|
1
The average amount borrowed by parents from their adult children last year was £8,250, whereas adult children borrowed an average of £13,000 from their parents. Observer
|
|
2
The UK's newest submarine will last 25 years without needing to be refuelled. The 39,000 or so acoustic panels which cover its surface mask its sonar signature, meaning HMS ASTUTE is the stealthiest submarine ever built in the UK, able to sit off the coast undetected, listening to mobile phone conversations or delivering the UK's special forces where needed. BBC
|
|
3
Britons drink less alcohol than the European average; alcohol consumption in 2009 saw the sharpest year-on-year decline since 1948; the data showed a 6% fall in 2009 - the fourth annual drop in five years. British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA)
|
|
4
Regional dialects are spreading around the UK thanks to Facebook and Twitter; language experts have found the increased speed at which people communicate on social networking sites means they are more likely to lapse into colloquialisms; it's not uncommon to hear a northerner utter words such as 'lush' or 'tidy' - Welsh terms for attractive, or to catch southerners describing something good as 'mint', a term coined in Manchester. Mail
|
|
5
The proportion of working Britons expecting to retire at 65 or older has risen from 44% to 61% over the past decade and a half, while the number predicting retirement before 65 has fallen from 50% to 29%. Gallup
|
|
6
With processors getting speedier and password-hacking software freely available on the web, the 8-letter password may soon be obsolete, researchers used graphics cards to crack 8-character passwords in two hours; divining 12-character passwords, by contrast, would have taken more than 17,000 years - the researchers say any password shorter than a dozen characters could soon be vulnerable. CNN
|
|
7
Apple announced that in less than 48 hours since its launch on Wednesday, more than one million users had joined Ping, its new social network for music; Ping lets users follow their favourite artists and friends to discover what music they’re talking about, listening to, and downloading. BBC
|
|
8
A ten-year project to give the Forth Road Bridge a new rust-proof coating is about to be completed, 12 months ahead of schedule; in the old days, as soon as the bridge had been painted, work had to start again; now it shouldn’t need another coat for another 40 years. Telegraph
|
|
9
With 402.1 people for each square kilometre, England is now the second most populated country in Europe, after Malta; the UK comes fifth on the list with 259.6; France is 19th, with 99.4; Finland is last, with 15.8. Mail
|
|
10
Food consumed outside the home in Britain now accounts for 35% of total spending on food – up from 25% in the 1960s; analysts say that there is plenty of room for that figure to grow, in America eating out makes up 50% of the total. FT
|