I'm one of millions who take a daily aspirin tablet, medically advised. Mine come in packets of 100 and at the start of the year that packet cost £1.99.
I went to the pharmacy yesterday to buy some more but they weren't on the shelf behind the desk any more. Staff went hunting and came back with a box costing £3.60.... but there were only 28 tablets in it. "How much?!" I asked, "for how few?!" They apologised because there's been a shortage, abruptly raising prices. They checked locally and this was genuinely the best price available.
To do the maths...
• Previously 100 tablets cost £1.99, i.e. 2p each
• Now 28 tablets cost £3.60, so 13p each
• That's a 6-fold increase in six months! (technically a rise of 540%)
At these prices a year's-worth of aspirin would cost £47 (previously £8)
The reason is significant product shortages. According to the news back inJanuary, "the UK is witnessing a country-wide shortage of aspirin, with pharmacies being unable to meet demand and prices being at an all-time high. Manufacturing delays are being cited as a primary source for these delays, with pharmacists having to ration stock." Meh.
How I solved this problem: I went to Boots where a box of 100 aspirin still costs £2.10. That's corporate buying power for you. How I intend to solve this problem: I can ask my doctor to prescribe the aspirin so I'll get it for free. (this wasn't a sensible option 10 years ago because the prescription fee was much higher than paying for a box of aspirin)
Count Binface, intergalactic space warrior, could pull off an astonishing triumph in the forthcoming Clacton by-election. Betting companies currently only give him odds of 5 to 1 to win, but should he perform well the subsequent humiliation for Nigel Farage could conceivably change the course of UK politics.
2017 Maidenhead (General Election): 7th place with 0.4% of the votes against Theresa May (as Lord Buckethead) 2019 Uxbridge and South Ruislip (General Election): 7th place with 0.1% of the votes against Boris Johnson 2021 London (Mayoral Election): 9th place with 1.0% of the votes against Sadiq Khan 2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip (by-election): 7th place with 0.6% of the votes against Steve Tuckwell 2024 London (Mayoral Election): 11th place with 1.0% of the votes against Sadiq Khan 2024 Richmond and Northallerton (General Election): 6th place with 0.6% of the votes against Rishi Sunak 2026 Makerfield (by-election): 7th place with 0.2% of the votes against Andy Burnham
Count Binface's highest vote is 24,775 against Sadiq in 2021, his lowest is 69 against Boris in 2019.
His highest percentage share is 0.98% against Sadiq in 2024, his lowest is 0.14% against Boris in 2019.
His highest placing is 6th against Rishi in 2024, his lowest is 11th against Sadiq in 2024.
His highest placing is likely to become 1st or 2nd in Clacton in 2026, and maybe then the hand dryer in the gents' urinals at the Crown & Treaty pub in Uxbridge will be moved to a more sensible position.
It's that time of year when the ONS reveals the most popular baby names. They do however continue to divide the data into two lists, one for boys and one for girls, so what happens if you combine the two?
The top 20 baby names in England and Wales, 2025
Muhammad, Noah, Leo, Luca, Arthur, Oliver, George, Oscar, Theodore, Freddie, Archie, Theo, Olivia, Henry, Lily, Amelia, Jude, Arlo, Isla, Alfie
There are 16 boys' names in that list and only four girls' names. The top 10 are all boys. The top girls' name is Olivia with a count of 2386, twelve behind the 12th boys' name which is Theo. This suggests that when parents are naming girls they use a wider variety of names than when naming boys.
The top boys' name, Muhammad, was given to more than twice as many babies as Olivia. The ONS confirms that there were 585,396 live births in England and Wales in 2025. Of these 1.0% were named Muhammad and 0.4% were named Olivia.
Here are some well known Underground superlatives.
Longest escalator: Angel (27.4m vertical rise) Shortest escalator: Stratford (4.11m vertical rise) Deepest lift shaft: Hampstead (55.2m) Longest tunnel: East Finchley to Morden (27.8km) Longest direct journey: West Ruislip to Epping (54.9km) Shortest distance between stations: Leicester Square to Covent Garden (260m)
But all of these are on hot sweaty sticky deep tube lines.
Nobody wants to be doing that in this weather.
So what happens if you restrict the records to the four air-conditioned lines?
Longest escalator: Sloane Square (7.77m vertical rise) Shortest escalator: Westminster (5.99m vertical rise) Deepest lift shaft: Moorgate (6.3m) Longest tunnel: Sloane Square to Aldgate? (7.0km) Longest direct journey: Chesham to Aldgate (47.7km) Shortest distance between stations: Monument to Cannon Street (340m)
The Elizabeth line is not an Underground line, obv.
The Prime Minister has hinted that there might be a bank holiday if England win the World Cup. Sir Keir said "On the question of a bank holiday, I think I don't want to jinx it, but ask me again if we get to the final." According to the BBC it's understood the extra bank holiday would be on the Friday following England's win - 24 July.
A normal citizen might have thought "oh excellent, I hope that happens!" or "damn, that'll mess up my plans for 24th July". What I thought, obviously, is "ooh, would that be the first ever bank holiday in July?"
I thought a bit more and no, we had a bank holiday for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer on 29th July 1981. But it would be only the second time there's been a bank holiday in July.
Then I wondered "Are there any months that have never had a bank holiday?" which is a better question. I knocked up a spreadsheet listing all the bankholidays from 1871 to 2026, and yes there are two such months.
There have been 1049 bank holidays altogether and this is how they pan out by month.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Count
53
0
68
246
163
47
1
154
3
0
1
313
%
5%
0%
6%
23%
16%
4%
0.1%
15%
0.3%
0%
0.1%
30%
The two bank-holiday free months are February and October. It's never ever happened.
July only has one - the 1981 Royal Wedding.
November only has one - the 1973 Royal Wedding.
September only has three - the 'August' bank holiday in 1968 and 1969, also the Queen's funeral in 2022.
December has had the most bank holidays, 30% of the entire total.
April and May have had 39% of all bank holidays between them.
More than two-thirds of English bank holidays have been in April, May or December.
England would of course have to win three more games to change any of this, so best not get your hopes up.
