Who’d be in the Jailhouse of Commons?

Picking a pope

To choose a new pope, 120 cardinals will be confined in the Vatican until they have reached a decision. To pick Pope Francis in 2013 took two days – but in November 1268, when cardinals gathered in the town of Viterbo to choose a successor to Clement IV, there was deadlock. Locals locked the cardinals in the episcopal palace and even removed the roof to speed them up. It still took until September 1271 to pick Teobaldo Visconti, who became Pope Gregory X.

Jailhouse of Commons

Ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury was jailed for assault. In a House of Commons made up of MPs and former MPs jailed since 1945, who would form the government?

Labour (Amesbury, Raymond Blackburn, David Chaytor, Terry Fields*, Eric Illsley, Elliot Morley, Fiona Onasanya*, John Stonehouse, David Weitzman*) 9

Opposition Unity (Northern Irish party) 8

Conservative (Jonathan Aitken, Jeffrey Archer, Keith Best, Peter Baker*, Bill Carr, Ian Horobin, Imran Ahmad Khan) 7

Ulster Unionist 7

Democratic Unionist 6

Lib Dem (Chris Huhne) 7

* Jailed while still a sitting MP

Streets ahead

According to estate agents Savills, the value of residential property in the UK has reached £9.1 trillion, 3.5 times GDP. How is this spread around the country?

London £1992bn

South East £1698bn

East £996bn

South West £847bn

North West £720bn

West Midlands £632bn

Scotland £546bn

East Midlands £520bn

Yorkshire and Humber £508bn

Wales £302bn

North East £191bn

Northern Ireland £153bn

Renewed effort

The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit claimed the UK ‘net zero sector’ employs 951,000 people and has expanded by 10 per cent in a year. How does Britain compare internationally for renewable jobs? Number employed in 2024 according to the International Renewable Energy Agency:

China 7.39m

Rest of Asia 2.16m

EU 1.81m

Brazil 1.57m

US 1.06m

India 1.02m

UK 57,000