• 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
• Odds and ends
Three Pakistani cricketers have been convicted of spot-fixing by bowling no-balls at times pre-arranged with a betting syndicate. Some bets that it would be harder to fix:
| That the Thames in London will freeze over this winter | 20-1 |
| That aliens are living among us | 250-1 |
| That Bigfoot will finally be found | 500-1 |
| That Lord Lucan will turn up alive | 750-1 |
| That dinosaurs will be found alive and well somewhere on Earth | 5000-1 |
Source: quirkybet.com/William Hill
• A place in the sun
HM Revenue and Customs announced a 200-strong team of officials who will track down income from undeclared overseas properties. Where should they look?
| Country | British households with second homes |
| France | 112,000 |
| Spain | 112,000 |
| USA | 17,000 |
| Portugal | 17,000 |
| Italy | 13,000 |
Source: Savills
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