Barometer | 7 March 2019

Trolley dollies

Virgin Atlantic dropped its requirement for air hostesses to wear make-up at work. What was required of the first air hostesses?
— United Airlines introduced hostesses in 1930 on its multi-leg flights from California to Wyoming. They had to be registered nurses, aged 25 or under, weigh no more than 8st 2lb and be no taller than 5ft 4in.
— The first UK airline to introduce hostesses was Air Despatch in 1936. They were expected not only to be able to cook and mix cocktails but also to be able to type letters for businessmen on the flight.

On a knife edge

Is knife crime rising everywhere?

	Offences per 100,000 population
	2016/17 – 2017/18
London	137 – 167
Yorkshire, Humberside	64 – 79
West Midlands	65 – 72
North-West	51 – 59
East Midlands	48 – 57
East	49 – 46
North-East	38 – 39
South-East	30 – 37
Wales	29 – 37
South-West	31 – 31

Hotter than average

A new record temperature for February of 21.2°C was set at Kew. What are the records for the other months and when were they set? (Measurements from 1868 onwards.)

January	18.3 (1958/1971/2003)
March	25.6 (1968)
April	29.4 (1949)
May	32.8 (1922/1944)
June	35.6 (1957/1976)
July	36.7 (2015)
August	38.5 (2003)
September	35.6 (2006)
October	29.9 (2011)
November	22.4 (2015)
December	18.3 (1948)

Source: Met Office

Where the wealth isn’t

The government announced a £1.6 billion ‘Stronger Towns’ fund to help some of Britain’s poorest areas. What are the poorest ten districts in Britain (in terms of median weekly earnings for full-time employees)? Remarkably, the poorest district is in East Sussex, only two are in the north of England and none are in Scotland.

Rother (Bexhill on Sea)	£426.50
Newark and Sherwood	£437.40
Boston	£439.60
Mendip	£440.40
West Devon	£444.30
Rossendale (Lancashire)	£445.10
Anglesey	£446.90