How much steel does Britain produce?

Double date

This year, Orthodox Easter is on the same date as the western Easter, 20 April. How common is that? The Orthodox Church has a different date for Easter because it still calculates the date according to the Julian calendar, which runs 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. But the dates coincide when the first full moon after the spring equinox occurs relatively late. The dates last coincided in 2017, but eight years is a relatively long run without this happening. This year is the ninth occasion this century when western and Orthodox Easters have been on the same day. A common date for Easter will next happen in 2028, followed by 2031, 2034, 2037 and 2041.

Steel yourself

In 1875 Britain was the world’s largest producer of steel, accounting for 40 per cent of global production. Where does it fit in now? In 2023 the world produced 1,892 million tons of steel. The biggest producers, in millions of tons, were:

China 1,019

India 141

Japan 87

US 81

Russia 76

South Korea 67

Germany 35

Turkey 34

Brazil 32

Iran 31

Britain is in 26th place, with 5.6m tons.

Driven to succeed

Where are you most likely, and least likely, to pass your driving theory test? Pass rate between April and September 2024:

Highest

Kyle of Lochalsh 70%

Tain; Huntingdon 61%

Brodick 56%

Mallaig 55%

Diss 54%

Lowest

Newton Stewart 26%

Porthmadog; Cromer 33%

Stornoway 34%

Worksop; Bala 35%

Cyber insecurity

How big a problem is cyber crime?

— 43% of businesses and 30% of charities report a cyber breach in the past 12 months.

— Not all are criminal acts; some are accidents. 20% of businesses and 14% of charities report experiencing cyber crime.

— The average cost of a breach was £1,600 for businesses and £3,240 for charities. Just 45% of businesses and 34% of charities were insured against breaches.

Source: Dept. for Science, Innovation and Tech