The FA’s 99.6pc conviction rate, and other weird facts

We will remember them

A German diplomat called on Britain to commemorate but not celebrate the centenary of the Great War. Some of the events planned so far:

— Candle to be extinguished in Westminster Abbey at 11 p.m. on 4 August
— First world war paintings to be displayed on 22,000 poster sites around the country
— Memorial arch to be constructed in Folkestone, from where many soldiers left for the front
— Replicas of biplanes to be flown from Dover to St Omer
— Bus used at the front to be restored by London Transport Museum

A sense of conviction

Most popular

Ameer Kotecha

Lindt has cheapened itself

The Football Association has been attacked for clearing just two out of 473 players brought before it on disciplinary matters in 2011, a ‘conviction’ rate of 99.6 per cent. Is there any criminal justice system with such a high rate?

Stirring up apathy

Labour wants to give the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds. What was voter turnout by age in the 2010 general election?

Source: Ipsos-Mori

Flight risk

The partner of a Guardian journalist involved in publishing documents leaked by Edward Snowden was stopped for nine hours at Heathrow under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. How many people were stopped at ports and airports by authorities under this legislation in 2011/12?

— 63,902 were stopped and searched
— This equates to 0.06% of the 106 million arrivals
— Of those stopped, 2,240 were kept for more than an hour
— 680 were detained

In all, 206 were arrested under the Terrorism Act in 2011/12
— 73 were charged
— Of these, 43 were charged with terror-related offences and 30 on other offences

Source: Home Office