Does Leeds need trains – or trams?

Shell out

Royal Dutch Shell announced that it is to move its HQ to London and become a fully British company. What’s its history?

— The company has its origins with a London antiques dealer, Marcus Samuel, who in 1833 diversified to import oriental shells as fashionable decorations. After his death in 1870, his sons Marcus Jr and Samuel diverted their interests to oil, building a fleet of tankers to import it from Dutch Borneo. The business merged with the Royal Dutch Company in 1907.

Take the tram

The government is to abandon the eastern leg of HS2 and offer Leeds a tram system instead. Which does Leeds need more?

Leeds to London trains cover the 170 miles in 136 minutes — an average speed of 75 mph. HS2 trains would take 81 minutes at an average speed of 126 mph.

To Leeds’s suburbs from the city centre:

Rothwell by bus, 30 mins (ave. speed 8 mph)

Yeadon by bus and train, 33 mins (7.5 mph)

Most popular

Arthur Roffey

Douglas Murray has been blacklisted in Berlin

Whinmoor by bus, 41 mins (6.6 mph)

Morley by bus, 38 mins (6.3 mph)

Bradford takes 28 mins by train (18.2 mph) or 55 mins by bus (9.3 mph)

Source: National Rail/West Yorkshire Metro

Power pricing

Spot prices for wholesale electricity spiked at more than £200 per MWh due to low wind speeds. How has the price moved in the past year? (£ per MWh)

Oct 2020 44.65

Nov 2020 46.83

Dec 2020 59.57

Jan 2021 90.94

Feb 2021 56.46

Mar 2021 56.51

April 2021 69.38

May 2021 76.43

Jun 2021 79.75

Jul 2021 94.73

Aug 2021 108.33

Sept 2021 227.32

Source: Ofgem

The unjabbed

Which demographic groups are not being vaccinated, according to the ONS?

— 18- to 34-year-olds who live in households of more than five: 0.69 times as likely to be vaccinated as those who live by themselves.

— Non-white 18- to 34-year-olds are 0.66 times as likely to be vaccinated as white people of the same age group.