
1 billion    1804
2 billion    1927
3 billion    1960
4 billion    1974
5 billion    1987
6 billion    1999