WHITAKER’S2016

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

THE YEAR 2016

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UNITED KINGDOM

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THE ROYAL FAMILY 2042seiraterceS etavirP62ecnaniF82seltiT dna sknaR yratiliM13sneeuQ dna sgniK53rosdniW fo esuoH ehT

Descendants of Queen Victoria 36

83ECNEDECERP

04EGAREEP14sreeP yratidereH06sreeP efiL

Courtesy Titles and Peers’ Surnames 6957lautiripS sdroL67yrlavihC fo sredrO97egathginK dna egatenoraB401nhoJ tS fo redrO ehT501semaD901sladeM dna snoitaroceD211dnaltocS ni snalC fo sfeihC311licnuoC yvirP

711TNEMAILRAP821tnemailraP fo srebmeM

General Election 2015 Results 136471stnemtimmoC otsefinaM

THE GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC671SEIDOB671 tenibaC ehT871stnemtrapeD tnemnrevoG881seicnegA evitucexE

Non-ministerial Government Departments 192691seidoB cilbuP

DEVOLVED GOVERNMENT 216612selaW122dnaltocS032mudnerefeR132dnalerI nrehtroN

REGIONAL GOVERNMENT 237732nodnoL

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 241

LOCAL GOVERNMENT 244Political Composition of Councils 250

552dnalgnE652seitiC lapicnirP262slicnuoC ytnuoC hsilgnE

London Borough Councils 262362slicnuoC tcirtsiD

Metropolitan Borough Councils 266762slicnuoC yratinU962nodnoL172sdliuG ytiC ehT472selaW772dnaltocS282dnalerI nrehtroN482naM fo elsI582sdnalsI lennahC

LAW AND ORDER 287Law Courts and O� 782sec

492erutaciduJ hsittocSNorthern Ireland Judicature 296

892slanubirT403secivreS namsdubmO703eciloP113snosirP

513ECNEFED323seiralaS523snoisneP

623 NOITACUDE623metsyS noitacudE ehT443seitisrevinU553noitacudE lanoisseforP463sloohcS tnednepednI373seimedacA lanoitaN573slicnuoC hcraeseR

873HTLAEH873ecivreS htlaeH lanoitaN

SOCIAL WELFARE 384483secivreS laicoS583ecnarusnI lanoitaN683snoisneP983snoisneP raW093stiderC xaT

Benefi 193st

UTILITIES AND TRANSPORT 398893retaW104ygrenE604tropsnarT

514NOIGILER514KU eht ni noigileR124sehcruhC

COMMUNICATIONS 442244secivreS latsoP344snoitacinummoceleT544tenretnI

3

THE ENVIRONMENT 447744egatireH dna noitavresnoC654setiS egatireH dlroW

854EGATIREHHistoric Buildings and Monuments 458

664seirellaG dna smuesuM474nodnoL fo sthgiS184skramllaH

BANKING AND FINANCE 483384ycnerruC hsitirB

Banking and Personal Finance 485Financial Services Regulation 490

294sgnivaS lanoitaN394tbeD lanoitaN494egnahcxE kcotS nodnoL594scitsitatS cimonocE794gniviL fo tsoC994ecnarusnI

305NOITAXAT305xaT emocnI615xaT deddA eulaV715ytuD pmatS

915SETON LAGEL445ytreporP lautcelletnI

645AIDEM EHT645gnitsacdaorB645noisiveleT845oidaR155sserP ehT155srepapsweN555slacidoireP

065SNOITASINAGROTrade and Professional Bodies 560

465snoinU edarT865seidoB stropS375sbulC575seiteicoS dna seitirahC

THE WORLD

195serugiF ni dlroW ehT895secnatsiD riA995saesrevO levarT

106noinU naeporuE116snoitasinagrO lanoitanretnI

Countries of the World A–Z 634929seloP htuoS dna htroN ehT239seirotirreT saesrevO KU

THE YEAR 2014–15

349stnevEA Century Ago: Events 1914–15 943UK A� 449sria

749aideM dna strACrimes and Legal A� 849sria

059ecneicS dna tnemnorivnE359tropS

International A� 559sria969seirautibO179ygoloeahcrA579erutcetihcrA189 trA489ecnaniF dna ssenisuB789 noitavresnoC789tnemnorivnE larutaN099egatireH tliuB299ecnaD699mliF999erutaretiL3001aideM ehT3001noisiveleT4001oidaR5001sserP ehT6001tenretnI8001arepO dna cisuM lacissalC4101cisuM poP7101tnemailraP2201tnemailraP fo stcA4201yrevocsiD dna ecneicS9201stluseR stropS0501sdroceR stropS3501ertaehT7501rehtaeW

TIME AND SPACE

5601ymonortsATime Measurement and Calendars 1123

7311snoitciderP ladiT

4411snoitaiverbbA8411xednI

4

ORDERS OF CHIVALRY

THE MOST NOBLEORDER OF THE GARTER(1348)

KGRibbon, BlueMotto, Honi soit qui mal y pense(Shame on him who thinks evil of it)

The number of Knights and LadiesCompanion is limited to 24

SOVEREIGN OF THE ORDERThe Queen

LADIES OF THE ORDERHRH The Princess Royal, 1994HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon.

Lady Ogilvy, 2003

ROYAL KNIGHTSHRH The Prince Philip, Duke of

Edinburgh, 1947HRH The Prince of Wales, 1958HRH The Duke of Kent, 1985HRH The Duke of Gloucester, 1997HRH The Duke of York, 2006HRH The Earl of Wessex, 2006HRH The Duke of Cambridge, 2008

EXTRA KNIGHTS COMPANION ANDLADIESGrand Duke Jean of Luxembourg,

1972HM The Queen of Denmark, 1979HM The King of Sweden, 1983HM King Juan Carlos, 1988HRH Princess Beatrix of the

Netherlands, 1989HIM The Emperor of Japan, 1998HM The King of Norway, 2001

KNIGHTS AND LADIES COMPANIONLord Carrington, 1985Lord Bramall, 1990Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover,

1992Lord Ashburton, 1994Sir Ninian Stephen, 1994Sir Timothy Colman, 1996Duke of Abercorn, 1999Sir William Gladstone, 1999Lord Inge, 2001Sir Anthony Acland, 2001Duke of Westminster, 2003Lord Butler of Brockwell, 2003Lord Morris of Aberavon, 2003Sir John Major, 2005Lord Luce, 2008

Sir Thomas Dunne, 2008Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers,

2011Lord Boyce, 2011Lord Stirrup, 2013Baroness Manningham-Buller, 2014Lord King of Lothbury, 2014

Prelate, Bishop of WinchesterChancellor, Duke of Abercorn, KGRegister, Dean of WindsorGarter King of Arms, Thomas

Woodcock, CVOGentleman Usher of the Black Rod,

Lt.-Gen. David Leakey, CMG, CBESecretary, Patric Dickinson, LVO

THE MOST ANCIENTAND MOST NOBLEORDER OF THE THISTLE(REVIVED 1687)

KTRibbon, GreenMotto, Nemo me impune lacessit(No one provokes me with impunity)

The number of Knights and Ladies ofthe Thistle is limited to 16

SOVEREIGN OF THE ORDERThe Queen

ROYAL KNIGHTSHRH The Prince Philip, Duke of

Edinburgh, 1952HRH The Prince of Wales, Duke of

Rothesay, 1977HRH The Duke of Cambridge, Earl of

Strathearn, 2012

ROYAL LADY OF THE ORDERHRH The Princess Royal, 2000

KNIGHTS AND LADIESEarl of Elgin and Kincardine, 1981Earl of Airlie, 1985Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, 1996Lady Marion Fraser, 1996Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden, 1996Lord Mackay of Clashfern, 1997Lord Wilson of Tillyorn, 2000Lord Sutherland of Houndwood, 2002Sir Eric Anderson, 2002Lord Steel of Aikwood, 2004Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, 2004Lord Cullen of Whitekirk, 2007Lord Hope of Craighead, 2009Lord Patel, 2009

Earl of Home, 2013Lord Smith of Kelvin, 2013

Chancellor, Earl of Airlie, KT, GCVO,PC

Dean, Very Revd Prof. Iain Torrance,TD

Secretary, Mrs C. Roads, LVOLord Lyon King of Arms, Dr Joseph

MorrowGentleman Usher of the Green Rod,

Rear-Adm. Christopher Layman,CB, DSO, LVO

THE MOSTHONOURABLE ORDEROF THE BATH (1725)

GCB Military GCB Civil

Ribbon, CrimsonMotto, Tria juncta in uno(Three joined in one)

Remodelled 1815, and enlarged manytimes since. The order is divided intocivil and military divisions. Womenbecame eligible for the order from1 January 1971.

THE SOVEREIGN

GREAT MASTER AND FIRST ORPRINCIPAL KNIGHT GRAND CROSSHRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT,

GCB, OM

Dean of the Order, Dean of WestminsterBath King of Arms, Admiral of the Fleet,

the Lord Boyce, KG, GCB, OBERegistrar and Secretary, Rear-Adm. Iain

Henderson, CB, CBEGenealogist, Thomas Woodcock, CVOGentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod,

Maj.-Gen. Charles Vyvyan, CB, CBEDeputy Secretary, Secretary of the

Central Chancery of the Orders ofKnighthood

Chancery, Central Chancery of the Ordersof Knighthood, St James’s Palace,London SW1A 1BH

GCB Knight (or Dame) GrandCross

KCB Knight CommanderDCB Dame CommanderCB Companion

76

PARLIAMENT

The UK constitution is not contained in any single documentbut has evolved over time, formed by statute, common lawand convention. A constitutional monarchy, the UK isgoverned by ministers of the crown in the name of thesovereign, who is head both of the state and of thegovernment.

The organs of government are the legislature (parliament),the executive and the judiciary. The executive comprises HMgovernment (the cabinet and other ministers), governmentdepartments and local authorities (see GovernmentDepartments, Public Bodies and Local Government). Thejudiciary (see Law Courts and O�ces) pronounces on the law,both written and unwritten, interprets statutes and isresponsible for the enforcement of the law; the judiciaryis independent of both the legislature and the executive.

THE MONARCHY

The sovereign personifies the state and is, in law, an integralpart of the legislature, head of the executive, head of thejudiciary, commander-in-chief of all armed forces of thecrown and supreme governor of the Church of England. Inthe Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, which are crowndependencies, the sovereign is represented by a lieutenant-governor. In the member states of the Commonwealth ofwhich the sovereign is head of state, her representative is agovernor-general; in UK overseas territories the sovereign isusually represented by a governor, who is responsible to theBritish government.

Although in practice the powers of the monarchy are nowvery limited, and restricted mainly to the advisory andceremonial, there are important acts of government whichrequire the participation of the sovereign. These includesummoning, proroguing and dissolving parliament, givingroyal assent to bills passed by parliament, appointingimportant o�ce-holders, eg government ministers, judges,bishops and governors, conferring peerages, knighthoodsand other honours, and granting pardon to a person wronglyconvicted of a crime. The sovereign appoints the primeminister; by convention this o�ce is held by the leader of thepolitical party which enjoys, or can secure, a majority ofvotes in the House of Commons. In international a�airs thesovereign, as head of state, has the power to declare war andmake peace, to recognise foreign states and governments, toconclude treaties and to annex or cede territory. However, asthe sovereign entrusts executive power to ministers of thecrown and acts on the advice of her ministers, which shecannot ignore, royal prerogative powers are in practiceexercised by ministers, who are responsible to parliament.

Ministerial responsibility does not diminish thesovereign’s importance to the smooth working ofgovernment. She holds meetings of the Privy Council (seebelow), gives audiences to her ministers and other o�cials athome and overseas, receives accounts of cabinet decisions,reads dispatches and signs state papers; she must be informedand consulted on every aspect of national life; and she mustshow complete impartiality.

COUNSELLORS OF STATEIf the sovereign travels abroad for more than a few days orsu�ers from a temporary illness, it is necessary to appointmembers of the royal family, known as counsellors of state,under letters patent to carry out the chief functions of the

monarch, including the holding of Privy Councils andgiving royal assent to acts passed by parliament. The normalprocedure is to appoint three or four members of the royalfamily among those members remaining in the UK, providedthey are over 21. There are currently five counsellors of state.

In the event of the sovereign on accession being under theage of 18 years, or by infirmity of mind or body, renderedincapable of performing the royal functions, provision ismade for a regency.

THE PRIVY COUNCIL

The sovereign in council, or Privy Council, was the chiefsource of executive power until the system of cabinetgovernment developed. Its main function today is to advisethe sovereign on the approval of various statutory functionsand acts of the royal prerogative. These powers are exercisedthrough orders in council and royal proclamations, approvedby the Queen at meetings of the Privy Council. Thecouncil is also able to exercise a number of statutory dutieswithout approval from the sovereign, including powers ofsupervision over the registering bodies for the medical andallied professions. These duties are exercised through ordersof council.

Although appointment as a privy counsellor is for life,only those who are currently government ministers areinvolved in the day-to-day business of the council. A fullcouncil is summoned only on the death of the sovereign orwhen the sovereign announces his or her intention to marry.(For a full list of privy counsellors, see the Privy Councilsection.)

There are a number of advisory Privy Council committeeswhose meetings the sovereign does not attend. Some areprerogative committees, such as those dealing with legislativematters submitted by the legislatures of the Channel Islandsand the Isle of Man or with applications for charters ofincorporation; and some are provided for by statute, eg thosefor the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and someScottish universities.

Administrative work is carried out by the Privy CouncilO�ce under the direction of the Lord President of theCouncil, a cabinet minister.

JUDICIAL COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCILSupreme Court Building, Parliament Square, London SW1P 3BDT 020-7960 1500 W www.jcpc.uk

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the court offinal appeal from courts of the UK dependencies, courts ofindependent Commonwealth countries which have retainedthe right of appeal and courts of the Channel Islands and theIsle of Man. It also hears very occasional appeals from anumber of ancient and ecclesiastical courts.

The committee is composed of privy counsellors whohold, or have held, high judicial o�ce. Only three or fivejudges hear each case, and these are usually justices of thesupreme court.Chief Executive, Jenny Rowe, CB

PARLIAMENT

Parliament is the supreme law-making authority and canlegislate for the UK as a whole or for any parts of it

117

PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES AS AT 7 MAY 2015 GENERAL ELECTION

UK TurnoutE. 46,424,006 T. 30,697,845 (66.1%)

ENGLAND

ALDERSHOTE. 72,434 T. 46,191 (63.77%) C. holdGerald Howarth, C. 23,369Gary Pu�ett, Lab. 8,468Bill Walker, UKIP 8,253Alan Hilliar, LD 4,076Carl Hewitt, Green 2,025C. majority 14,901 (32.26%)1.18% swing C. to Lab.(2010: C. majority 5,586 (12.31%))

ALDRIDGE-BROWNHILLSE. 60,215 T. 39,497 (65.59%) C. hold*Wendy Morton, C. 20,558John Fisher, Lab. 8,835Anthony Thompson, UKIP 7,751Ian Garrett, LD 1,330Martyn Curzey, Green 826Mark Beech, Loony 197C. majority 11,723 (29.68%)4.92% swing C. to Lab.(2010: C. majority 15,266 (39.51%))

ALTRINCHAM & SALE WESTE. 72,004 T. 50,517 (70.16%) C. holdGraham Brady, C. 26,771James Wright, Lab. 13,481Jane Brophy, LD 4,235Chris Frost, UKIP 4,047Nick Robertson-Brown, Green 1,983C. majority 13,290 (26.31%)0.11% swing C. to Lab.(2010: C. majority 11,595 (23.47%))

AMBER VALLEYE. 70,226 T. 45,717 (65.10%) C. holdNigel Mills, C. 20,106Kevin Gillott, Lab. 15,901Stuart Bent, UKIP 7,263Kate Smith, LD 1,360John Devine, Green 1,087C. majority 4,205 (9.20%)4.02% swing Lab. to C.(2010: C. majority 536 (1.17%))

ARUNDEL & SOUTH DOWNSE. 77,272 T. 56,477 (73.09%) C. holdNick Herbert, C. 34,331Peter Grace, UKIP 8,154Christopher Wellbelove, Lab. 6,324Shweta Kapadia, LD 4,062Isabel Thurston, Green 3,606C. majority 26,177 (46.35%)2.87% swing C. to UKIP(2010: C. majority 16,691 (29.81%))

ASHFIELDE. 77,126 T. 47,409 (61.47%) Lab. holdGloria De Piero, Lab. 19,448Helen Harrison, C. 10,628Simon Ashcroft, UKIP 10,150Philip Smith, LD 7,030Mike Buchanan, JMB 153Lab. majority 8,820 (18.60%)3.55% swing C. to Lab.(2010: Lab. majority 192 (0.40%))

ASHFORDE. 85,189 T. 57,372 (67.35%) C. holdDamian Green, C. 30,094Gerald O’Brien, UKIP 10,798Brendan Chilton, Lab. 10,580Debbie Enever, LD 3,433Mandy Rossi, Green 2,467C. majority 19,296 (33.63%)7.98% swing C. to UKIP(2010: C. majority 17,297 (31.34%))

ASHTON-UNDER-LYNEE. 67,714 T. 38,918 (57.47%) Lab. hold*Angela Rayner, Lab. 19,366Tracy Sutton, C. 8,610Maurice Jackson, UKIP 8,468Charlotte Hughes, Green 1,531Carly Hicks, LD 943Lab. majority 10,756 (27.64%)1.99% swing C. to Lab.(2010: Lab. majority 9,094 (23.66%))

AYLESBURYE. 80,611 T. 55,419 (68.75%) C. holdDavid Lidington, C. 28,083Chris Adams, UKIP 10,925Will Cass, Lab. 8,391Steven Lambert, LD 5,885David Lyons, Green 2,135C. majority 17,158 (30.96%)7.21% swing C. to UKIP(2010: C. majority 12,618 (23.73%))

BANBURYE. 86,420 T. 58,008 (67.12%) C. hold*Victoria Prentis, C. 30,749Sean Woodcock, Lab. 12,354Dickie Bird, UKIP 8,050John Howson, LD 3,440Ian Middleton, Green 2,686Roseanne Edwards, NHAP 729C. majority 18,395 (31.71%)0.97% swing C. to Lab.(2010: C. majority 18,227 (32.41%))

BARKINGE. 74,004 T. 43,023 (58.14%) Lab. holdMargaret Hodge, Lab. 24,826Roger Gravett, UKIP 9,554Mina Rahman, C. 7,019Tony Rablen, Green 879Peter Wilcock, LD 562Joseph Mambuliya, TUSC 183Lab. majority 15,272 (35.50%)7.98% swing Lab. to UKIP(2010: Lab. majority 16,555 (36.51%))

BARNSLEY CENTRALE. 64,534 T. 36,560 (56.65%) Lab. holdDan Jarvis, Lab. 20,376Lee Hunter, UKIP 7,941Kay Carter, C. 5,485Michael Short, Green 938David Ridgway, LD 770Dave Gibson, TUSC 573Ian Sutton, Eng. Dem. 477Lab. majority 12,435 (34.01%)4.29% swing Lab. to UKIP(2010: Lab. majority 11,093 (29.98%))(2011: Lab. majority 11,771 (48.60%))

BARNSLEY EASTE. 69,135 T. 38,517 (55.71%) Lab. holdMichael Dugher, Lab. 21,079Robert Swi�en, UKIP 9,045Katharine Harborne, C. 5,622Ruth Coleman-Taylor, LD 1,217Tony Devoy, Yorks 647Kevin Riddiough, Eng. Dem. 440Ralph Dyson, TUSC 364Billy Marsden, Vapers 103Lab. majority 12,034 (31.24%)5.65% swing Lab. to UKIP(2010: Lab. majority 11,090 (28.89%))

BARROW & FURNESSE. 68,338 T. 43,275 (63.32%)

Lab. Co-op holdJohn Woodcock, Lab. Co-op 18,320Simon Fell, C. 17,525Nigel Cecil, UKIP 5,070Clive Peaple, LD 1,169Robert O’Hara, Green 1,061Ian Jackson, Ind. 130Lab. Co-op majority 795 (1.84%)4.98% swing Lab. Co-op to C.(2010: Lab. Co-op majority 5,208(11.80%))

BASILDON & BILLERICAYE. 68,459 T. 43,028 (62.85%) C. holdJohn Baron, C. 22,668Gavin Callaghan, Lab. 10,186George Konstantinidis, UKIP 8,538Martin Thompson, LD 1,636C. majority 12,482 (29.01%)0.34% swing C. to Lab.(2010: C. majority 12,338 (29.68%))

BASILDON SOUTH & THURROCK EASTE. 73,210 T. 45,593 (62.28%) C. holdStephen Metcalfe, C. 19,788Ian Luder, UKIP 12,097Mike Le-Surf, Lab. 11,493Geo� Williams, LD 1,356Kerry Smith, Ind. 401None Of The Above X, ND 253Stuart Hooper, Ind. 205C. majority 7,691 (16.87%)10.55% swing C. to UKIP(2010: C. majority 5,772 (12.90%))

BASINGSTOKEE. 79,662 T. 53,076 (66.63%) C. holdMaria Miller, C. 25,769Paul Harvey, Lab. 14,706Alan Stone, UKIP 8,290Janice Spalding, LD 3,919Omar Selim, Ind. 392C. majority 11,063 (20.84%)4.64% swing C. to Lab.(2010: C. majority 13,176 (26.01%))

BASSETLAWE. 77,480 T. 49,289 (63.62%) Lab. holdJohn Mann, Lab. 23,965Sarah Downes, C. 15,122David Scott, UKIP 7,865Leon Duveen, LD 1,331Kris Wragg, Green 1,006Lab. majority 8,843 (17.94%)0.69% swing C. to Lab.(2010: Lab. majority 8,215 (16.57%))

Constituencies, England 137

MANIFESTO COMMITMENTS

THE CONSERVATIVE PARTYMANIFESTO 2015

Below are selected key commitments made by theConservative Party in their 2015 manifesto.

ECONOMY AND TAXATION• Increase the income tax personal allowance to £12,500• Increase the higher rate income tax threshold to £50,000• Freeze income tax, national insurance and VAT rates for the

duration of the next parliament• Reduce government spending by 1 per cent in real terms for

the first two years of the next parliament• Increase annual tax charges paid by those with non-

domiciled status• Invest in infrastructure and devolve power to support

industry growth and jobs in the English regions

HEALTH• Provide an additional £8bn of real terms funding to NHS

England over the five years to 2020• Ensure everyone can access a GP and necessary hospital

care seven days a week by 2020• Guarantee same-day GP appointments for those aged 75

and over if they need one• Continue to invest in the Cancer Drugs Fund and deliver

earlier detection and diagnosis, and better treatment andcare for cancer and dementia patients

• Increase funding for mental health care and enforce newaccess and waiting time standards for those with mentalill-health

EDUCATION• Train an extra 17,500 maths and physics teachers over the

next five years• Create 3 million new apprenticeships• Ensure there is no cap on university places• Turn every ‘failing’ secondary school into an academy• Support the delivery of free schools for parents and

communities that want them

LAW AND ORDER• Replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of

Rights; curtailing the role of the European Court of HumanRights and making the UK Supreme Court arbiter ofhuman rights matters in the UK

• Develop the role of Police and Crime Commissioners• Prioritise victim support• Deploy new technology to monitor o�enders in the

community and to bring persistent o�enders to justicequickly

• Continue to reform the police and prison systems

SOCIETY• Support museums, libraries, media, press freedom, creative

industries and tourism• Introduce three days a year paid volunteering leave for

those in the public sector and with big companies• Guarantee a place on the National Citizen Service scheme

for every 16 and 17-year-old who wants one

• Build 200,000 new starter homes for first-time buyers agedunder 40

• Increase the state pension by at least 2.5 per cent, in linewith inflation, or in line with earnings – whichever ishigher

IMMIGRATION• Continue to work towards the goal of reducing annual net

migration to under 100,000 a year*• Maintain an annual cap of 20,700 on the number of skilled

migrants who can come to the UK from outside the EU• Reform welfare rules so that EU migrants have to be

resident in the UK for at least four years before they canclaim certain benefits or social housing

• End the provision of out of work benefits for all EUmigrants

• Migrants will be required to leave the UK if they have notfound a job within six months

• Enhance border security and strengthen the enforcement ofimmigration rules

* For the year ending December 2014 net migration stood at318,000 (Source: ONS)

POLITICAL REFORM• Maintain the Westminster Parliament as the UK’s law-

making body• Give English MPs a veto over matters only a�ecting

England• Introduce a Scotland bill, to ensure that more than 50 per

cent of the Scottish parliament’s budget is funded fromrevenues raised in Scotland and also devolve further powersin welfare, taxation and spending to the Scottish parliament

• Devolve new powers to the Welsh Assembly, includingcontrol over its name, size, assembly electoral system andvoting age

• Fully implement the Stormont House Agreement inNorthern Ireland

ENVIRONMENT• Establishing a new ‘Blue Belt’ category to protect marine

habitats• Spend £3bn over this parliament enhancing England’s

countryside• Build 1,400 new flood defence schemes to protect

300,000 homes• Work with the natural capital committee on a 25-year plan

to restore the UK’s biodiversity• Phase-out public subsidies for new onshore wind farms

DEFENCE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS• Give the UK people a say in whether we should remain in

the EU, with an ‘in-out’ referendum by 2017• Work for peace and stability in Iraq and Syria; pursuing a

comprehensive political and military strategy to defeat IS• Uphold the sovereignty of Ukraine by continuing to reject

Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea• Invest at least £160bn in new military equipment over the

next decade• Spend 0.7 per cent of GNI on international development

174

SCOTLANDSCOTTISH GOVERNMENTAndrew’s House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DGT 0300-244 4000E ceu@scotland.gsi.gov.uk W www.gov.scot

The devolved government for Scotland is responsible formost of the issues of day-to-day concern to the people ofScotland, including health, education, justice, rural a�airsand transport.

The Scottish government was known as the Scottishexecutive when it was established in 1999, following the firstelections to the Scottish parliament. There has been amajority Scottish National Party administration since theelections in May 2011.

The government is led by a first minister who is nominatedby the parliament and in turn appoints the other Scottishministers who make up the cabinet.

Civil servants in Scotland are accountable to Scottishministers, who are themselves accountable to the Scottishparliament.

CABINETFirst Minister, Rt. Hon. Nicola Sturgeon, MSPDeputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance,

Constitution and Economy, John Swinney, MSPCabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities,

Keith Brown, MSPCabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External A�airs,

Fiona Hyslop, MSPCabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning,

Angela Constance, MSPCabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Shona Robison,

MSPCabinet Secretary for Rural A�airs and the Environment,

Richard Lochhead, MSPCabinet Secretary for Justice, Michael Matheson, MSPCabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners’

Rights, Angela Constance, MSPCabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training,

Roseanna CunninghamMinister for Children and Young People, Aileen Campbell,

MSPMinister for Community Safety and Legal A�airs, Paul

Wheelhouse, MSPMinister for Business, Energy, and Tourism, Fergus Ewing,

MSPMinister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform,

Aileen McLeod, MSPMinister for Europe and International Development, Humza

Yousaf, MSPMinister for Housing and Welfare, Margaret Burgess, MSPMinister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages,

Alasdair Allan, MSPMinister for Local Government and Community Empowerment,

Marco Biagi, MSPMinister for Parliamentary Business, Joe Fitzpatrick, MSPMinister for Public Health, Maureen Watt, MSPMinister for Transport and Islands, Derek Mackay, MSPMinister for Youth and Women’s Employment, Annabelle

Ewing, MSPMinister for Sport and Health Improvement, Jamies Hepburn,

MSP

LAW OFFICERSLord Advocate, Frank Mulholland, QCSolicitor-General for Scotland, Lesley Thomson

STRATEGIC BOARDPermanent Secretary, Leslie EvansDirector-General Communities, Sarah DavidsonDirector-General, Enterprise, Environment and Digital, Graeme

DicksonDirector-General, Finance, Alyson Sta�ordDirector-General, Health and Social Care, Paul GrayDirector-General, Learning and Justice, Paul JohnstonDirector-General, Strategy and External A�airs, Ken Thomson

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

DIRECTOR-GENERAL ENTERPRISE, ENVIRONMENTAND INNOVATIONSt Andrew’s House, Edinburgh EH1 3DGDirectorates: Agriculture, Food and Rural A�airs;

Chief Scientific Adviser for Rural A�airs and theEnvironment; Chief Economist; Economic Development;Energy and Climate Change; Environment and Forestry;Marine Scotland; Scottish Development International

Director-General, Graeme DicksonExecutive AgenciesAccountant in BankruptcyDrinking Water Quality RegulatorJames Hutton InstituteMoredun Research InstituteScottish Agricultural CollegeTransport ScotlandWaterwatch Scotland

DIRECTOR-GENERAL FINANCEVictoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQDirectorates: Legal Services (Solicitor to the Scottish

Government), Financial Management; Financial Strategy;O�ce of the Scottish Parliamentary Counsel; ScottishProcurement and Commercial; Internal Audit

Director-General, Alyson Sta�ordExecutive AgenciesAudit ScotlandScottish Public Pensions Agency

DIRECTOR-GENERAL COMMUNITIESSaughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XDDirectorates: Digital; Housing, Regeneration and Welfare;

Local Government and CommunitiesDirector-General, Sarah DavidsonExecutive AgencyScottish Housing Regulator

DIRECTOR-GENERAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARESt Andrew’s House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DGDirectorates: Chief Medical O�cer; Chief Nursing O�cer;

Children and Families; Finance, eHealth and Analytics;Health and Social Care Integration; Healthcare Qualityand Strategy; O�ce of the Director-General Health andSocial Care and Chief Executive NHS Scotland;Performance and Delivery; Population HealthImprovement

Director-General Health and Social Care and Chief ExecutiveNHS Scotland, Paul Gray

Executive AgenciesDisclosure ScotlandScottish Children’s Reporters Administration

DIRECTOR-GENERAL LEARNING AND JUSTICESt Andrew’s House, Edinburgh EH1 3DG

221

POLICE FORCES

The telephone number for each local police force in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is T 101

ENGLAND

WALES

† Size of force (full-time equivalent) as at March 2015Sources: R. Hazell & Co, Sweet & Maxwell Police and Constabulary Almanac 2015

Force Strength† Chief Constable Police and Crime CommissionerAvon and Somerset 2,716 John Long (acting), QPM Sue MountstevensBedfordshire 1,161 Colette Paul, QPM Olly MartinsCambridgeshire 1,337 Simon Parr, QPM Sir Graham BrightCheshire 1,878 reywD nhoJenryB nomiSCleveland 1,434 Jacqui Cheer, QPM Barry CoppingerCumbria 1,137 Jeremy Graham Richard RhodesDerbyshire 1,889 Mick Creedon, QPM Alan CharlesDevon and Cornwall 3,073 ggoH ynoTreywaS nuahSDorset 1,268 Debbie Simpson, QPM Martyn UnderhillDurham 1,199 Mike Barton, QPM Ron HoggEssex 3,090 Stephen Kavanagh Nick AlstonGloucestershire 1,178 Suzette Davenport Martin SurlGreater Manchester 6,749 Sir Peter Fahy, QPM Tony LloydHampshire 3,283 seyaH nomiShsraM ydnAHertfordshire 1,923 Andy Bliss, QPM David LloydHumberside 1,760 Justine Curran, QPM Matthew GroveKent 3,196 Alan Pughsley, QPM Ann BarnesLancashire 3,059 Steve Finnigan, CBE, QPM Clive GrunshawLeicestershire 2,072 Simon Cole, QPM Sir Clive LoaderLincolnshire 1,108 kciwdraH nalAsedohR lieNMerseyside 3,978 Sir Jon Murphy, QPM Jane KennedyNorfolk 1,551 tteB nehpetSyeliaB nomiSNorth Yorkshire 1,392 nagilluM ailuJsenoJ evaDNorthamptonshire 1,364 sdnommiS madAeeL nairdANorthumbria 3,506 driaB areVmiS euSNottinghamshire 2,106 Chris Eyre, QPM Paddy TippingSouth Yorkshire 2,690 David Crompton, QPM Dr Alan BillingsSta�ordshire 1,684 sillE wehttaMsreywaS enaJSu�olk 1,180 Douglas Paxton, QPM Tim PassmoreSurrey 1,941 Lynne Owens, QPM Kevin HurleySussex 2,831 Giles York, QPM Katy BourneThames Valley 4,209 Sara Thornton, CBE, QPM Anthony StansfeldWarwickshire 791 Andy Parker, QPM Ron BallWest Mercia 1,902 eromgnoL lliBwahS divaDWest Midlands 7,401 Chris Sims, OBE, QPM David JamiesonWest Yorkshire 4,774 Mark Gilmore, QPM Mark Burns-Williamson, OBEWiltshire 1,022 Patrick Geenty Angus Macpherson

Dyfed-Powys 1,094 Simon Prince, QPM Christopher SalmonGwent 1,272 Je�rey Farrar, QPM Ian JohnstonNorth Wales 1,515 Mark Polin, QPM Winston RoddickSouth Wales 2,853 Peter Vaughan, QPM Rt. Hon. Alun MichaelPOLICE SCOTLAND 17,234 –tnacavPOLICE SERVICE OFNORTHERN IRELAND 7,791 George Hamilton, QPM –

ISLANDS Strength† Chief Constable TelephoneIsle of Man 210 Gary Roberts 01624-631212States of Jersey 230 Mike Bowron, QPM 01534-612612Guernsey 148 Patrick Rice 01481-725111

LONDON FORCES

CITY OF LONDON POLICE37 Wood Street, London EC2P 2NQ T 020-7601 2222W www.cityoflondon.police.ukStrength (March 2015), 750

The City of London has one of the most important financialcentres in the world and the force has particular expertise infraud investigation. The force concentrates on: economiccrime, counter terrorism and community policing. It has a

wholly elected police authority, the police committee ofthe City of London Corporation, which appoints thecommissioner.

Commissioner, Adrian Leppard, QPMAssistant Commissioner, Ian DysonCommanders, Wayne Chance (Operations); Steve Head

(Economic Crime)

London Forces 309

NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCHOLARSHIP

The national academies are self-governing bodies whosemembers are elected as a result of achievement anddistinction in the academy’s field. Within their discipline, theacademies provide advice, support education and exceptionalscholars, stimulate debate, promote UK research worldwideand collaborate with international counterparts.

Three of the national academies – the Royal Society, theBritish Academy and the Royal Academy of Engineering –receive grant-in-aid funding from the Department forBusiness, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The Academy ofMedical Sciences receives core funding from the Departmentof Health and since 2014 an additional programme grant(£0.47m in 2015–16) from BIS. The Royal Society ofEdinburgh is aided by funds provided by the Scottishgovernment. In addition to government funding, the nationalacademies generate additional income from donations,membership contributions, trading and investments.

ACADEMY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES (1998)41 Portland Place, London W1B 1QHT 020-3176 2150 W www.acmedsci.ac.uk

Founded in 1998, the Academy of Medical Sciences is theindependent body in the UK representing the diversityof medical science. The Academy seeks to improve healththrough research, as well as to promote medical science andits translation into benefits for society.

The academy is self-governing and receives funding froma variety of sources, including the fellowship, charitabledonations, government and industry.

Fellows are elected from a broad range of medicalsciences: biomedical, clinical and population based. Theacademy includes in its remit veterinary medicine, dentistry,nursing, medical law, economics, sociology and ethics.Elections are from nominations put forward by existingfellows.

As at May 2015 there were 1,094 fellows and 39honorary fellows.President, Prof. Sir John Tooke, PMEDSCIExecutive Director, Dr Helen Munn

BRITISH ACADEMY (1902)10–11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AHT 020-7969 5200 W www.britac.ac.uk

The British Academy is an independent, self-governinglearned society for the promotion of the humanities andsocial sciences. It was founded in 1901 and granted a royalcharter in 1902. The British Academy supports advancedacademic research and is a channel for the government’ssupport of research in those disciplines.

The fellows are scholars who have attained distinctionin one of the branches of study that the academy exists topromote. Candidates must be nominated by existing fellows.There are around 930 fellows, 20 honorary fellows and 300corresponding fellows overseas.President, Lord Stern of BrentfordChief Executive, Alun Evans

ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING(1976)3 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5DGT 020-7766 0600 W www.raeng.org.uk

The Royal Academy of Engineering was established as theFellowship of Engineering in 1976. It was granted a royalcharter in 1983 and its present title in 1992. It is anindependent, self-governing body whose object is thepursuit, encouragement and maintenance of excellence inthe whole field of engineering, in order to promote theadvancement of the science, art and practice of engineeringfor the benefit of the public.

Election to the fellowship is by invitation only, fromnominations supported by the body of fellows. There arearound 1,370 fellows, 42 honorary fellows and 102international fellows. The Duke of Edinburgh is the seniorfellow and the Princess Royal and the Duke of Kent are bothroyal fellows.President, Dame Ann Dowling, DBE, FRENG, FRSChief Executive, Philip Greenish, CBE

ROYAL SOCIETY (1660)6–9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AGT 020-7451 2500 W www.royalsociety.org

The Royal Society is an independent academy promoting thenatural and applied sciences. Founded in 1660 and granteda royal charter in 1662, the society has three roles: as the UKacademy of science, as a learned society and as a fundingagency. It is an independent, self-governing body under aroyal charter, promoting and advancing all fields of physicaland biological sciences, of mathematics and engineering,medical and agricultural sciences and their application.

Fellows are elected for their contributions to science, bothin fundamental research resulting in greater understanding,and also in leading and directing scientific and technologicalprogress in industry and research establishments. Each yearup to 52 new fellows, who must be citizens or residentsof the Commonwealth or Ireland, and up to ten foreignmembers may be elected. In addition one honorary fellowmay also be elected annually from those not eligible forelection as fellows or foreign members. There are around1,430 fellows, 165 foreign members and six honorarymembers covering all scientific disciplines. The Queen is the

373

TRANSPORTCIVIL AVIATION

Since the privatisation of British Airways in 1987, UKairlines have been operated entirely by the private sector.In 2014, total capacity of British airlines amounted to 50.5billion tonne-km, of which 41 billion tonne-km was onscheduled services. UK airlines carried around 141 millionpassengers; 125 million on scheduled services and 16 millionon charter flights. Passenger tra�c through UK airportsincreased by 0.44 per cent in 2014. Tra�c at the six mainLondon area airports (Gatwick, Heathrow, London City,Luton, Southend and Stansted) increased by 5 per cent over2014 and other UK regional airports saw an increase of 3 percent.

Leading British airlines include British Airways, EasyJet,Monarch, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson Airways andVirgin Atlantic. Irish airline Ryanair also operates frequentflights from the UK.

There are around 140 licensed civil aerodromes in Britain,with Heathrow and Gatwick handling the highest volume ofpassengers.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), an independentstatutory body, is responsible for the regulation of UKairlines. This includes economic and airspace regulation, airsafety, consumer protection and environmental research andconsultancy. All commercial airline companies must begranted an air operator’s certificate, which is issued by theCAA to operators meeting the required safety standards. TheCAA issues airport safety licences, which must be obtainedby any airport used for public transport and training flights.All British-registered aircraft must be granted anairworthiness certificate, and the CAA issues professionallicences to pilots, flight crew, ground engineers and air tra�ccontrollers. The CAA also manages the Air Travel Organiser’sLicence (ATOL), the UK’s principal travel protection scheme.The CAA’s costs are met entirely from charges on thosewhom it regulates; there is no direct government funding ofthe CAA’s work.

The Transport Act 2000 separated the CAA from itssubsidiary, National Air Tra�c Services (NATS), whichprovides air tra�c control services to aircraft flying in UKairspace and over the eastern part of the North Atlantic. NATSis a public private partnership (PPP) between the AirlineGroup (a consortium of UK airlines), which holds 42 per centof the shares; NATS sta�, who hold 5 per cent; UK airportoperator LHR Airports Limited, which holds 4 per cent, andthe government, which holds 49 per cent and a golden share.In 2013–14 NATS handled a total of 2,153,995 flights, anincrease of 0.4 per cent on 2012–13 figures.

AIR PASSENGERS 2014

All UK Airports: Total 238,557,866Aberdeen 3,723,662Barra 10,521Belfast City 2,555,145Belfast International 4,033,954Benbecula 31,213Birmingham 9,705,955Blackpool 223,998Bournemouth 661,584Bristol 6,339,805Cambridge 20,663Campbeltown 9,365

Source: Civil Aviation Authority

CAA, CAA House, 45–59 Kingsway, London WC2B 6TET 020-7379 7311 W www.caa.co.uk

BRITISH AIRLINESBRITISH AIRWAYS, PO Box 365, Waterside, Harmondsworth

UB7 0GB T 0844-493 0787 W www.britishairways.comEASYJET, Hangar 89, London Luton Airport LU2 9PF

T 0330-365 5000 W www.easyjet.comMONARCH, Prospect House, Prospect Way, London Luton

Airport LU2 9NU T 0333-003 0100 W www.monarch.co.uk

Cardi� 1,023,932City of Derry (Eglinton) 350,257Doncaster She�eld 724,885Dundee 22,069Durham Tees Valley 142,379East Midlands 4,510,544Edinburgh 10,160,004Exeter 767,404Gatwick 38,103,667Glasgow 7,715,988Gloucestershire 15,172Heathrow 73,405,330Humberside 239,173Inverness 612,725Islay 27,659Isle of Man 729,703Isles of Scilly (St Mary’s) 90,944Kent International 12,508Kirkwall 161,347Lands End (St Just) 44,475Leeds Bradford 2,274,474Lerwick (Tingwall) 3,739Liverpool 3,986,654London City 3,647,824Luton 10,484,938Lydd 1,227Manchester 21,989,682Newcastle 4,516,739Newquay 221,047Norwich 458,968Oxford (Kidlington) 1,194Prestwick 913,685Scatsta 279,799Shoreham 452Southampton 1,831,700Southend 1,102,358Stansted 19,965,093Stornoway 129,481Sumburgh 264,521Tiree 9,322Wick 28,145

Channel Islands Airports: Total 2,451,626Alderney 61,317Guernsey 894,602Jersey 1,495,707

Heathrow Airport T 0844-335 1801Gatwick Airport T 0844-892 0322Manchester Airport T 0871-271 0711Stansted Airport T 0844-335 1803

406

ECONOMIC STATISTICS

THE BUDGET (SUMMER 2015)

GOVERNMENT EXPENDITUREDEPARTMENTAL EXPENDITURE LIMITS £ billion

Plans 2015–16Resource DELEducation 53.5NHS (Health) 111.9Transport 2.3Business, Innovation and Skills 13.1CLG Communities 2.5CLG Local Government 10.6Home O�ce 10.2Justice 6.3Law O�cers’ Departments 0.5Defence 28.1Foreign and Commonwealth O�ce 1.8International Development 7.4Energy and Climate Change 1.4Environment, Food and Rural A�airs 1.6Culture, Media and Sport 1.1Work and Pensions 6.3Scotland 25.5Wales 12.9Northern Ireland 9.6Chancellor’s departments 3.5Cabinet O�ce 2.5Small and Independent bodies 1.6Reserve 2.0Special reserve 0.2Adjustment for budget exchange (0.5)TOTAL RESOURCE DEL 316.1*OBR Allowance for shortfall (1.0)OBR Resource DEL 315.1

Capital DELEducation 4.7NHS (Health) 4.6Transport 6.1Business, Innovation and Skills 3.8CLG Communities 5.3CLG Local Government 0.0Home O�ce 0.4Justice 0.3Law O�cers’ Departments 0.0Defence 6.8Foreign and Commonwealth O�ce 0.1International Development 2.6Energy and Climate Change 2.5Environment, Food and Rural A�airs 0.5Culture, Media and Sport 0.4Work and Pensions 0.2Scotland 3.1Wales 1.5Northern Ireland 1.1Chancellor’s departments 0.3Cabinet O�ce 0.4Small and Independent bodies 0.1Reserve 0.9Special reserve 0.1Adjustment for budget exchange (1.6)TOTAL CAPITAL DEL 44.4*OBR Allowance for shortfall (2.0)

* OBR = O�ce for Budget ResponsibilitySource: HM Treasury – Summer Budget 2015 (Crown copyright)

TOTAL MANAGED EXPENDITURE £ billion

Source: HM Treasury – Summer Budget 2015 (Crown copyright)

GOVERNMENT RECEIPTS £ billion

OBR Capital DEL 42.4TOTAL DEL 360.5

2015–16Plans

2016–17Plans

2017–18Current ExpenditureResource Annually

ManagedExpenditure (AME) 337.9 344.3 358.6

Resource DEL 315.1 – –Ring-fenced depreciation 22.3 – –Resource DEL, including

depreciation – 341.4 339.7Capital ExpenditureCapital AME 24.7 26.0 26.3Capital DEL 42.4 42.6 43.3TOTAL MANAGED

EXPENDITURE742.3 754.3 768.0

Total Managed Expenditure(% GDP) 39.6% 38.7% 37.8%

Outturn2014–15

Forecast2015–16

Forecast2016–17

Income tax (gross of taxcredits)1 163.7 170.2 184.8Pay as you earn 140.0 145.2 155.1Self assessment 23.6 25.3 31.3

National insurancecontributions (NICs) 110.3 114.8 125.8

Value added tax 111.3 115.9 119.2Corporation tax 42.9 43.1 43.4Petroleum revenue tax 0.1 0.0 (0.1)Fuel duties 27.2 27.1 27.3Business rates 27.3 28.0 29.0Council tax 27.9 28.4 29.0VAT refunds 13.7 13.6 13.8Capital gains tax 5.6 6.4 7.4Inheritance tax 3.8 4.2 4.6Stamp duty land tax 10.9 11.5 12.6Stamp taxes on shares 2.9 3.2 3.3Tobacco duties 9.3 9.1 9.0Spirits duties 3.0 3.2 3.2Wine duties 3.8 4.0 4.1Beer and cider duties 3.6 3.5 3.4Air passenger duty 3.2 3.1 3.2Insurance premium tax 3.0 3.5 4.5Climate change levy 1.6 2.3 2.4Other HMRC taxes2 6.6 6.9 6.9Vehicle excise duties 5.9 5.6 5.5Bank levy 2.8 3.7 3.1Bank surcharge 0.0 0.0 0.9Licence fee receipts 3.1 3.1 3.2Enviromental levies 3.6 6.0 7.3EU ETS* Auction recipts 0.4 0.3 0.3Scottish taxes 0.0 0.6 0.7Diverted profits tax 0.0 0.0 0.3Other taxes 6.2 7.1 7.1Total Taxes 603.6 628.9 665.2

495

THE WORLD IN FIGURES

THE EARTH

The shape of the Earth is that of an oblate spheroid or solidof revolution whose meridian sections are ellipses, while thesections at right angles are circles.

DIMENSIONSEquatorial diameter = 12,742.01km (7,917.51 miles)Polar diameter = 12,713.50km (7,899.80 miles)Equatorial circumference = 40,030.20km

(24,873.6 miles)Polar circumference = 40,007.86km (24,859.73 miles)Mass = 5,972,190,000,000,000,000,000,000kg

(5.972 × 1024kg)

The equatorial circumference is divided into 360 degrees oflongitude, which is measured in degrees, minutes andseconds east or west of the Greenwich (or ‘prime’) meridian(0° ) to 180° ; the meridian 180° E coinciding with 180° W.This was internationally ratified in 1884.

Distance north and south of the equator is measured indegrees, minutes and seconds of latitude. The equator is 0° ,the North Pole is 90°N. and the South Pole is 90°S. Thetropics lie at 23° 27�N. (tropic of cancer) and 23° 27�S.(tropic of capricorn). The Arctic Circle lies at 66° 33�N. andthe Antarctic Circle at 66° 33�S. (Note the tropics and theArctic and Antarctic circles are a�ected by the slow decreasein obliquity of the ecliptic, of about 0.47 arcseconds per year.The e�ect of this is that the Arctic and Antarctic circles arecurrently moving towards their respective poles by about14m per annum, while the tropics move towards the equatorby the same amount.)

AREA ETCThe surface area of the Earth is 510,064,472km2

(196,936,994 miles2), of which the water area is 70.92 percent and the land area is 29.08 per cent.

The radial velocity on the Earth’s surface at the equator is1,669.79km per hour (1,037.56mph). The Earth’s meanvelocity in its orbit around the Sun is 107,218km per hour(66,622mph). The Earth’s mean distance from the Sun is149,598,262km (92,956,050 miles).

OCEANS

LARGEST BY AREA

The equator divides the Pacific into the North and SouthPacific and the Atlantic into the North and South Atlantic. In2000 the International Hydrographic Organisation approvedthe description of the 20,327,000km2 (7,848,300 miles2) ofcircum-Antarctic waters up to 60°S. as the Southern Ocean.

km2 miles2

Pacific 165,250,000 63,800,000Atlantic 82,440,000 31,830,000Indian 73,440,000 28,360,000Southern 20,327,000 7,848,300Arctic 14,090,000 5,440,000

GREATEST KNOWN OCEAN DEPTHS

* On 23 January 1960, Jacques Piccard (Switzerland) and DonWalsh (USA) descended in the bathyscaphe Trieste to the floor ofthe Mariana Trench, a depth later calculated as 10,916m(35,814ft). The current depth was calculated by the Japaneseremote-controlled probe Kaiko on 24 March 1995. On 1 June2009, sonar mapping of the Challenger Deep in the MarianaTrench by the US oceanographic research vessel Kilo Moanaindicated a possible depth of 10,971m (35,994ft)

SEAS

LARGEST BY AREA

GREATEST KNOWN SEA DEPTHS

THE CONTINENTS

There are generally considered to be seven continents: Africa,North America, South America, Antarctica, Asia, Australiaand Europe. Europe and Asia are sometimes considered asingle continent: Eurasia, and North and South America aresometimes referred to together as the Americas.

AFRICA is surrounded by sea except for the narrowisthmus of Suez in the north-east, through which was cut theSuez Canal (opened 17 November 1869). Its extremelongitudes are 17° 20� W. at Cabo Verde, Senegal, and 51°24� E. at Raas Xaafunn, Somalia. The extreme latitudes are37° 20� N. at Cape Blanc, Tunisia, and 34° 50� S. at Cape

Greatest depth Location metres feetMariana Trench* Pacific 10,994 36,070Puerto Rico Trench Atlantic 8,380 27,493Diamantina Trench Indian 8,047 26,401South Sandwich Trench Southern 7,235 23,737Molloy Deep Arctic 5,607 18,397

km2 miles2

South China 3,685,000 1,423,000Caribbean 2,753,000 1,063,000Mediterranean 2,509,900 969,100Bering 2,304,000 890,000Okhotsk 1,582,000 611,000Gulf of Mexico 1,550,000 600,000Japan 978,000 377,600Hudson Bay 819,000 316,000Andaman 798,000 308,000East China 750,000 290,000North Sea 570,000 220,000Red Sea 453,000 174,900Black Sea 422,000 163,000

Greatest depth metres feetCaribbean (Cayman Trench) 7,686 25,216Philippine Sea (Ryukyu Trench) 7,507 24,629Mediterranean (Calypso Deep) 5,267 17,280Gulf of Mexico (Sigsbee Deep) 5,203 17,070South China 5,016 16,457Andaman 4,400 14,500Bering (Bowers Basin) 4,097 13,442Japan 3,742 12,276Okhotsk 3,372 11,063Red Sea 3,040 9,974Black Sea 2,212 7,257North Sea 700 2,300

591

THE EUROPEAN UNION

* July 2015 estimate† Under the Lisbon Treaty the total number of MEPs was set at 751 from the 2014 election onwardsSources: CIA World Factbook; www.europa.eu

MEMBER STATE ACCESSION DATE POPULATION* COUNCIL VOTES EP SEATS†Austria 1 Jan 1995 8101055,566,8Belgium 1 Jan 1958 1221379,323,11Bulgaria 1 Jan 2007 7101398,681,7Croatia 1 July 2013 117448,464,4Cyprus 1 May 2004 64791,981,1Czech Republic 1 May 2004 1221248,446,01Denmark 1 Jan 1973 317305,185,5Estonia 1 May 2004 64024,562,1Finland 1 Jan 1995 317229,674,5France 1 Jan 1958 4792667,355,66Germany 6992804,458,088591 naJ 1Greece 1 Jan 1981 1221346,577,01Hungary 1 May 2004 1221145,798,9Ireland 1 Jan 1973 117503,298,4Italy 1 Jan 1958 3792021,558,16Latvia 1 May 2004 84507,689,1Lithuania 1 May 2004 117334,488,2Luxembourg 1 Jan 1958 64252,075Malta 1 May 2004 63569,314The Netherlands 1 Jan 1958 6231409,749,61Poland 1 May 2004 1572981,265,83Portugal 1 Jan 1986 1221903,528,01Romania 1 Jan 2007 2341053,666,12Slovakia 1 May 2004 317720,544,5Slovenia 1 May 2004 84214,389,1Spain 1 Jan 1986 4572431,641,84Sweden 1 Jan 1995 0201616,108,9United Kingdom 1 Jan 1973 3792222,880,46

601

LIBYA

Dawlat Libya – State of Libya

Area – 1,759,540 sq. kmCapital – Tripoli (Tarabulus); population, 1,126,000 (2014)Major cities – al-Hums, az-Zawiyah, Benghazi, Misratah,

Tarhunah, ZuwarahCurrency – Libyan dinar (LD) of 1,000 dirhamsPopulation – 6,411,776 rising at 2.23 per cent a year

(2015 est); Arab–Berber (97 per cent), with some Tuaregin the south-west

Religion – Muslim 96.6 per cent (vast majority Sunni),Christian 2.7 per cent, other 0.5 per cent

Language – Arabic (o�cial), Berber dialectsPopulation density – 4 per sq. km (2013)Urban population – 78.1 per cent (2013 est)Median age (years) – 27.5 (2014 est)National anthem – ‘Libya, Libya, Libya’National day – 23 October (Liberation Day)Death penalty – RetainedCPI score – 18 (166)

CLIMATE AND TERRAINApart from hills on the north-west and north-east coastsand in the far south, the country is made up of plains andplateaux, with some depressions; 90 per cent is desert orsemi-desert. Elevation extremes range from 2,267m (BikkuBitti) to −47m (Sabkhat Ghuzayyil). The climate isMediterranean on the coast, and arid desert in the interior.Average temperatures in Tripoli range from 12.9°C inJanuary to 30.4°C in July.

POLITICSFollowing the overthrow of the ‘Leader of the Revolution’,Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi, the National Transitional Council(NTC) set out plans for a ‘political democratic regime to bebased upon the political multitude and multi-party system’.

In July 2012 the General National Congress was electedand power was handed over from the transitionalgovernment in August; Mohammed Magarief was electedinterim head of state. In October 2012, prime ministerelect Mustafa Abu Shagur failed in two attempts to gainparliamentary approval for his government; the national

congress elected Ali Zidan prime minister in his place. InMay 2014 businessman Ahmed Maiteg was elected primeminister but stood down one month later, when the SupremeCourt ruled his election unconstitutional.

Abdullah al-Thinni was appointed Libya’s actingprime minister in June 2014. In August, the House ofRepresentatives replaced the General National Congress asthe legislative body and its president, Akila Issa, became thenew head of state. Continuing political chaos saw the formerlegislative body, the General National Congress, appointtheir own prime minister, Islamist Omar al-Hassi, on25 August, resulting in two rival governments. Al-Thinni’sgovernment resigned on 29 August in order to allow forthe formation of a national unity government; however,al-Thinni was reappointed in September after Tripoli wascaptured by rebel groups, forcing the government to relocateto Tobruk. Talks between the two rival administrations, heldin Morocco in June 2015, failed to result in the formation ofa new national unity government.

HEAD OF STATEChair of the House of Representatives, Akila Issa

SELECTED GOVERNMENT MEMBERS as at May 2015Prime Minister, Abdullah al-ThinniFirst Deputy Prime Minister, Almahdi Hassan Muftah AllabadSecond Deputy Prime Minister, Abdulsalam al-BadriThird Deputy Prime Minister, Abdulrahman al-TaherEconomy, Muneer Ali Assr

EMBASSY OF LIBYA15 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LYT 020-7201 8280 W www.libyanembassy.orgAmbassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, HE Mahmud

Nacua, apptd 2012

BRITISH AMBASSADORAmbassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, HE Peter

Millett, apptd 2015, resident at Tunis, Tunisia

DEFENCE

Military expenditure – US$3,302m (2014 est)Conscription – 16 to 49 years of age;12–24 months (selective)

ECONOMY AND TRADENormalisation of international relations stimulated economicliberalisation and the start of a slow transition towards amore market-orientated economy, as well as attracting moreforeign direct investment.

The state-controlled oil industry dominates the economy,accounting for 95 per cent of export earnings and about65 per cent of GDP and 80 per cent of government revenue;as the population is small, this gives the country one of thehighest per capita GDPs in Africa, although the benefits are

Aged 16–49, 2010 est Males FemalesAvailable for military service 1,775,078 1,714,194Fit for military service 1,511,144 1,458,934

Countries of the World786

THE STATES OF THE UNION

The USA is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and the federal District of Columbia, and also of organised territories. Ofthe present 50 states, 13 are original states, seven were admitted without previous organisation as territories, and 30 wereadmitted after such organisation.

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OUTLYING TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS

*States 2015 estimate; outlying territories 2015 estimate

State (date and order of admission) Area sq. km Population* Capital Governor (end of term in o�ce)Alabama (AL) (1819, 22) 135,767 4,833,722 Montgomery Robert Bentley (R), Jan. 2019Alaska (AK) (1959, 49) 1,723,337 735,132 Juneau Bill Walker (I), Dec. 2018Arizona (AZ) (1912, 48) 295,234 6,626,624 Phoenix Doug Ducey (R), Jan. 2019Arkansas (AR) (1836, 25) 137,732 2,959,373 Little Rock Asa Hutchinson (R), Jan. 2019California (CA) (1850, 31) 423,967 38,332,521 Sacramento Jerry Brown (D), Jan. 2019Colorado (CO) (1876, 38) 269,601 5,268,367 Denver John Hickenlooper (D), Jan. 2019Connecticut (CT) § (1788, 5) 14,357 3,596,080 Hartford Dan Malloy (D), Jan. 2019Delaware (DE) § (1787, 1) 6,446 925,749 Dover Jack Markell (D), Jan. 2017Florida (FL) (1845, 27) 170,312 19,552,860 Tallahassee Rick Scott (R), Jan. 2019Georgia (GA) § (1788, 4) 153,910 9,992,167 Atlanta Nathan Deal (R), Jan. 2019Hawaii (HI) (1959, 50) 28,313 1,404,054 Honolulu David Ige (D), Dec. 2018Idaho (ID) (1890, 43) 216,443 1,612,136 Boise C. L. (Butch) Otter (R), Jan. 2019Illinois (IL) (1818, 21) 149,995 12,882,135 Springfield Bruce Rauner (R), Jan. 2019Indiana (IN) (1816, 19) 94,326 6,570,902 Indianapolis Mike Pence (R), Jan. 2017Iowa (IA) (1846, 29) 145,746 3,090,416 Des Moines Terry Branstad (R), Jan. 2019Kansas (KS) (1861, 34) 213,100 2,893,957 Topeka Sam Brownback (R), Jan. 2019Kentucky (KY) (1792, 15) 104,656 4,395,295 Frankfort Steve Beshear (D), Dec. 2015Louisiana (LA) (1812, 18) 135,659 4,625,470 Baton Rouge Bobby Jindal (R), Jan. 2016Maine (ME) (1820, 23) 91,633 1,328,302 Augusta Paul LePage (R), Jan. 2019Maryland (MD) § (1788, 7) 32,131 5,928,814 Annapolis Larry Hogan (R), Jan. 2019Massachusetts (MA) § (1788, 6) 27,336 6,692,824 Boston Charlie Baker (R), Jan. 2019Michigan (MI) (1837, 26) 250,487 9,895,622 Lansing Rick Snyder (R), Jan. 2019Minnesota (MN) (1858, 32) 225,163 5,420,380 St Paul Mark Dayton (D), Jan. 2019Mississippi (MS) (1817, 20) 125,438 2,991,207 Jackson Phil Bryant (R), Jan. 2016Missouri (MO) (1821, 24) 180,540 6,044,171 Je�erson City Jeremiah ( Jay) Nixon (D), Jan. 2017Montana (MT) (1889, 41) 380,831 1,015,165 Helena Steve Bullock (D), Jan. 2017Nebraska (NE) (1867, 37) 200,330 1,868,516 Lincoln Pete Ricketts (R), Jan. 2019Nevada (NV) (1864, 36) 286,380 2,790,136 Carson City Brian Sandoval (R), Jan. 2019New Hampshire (NH) § (1788, 9) 24,214 1,323,459 Concord Maggie Hassan (D), Jan. 2017New Jersey (NJ) § (1787, 3) 22,591 8,899,339 Trenton Chris Christie (R), Jan. 2018New Mexico (NM) (1912, 47) 314,917 2,085,287 Santa Fe Susana Martinez (R), Jan. 2019New York (NY) § (1788, 11) 141,297 19,651,127 Albany Andrew Cuomo (D), Jan. 2019North Carolina (NC) § (1789, 12) 139,391 9,848,060 Raleigh Pat McCrory (R), Jan. 2017North Dakota (ND) (1889, 39) 183,108 723,393 Bismarck Jack Dalrymple (R), Dec. 2016Ohio (OH) (1803, 17) 116,098 11,570,808 Columbus John Kasich (R), Jan. 2019Oklahoma (OK) (1907, 46) 181,037 3,850,568 Oklahoma City Mary Fallin (R), Jan. 2019Oregon (OR) (1859, 33) 254,799 3,930,065 Salem Kate Brown (D), Jan. 2019Pennsylvania (PA) § (1787, 2) 119,280 12,773,801 Harrisburg Tom Wolf (D), Jan. 2019Rhode Island (RI) § (1790, 13) 4,001 1,051,511 Providence Gina Raimondo (D), Jan. 2019South Carolina (SC) § (1788, 8) 82,933 4,774,839 Columbia Nikki R. Haley (R), Jan. 2019South Dakota (SD) (1889, 40) 199,729 844,877 Pierre Dennis Daugaard (R), Jan. 2019Tennessee (TN) (1796, 16) 109,153 6,495,978 Nashville Bill Haslam (R), Jan. 2019Texas (TX) (1845, 28) 695,662 26,448,193 Austin Greg Abbott (R), Jan. 2019Utah (UT) (1896, 45) 219,882 2,900,872 Salt Lake City Gary Herbert (R), Jan. 2017Vermont (VT) (1791, 14) 24,906 626,630 Montpelier Peter Shumlin (D), Jan. 2017Virginia (VA) § (1788, 10) 110,787 8,260,405 Richmond Terry McAuli�e (D), Jan. 2018Washington (WA) (1889, 42) 184,661 6,971,406 Olympia Jay Inslee (D), Jan. 2017West Virginia (WV) (1863, 35) 62,756 1,854,304 Charleston Earl Ray Tomblin (D), Jan. 2017Wisconsin (WI) (1848, 30) 169,635 5,742,713 Madison Scott Walker (R), Jan. 2019Wyoming (WY) (1890, 44) 253,335 582,658 Cheyenne Matthew Mead (R), Jan. 2019Dist. of Columbia (DC) (1791) 177 646,449 — Muriel Bowser (D), Jan. 2019 (Mayor)

American Samoa 199 54,343 Pago Pago Lolo Matalasi Moliga (I), Jan. 2017Guam 544 161,785 Hagatna Eddie Calvo (R), Jan. 2019Northern Mariana Islands 464 52,344 Saipan Eloy Inos (C), Jan. 2019Puerto Rico 13,790 3,598,357 San Juan Alejandro Garcia Padilla (R), Jan. 2017US Virgin Islands 1,910 103,574 Charlotte Amalie Kenneth Mapp (I), Jan. 2019

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191459

UK GENERAL ELECTION 2015 STATISTICS

DUNBARTONSHIRE EAST

81.9%

STOKE-ON-TRENT CENTRAL

51.3%HIGHEST TURNOUT

177new MPs

1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015

Turnout (%) since 1945

LOWEST TURNOUT

DUP LiberalDemocratUKIPSinn Fein

IndependentSpeaker

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STATE OF THE PARTIES AFTER THE 2015 GENERAL ELECTION

maleMPs

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1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974(Feb.)

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Conservative

Labour

SNP

ARCHITECTUREJohn Hitchman

THE LEADENHALL BUILDING, LEADENHALLSTREET, LONDONArchitect: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

London’s skyline has changed enormously in recent yearsand the rash of tower building started during the gradualrecovery from the economic crash of 2008/9 shows nosign of abating. In the central district, a companion piece tothe recently completed Shard at London Bridge is now thesecond-tallest structure in London at 225m, squeezed onto asensitive and tight site opposite the ground-breaking Lloyd’sbuilding (1986) on Leadenhall Street. In the manner of theShard and several other high-profile towers in the City, ithas instantly acquired its own nickname, in this case the‘Cheesegrater’, on account of the distinctive inclination of itssouth-facing elevation and the resulting tapering glazedo�ce element.

The reasoning behind the distinctive massing can betraced to one significant constraint in the form of the StPaul’s Cathedral viewing corridors: one particular concernfor the architects centred around the potential intrusion onviews of the St Paul’s dome, when seen from the west, of astandard rectangular tower. In order to counter any objectionon this account, the façade leans back, withdrawing from thepotential for conflict and by so doing almost disappearingfrom the passing pedestrian’s awareness in a way that wouldcertainly not have been the case had the building risenvertically from the site boundary.

The triangular wedge of air space that is thus given backto the street is coupled with a release of the majority of the

Fig. 1. The Leadenhall Building (section), Rogers StirkHarbour + Partners

ground plane beneath the tower to the public realm inthe form of a part-paved, part-soft landscaped ‘Galleria’opening out into the adjoining St Helen’s Square at thejunction with St Mary Axe. The enormous undercroft createdby withdrawing the lowest o�ce floor up to level 6 enablesthe essential structural elements of the main o�ce volume tobecome clearly expressed at the base, the vertical columnsand diagonal bracing members emerging from the glazedcladding above to form a bold, open framework defining thesite boundaries.

The structural beams supporting the overhead o�ce floorand a restaurant floor that partly emerges beneath it at level 5are clearly expressed on the so�t, while banks of escalatorsemerge from the glazed elevations at the rear, spilling downonto the paved approach. The general demeanour of thespace is stark and distinctly no-nonsense; the hard greysurfaces of the steel structure and stone paving are onlypartially o�set by the few trees and grassed areas to oneside, with the glazed origins of the escalators somewhatmysterious. It is as though a huge spaceship has landedand lowered two enormous moving pathways for aliens todescend from the hidden interior.

Each of the two banks of three escalators rises either sideof a central walkway that passes through the building toemerge on the far side in a small paved piazza, which bordersthe narrow service road to the rear, Undershaft. The left-hand bank of escalators rises to level 3 and leads into themain upper reception area and lift lobby for general tenants;the right-hand bank is shorter and provides access to thedesignated Aon reception area at level 2 (the insurance firmpre-let 50 per cent of the o�ce floor area).

The layout of the o�ce floors is based on the concept ofserved and servant spaces, where large rectangular open floorplates, o�ering maximum flexibility, are provided for theo�ces, supported by separate core elements accommodatingpassenger and goods lifts, toilets, plant and services risers.The strategic sloping of the street façade gives rise to anincrementally diminishing series of floor plates as theperimeter draws closer to the principal firefighting andescape cores, one located in each of the rear corners of theo�ce element.

The cores help to sti�en the glazed A-shaped o�ce towerstructure and work in conjunction with an externallyexpressed braced ladder frame rising through the entireheight of the structure, with each floor level articulated byan individual triangulated sub-frame set within the verticalrisers of the ladder. The floors of the o�ce element aresupported o� a primary structural mega-frame, the diagonalbracing members of which are clearly visible through theglazed envelope, with major horizontal interventionsoccurring every seven storeys; this emphasises the pro-portions of the frame and the angle of the sloping façadeneatly coinciding with the junctions of the diagonal bracingmembers every 14 floors.

Rising up the north side of the o�ce floors, andconnected via a narrow bridge link, glazed at each end, isthe secondary support core of elevators and toilet pods. Thisis not a consistently maintained volume, however, as theindividual banks of elevators, arranged in groups of four andallocated to di�erent sections of the building, terminate atthe appropriate floor levels, rising to full height only on theeast elevation. Expressed on the ends as another version ofthe ‘ladder’, the secondary core structure comprises a seriesof complex cross-braced steel ‘tables’, each a storey high and

975

SCIENCE AND DISCOVERYStorm Dunlop

DEFEATED BY DUSTIn March 2014, there was worldwide interest when aninternational team led by the Harvard-Smithsonian Centerfor Astrophysics announced that, using the BICEP2instrumentation at the South Pole, they had detected definiteevidence of cosmic inflation, the exponential expansion of theuniverse immediately after the Big Bang, 13.82 billion yearsago. Such a discovery would imply confirmation of theexistence of gravitational waves, and suggest the existence ofa particle called the graviton. However, there was widespreaddoubt about the discovery, because the e�ect was far greaterthan predicted and did not agree with the results from othersensitive experiments, which had not detected any such e�ects.

In January 2015, the original BICEP2 team and scientistsworking on data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA)Planck spaceprobe confirmed that the original attributionof the observed signal (known technically as B-modepolarisation) to gravitational waves was incorrect. This wasshown by the highly sensitive and detailed mapping byPlanck of the polarisation arising from dust in our own MilkyWay galaxy. New data from the Keck Array (also located atthe South Pole) was available to the combined team.

The new study did, however, detect another source ofB-mode polarisation, dating back to the early universe. Thissignal, first detected in 2013 and on much smaller scales, isattributed to gravitational lensing by the massive structuresthat populated the early universe and deflect photons from thecosmic microwave background during their passage towardsus. The combined results from the three experiments put thise�ect on a very firm basis. Evidence for gravitational wavesproduced by the assumed inflationary phase immediately afterthe Big Bang remains to be established, although the newresults set a clear upper limit for the size of any such signal.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?On 10 April 2015, a team at Stanford University, California,announced in Physical Review Letters that they had achievedthe lowest temperature ever obtained. The temperature,5 × 10−11K (0.00000000005 K), in a gas of some 100,000rubidium atoms, is just fractionally above absolute zero,0 K (-273.15°C), at which all molecular motion ceases. Itwas achieved by using a laser to decelerate individual rubidiumatoms by an amount proportional to their initial velocity.

LHC RESTARTSOn 5 April 2015, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) atCERN restarted after a break of more than two years forupgrades and repairs, with protons circulating in bothdirections around the 27-km ring. Actual collisions at thegreatly increased (essentially doubled) energy of 13 TeV(13 × 1012 electron volts) between the two contra-circulatingbeams began on 3 June 2015. It is anticipated that the higherenergies will reveal a new domain of sub-atomic physicsbeyond the current Standard Model. Expectations are thatthe collisions may reveal new forms of particle, includingthe theoretical ‘partner’ particles to those governed by theStandard Model, and which are predicted by supersymmetry.

On 14 July 2015, scientists at the LHC announced findings(which will be communicated to Physical Review Letters) thatthe LHCb experiment had confirmed the existence of a newparticle, the pentaquark, consisting of five quarks. Althoughoriginally predicted by Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig

in 1964, the pentaquark has been the subject of numeroussearches since then and several claims that it had beendetected, all of which were subsequently discounted byfurther experiments. The scientists are confident that theirresults may only be explained by the existence of the penta-quark. It remains to be established whether the new discoveryconsists of a single particle, containing five individual quarks,or a weakly bonded pair formed of a meson (one quark andone antiquark) and a baryon (three quarks).

ROSETTA AND THE ‘RUBBER DUCK’On 6 August 2014, the ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft made arendezvous with periodic comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko – generally known as ‘67P’ – after a ten-yearjourney. The comet, which unexpectedly had a ‘rubber-duck’-like shape, consisting of a ‘head’ and a ‘body’,currently has an orbital period of 6.45 years. Rosettawent into orbit around the comet on 10 September. On12 November, Rosetta released the Philae probe, which thentouched down on the surface, becoming the first spaceprobeto land on a comet. Unfortunately, the mechanisms (a gasthruster, harpoons and ice screws) intended to secure theprobe in place malfunctioned, and Philae ‘bounced’ twiceacross the surface, ending on its side, wedged in a locationwhere the solar panels were partially shielded from sunlight.However, before its batteries ran down on 15 November2014, the probe was able to carry out almost all of its suiteof observations and broadcast data to the orbiter. On30 July 2015, in a special issue of Science, in a surprisingdevelopment, it was announced that Philae had discovered arich array of carbon compounds. One, hydroxyethanal, mayinitiate the prebiotic formation of sugars, and methanenitrileis a key molecule in the prebiotic synthesis of amino acidsand nucleobases. The chemicals have even been described as‘a frozen primordial soup’. The presence of these compoundssuggests that comets may have been the source of materialsessential to the development of life on Earth.

Other preliminary results were released on 22 January2015, together with some remarkable photographs. The sizeof the ‘body’ is about 4.1 × 3.3 × 1.8km and the ‘head’ isabout 2.6 × 2.3 × 1.8km. The whole comet rotates once inslightly more than 12.4 hours. Measurements of its gravitygive a mass of 10 billion tonnes, with a density of about470kg per cubic metre. This is so low (less than half that ofwater) that 67P must be highly porous, with some 70–80 percent empty space and possibly large voids below the surface,which is exceptionally dark, with an albedo (reflectivity) ofjust 6 per cent. The images required special processing tobring out the details. One significant early finding concernsthe deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) ratio of the comet’s water.This is higher than the ratio in Earth’s water, casting doubton the hypothesis that water on Earth originates from theimpact of water-bearing comets early in the planet’s history.

DWARF PLANETS UNDER INVESTIGATIONFor the first time two of the Solar System’s dwarf planets arebeing investigated, both by NASA spaceprobes. On 6 March2015, the Dawn spaceprobe began to orbit the dwarf planetCeres, after being launched on 27 September 2007 andspending about a year in 2011–2012 very successfullymapping the asteroid Vesta. The largest of the bodies in theMain Belt between Mars and Jupiter, Ceres is essentiallyspherical and 950km in diameter. It is very di�erent fromthe asteroid Vesta, and is suspected to have a rocky core,

1024

BOXING

WORLD CHAMPIONSas at 19 August 2015

WORLD BOXING COUNCIL (WBC)Heavy: Deontay Wilder (USA)Cruiser: Grigory Drozd (Russia)Light-heavy: Adonis Stevenson (Canada)Supermiddle: Badou Jack (Sweden)Middle: Miguel Cotto (Puerto Rico)Interim Middle: Gennady Golovkin (Kazakhstan)Superwelter: Floyd Mayweather Jr (USA)Welter: Floyd Mayweather Jr (USA)Superlight: vacantLight: Jorge Linares (Venezuela)Superfeather: Takashi Miura (Japan)Feather: Gary Russell Jr (USA)Superbantam: Leo Santa Cruz (Mexico)Bantam: Shinsuke Yamanaka (Japan)Superfly: Carlos Cuadras (Mexico)Fly: Roman Gonzalez (Nicaragua)Lightfly: Pedro Guevara (Mexico)Miniflyweight: Wanheng Menayothin (Thailand)

WORLD BOXING ASSOCIATION (WBA)Heavy: Wladimir Klitschko (Ukraine)Cruiser: Dennis Lebedev (Russia)Light-heavy: Sergey Kovalev (Russia)Supermiddle: Andre Ward (USA)Middle: Gennady Golovkin (Kazakhstan)Superwelter: Floyd Mayweather Jr (USA)Welter: Floyd Mayweather Jr (USA)Superlight: Danny Garcia (USA)Light: Darleys Perez (Colombia)Superfeather: Takashi Uchiyama (Japan)Feather: Jesus Andres Cuellar (Argentina)Superbantam: Guillermo Rigondeaux (Cuba)Bantam: Juan Carlos Payano (Dominican Republic)Superfly: Kohei Kono (Japan)Fly: Juan Francisco Estrada (Mexico)Lightfly: Ryoichi Taguchi (Japan)Minimum: Hekkie Budler (South Africa)

WORLD BOXING ORGANISATION (WBO)Heavy: Wladimir Klitschko (Ukraine)Junior-heavy: Marco Huck (Germany)Light-heavy: Sergey Kovalev (Russia)Supermiddle: Arthur Abraham (Armenia)Middle: Andy Lee (Rep. of Ireland)Junior-middle: vacantWelter: Timothy Bradley (USA)Junior-welter: Terence Crawford (USA)Light: Terry Flanagan (Great Britain)Junior-light: Roman Martinez (Puerto Rico)Feather: Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine)Junior-feather: Guillermo Rigondeaux (Cuba)Bantam: Pungluang Sor Singyu (Thailand)Junior-bantam: Naoya Inoue (Japan)Fly: Juan Francisco Estrada (Mexico)Junior-fly: Donnie Nietes (Philippines)Mini-fly: Kosei Tanaka (Japan)

INTERNATIONAL BOXING FEDERATION (IBF)Heavy: Wladimir Klitschko (Ukraine)Cruiser: Yoan Pablo Hernandez (Germany)Light-heavy: Sergey Kovalev (Russia)Supermiddle: James De Gale (Great Britain)

Middle: David Lemieux (Canada)Junior-middle: Cornelius Bundrage (USA)Welter: Kell Brook (Great Britain)Junior-welter: Cesar Cuenca (Argentina)Light: vacantJunior—lightweight: Jose Pedraza (USA)Feather: Lee Selby (Great Britain)Junior-feather: Carl Frampton (Great Britain)Bantam: Randy Caballero (USA)Fly: Amnat Ruenroeng (Thailand)Junior-fly: Javier Mendoza (Mexico)Mini-fly: Katsunari Takayama (Japan)

BRITISH CHAMPIONSHeavy: Tyson FuryCruiser: Ola AfolabiLight-heavy: Nathan CleverlySuper-middle: James De GaleMiddle: Martin MurrayLight-middle: Brian RoseWelter: Kell BrookLight-welter: Willie LimondLight: Ricky BurnsSuper-feather: Stephen SmithFeather: Lee SelbySuper-bantam: Carl FramptonBantam: Jamie McDonnellSuper-fly: Paul ButlerFly: Kevin Satchell

CHESS

FIDE World Champion 2014: Magnus Carlsen (Norway)British Champion 2015: Jonathan HawkinsBritish Women’s Champion 2015: Akshaya Kalaiyalahan

CRICKET

TEST SERIES

WEST INDIES V ENGLANDAntigua (13–18 April): England drew with West Indies.

West Indies 295 and 350–7; England 399 and 333–7St Georges (21–26 April): England beat West Indies by

9 wickets. England 464 and 144–1; West Indies 299and 307

Bridgetown (1–4 May): West Indies beat England by 5 wickets.West Indies 189 and 194–5; England 257 and 123

ENGLAND V NEW ZEALANDLord’s (21–25 May): England beat New Zealand by 124

runs. England 389 and 478; New Zealand 523 and 220Headingley (29 May–2 June): New Zealand beat England

by 199 runs. England 350 and 255; New Zealand 350and 454–8 dec.

ENGLAND V AUSTRALIA (THE ASHES)Cardi� (8–11 July): England beat Australia by 169 runs.

England 430 and 289; Australia 308 and 242Lord’s (16–19 July): Australia beat England by 405 runs.

England 312 and 103; Australia 556–8 dec. and 242–2Edgbaston (29–31 July): England beat Australia by 8 wickets.

England 281 and 124–2; Australia 136 and 265Old Tra�ord (6–8 August): England beat Australia by an

innings and 78 runs. England 391–9 dec.; Australia 60and 253

Kia Oval (20–23 August): Australia beat England by aninnings and 46 runs. Australia 481; England 149 and 286

1034 The Year 2014–15

JANUARY 2016FIRST MONTH, 31 DAYS. Janus, god of the portal, facing two ways, past and future

1 Friday Great Britain and Ireland unite as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801 day 12 Saturday José Antonio Remón Cantera, the president of Panama, is killed at a race track 1955 23 Sunday Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of Liberia 1848 3

4 Monday The Fabian Society, Britain’s oldest political think tank, is founded 1884 week 1 day 45 Tuesday The German Worker’s Party, predecessor of the Nazi party, is founded in Munich 1919 56 Wednesday Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th US president and the first to win a Nobel Peace Prize d. 1919 67 Thursday Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, leads a failed rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I 1601 78 Friday François Mitterrand, France’s 21st and longest-serving president d. 1996 89 Saturday Anthoney Eden resigns as prime minister following the Suez Crisis 1957 9

10 Sunday Thomas Paine anonymously publishes Common Sense in support of American independence 1776 10

11 Monday Arthur Scargill, trade unionist, president National Union of Mineworkers (1982–2002) b. 1938 week 2 day 1112 Tuesday Edmund Burke, Irish philosopher and Whig politician who opposed the French Revolution b. 1729 1213 Wednesday The Independent Labour party is founded in Bradford by James Keir Hardie 1893 1314 Thursday Marshal Josip Broz Tito was elected as the first president of Yugoslavia 1953 1415 Friday Rosa Luxemburg, revolutionary Marxist of Polish-Jewish descent, is assassinated in Berlin 1919 1516 Saturday Ivan the Terrible is crowned Tsar of All the Russias 1547 1617 Sunday Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the USA, who invented bifocals b. 1706 17

18 Monday Sir Edmund Barton, the first prime minister of Australia b. 1849 week 3 day 1819 Tuesday The US senate votes against participation in the League of Nations 1920 1920 Wednesday Christian II is deposed from the thrones of Denmark and Norway 1523 2021 Thursday On his first day in o�ce, US president Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders 1977 2122 Friday Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour prime minister of the UK 1924 2223 Saturday William Pitt the Younger, the youngest British prime minister aged 24 d. 1806 2324 Sunday Frederick II (Frederick the Great), who introduced the potato to the Kingdom of Prussia b. 1712 24

25 Monday The League of Nations is established at the Paris Peace Conference 1919 week 4 day 2526 Tuesday India o�cially becomes an independent republic and its first president is sworn in 1950 2627 Wednesday The body of Vladimir Lenin is placed in a mausoleum in Red Square 1924 2728 Thursday Sir Thomas Warner establishes Saint Kitts as the first British colony in the Caribbean 1624 2829 Friday George III, whose life was longer than any monarch who preceded him d. 1820 2930 Saturday Charles I is executed for treason outside the Banqueting House, Whitehall, London 1649 3031 Sunday Guy Fawkes leaps to his death from the gallows before he could be hung for treason 1606 31

ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA

MINIMA OF ALGOL

d h2 23 Earth at perihelion3 19 Mars 1° South of the Moon6 24 Venus 3° South of the Moon7 05 Saturn 3° South of the Moon9 04 Saturn 0.1° South of Venus

10 18 Mercury 2° South of the Moon16 06 Uranus 1° North of the Moon28 01 Jupiter 1° North of the Moon

d h d h d h1 11.9 12 23.2 24 10.54 08.8 15 20.0 27 07.37 05.6 18 16.9 30 04.2

10 02.4 21 13.7

CONSTELLATIONSThe following constellations are near the meridian at

Draco (below the Pole), Ursa Minor (below the Pole),Camelopardalis, Perseus, Auriga, Taurus, Orion, Eridanus andLepus

THE MOON

hdhdDecember 1 24 January 16 21December 16 23 February 1 20January 1 22 February 15 19

Phases, Apsides and Node d h mLast Quarter 2 05 30New Moon 10 01 31First Quarter 16 23 26Full Moon 24 01 46

Apogee (404,277km) 2 11 53Perigee (369,619km) 15 02 14Apogee (404,553km) 30 09 10

Mean longitude of ascending node on 1st, 176°

1066 Astronomy

TIME MEASUREMENT AND CALENDARSMEASUREMENTS OF TIME

Measurements of time are based on the time taken by the Earthto rotate on its axis (day); by the Moon to revolve aroundthe Earth (month); and by the Earth to revolve around the Sun(year). From these, which are not commensurable, certainaverage or mean intervals have been adopted for ordinary use.

THE DAYThe day begins at midnight and is divided into 24 hours of60 minutes, each of 60 seconds. The hours are counted frommidnight up to 12 noon (when the Sun crosses the meridian),and these hours are designated am (ante meridiem); and againfrom noon up to 12 midnight, which hours are designatedpm (post meridiem), except when the 24-hour reckoningis employed. The 24-hour reckoning ignores am and pm,numbering the hours 0 to 23 from midnight.

Colloquially the 24 hours are divided into day and night,day being the time while the Sun is above the horizon(including the four stages of twilight defined in theAstronomy section). Day is subdivided into morning, endingat noon; afternoon, from noon to about 6pm; and evening,which may be said to extend from 6pm until midnight. Nightbegins at the close of astronomical twilight (see theAstronomy section) and extends beyond midnight to sunrisethe next day.

The names of the days are derived from Old Englishtranslations or adaptations of the Roman titles.

THE MONTHThe month in the ordinary calendar is approximately thetwelfth part of a year, but the lengths of the di�erent monthsvary from 28 (or 29) days to 31.

THE YEARThe equinoctial or tropical year is the time that the Earthtakes to revolve around the Sun from equinox to equinox, ie365.24219 mean solar days, or 365 days 5 hours 48 minutesand 45 seconds.

The calendar year usually consists of 365 days but a yearcontaining 366 days is called a bissextile (see Romancalendar) or leap year, one day being added to the month ofFebruary so that a date ‘leaps over’ a day of the week. In theRoman calendar the day that was repeated was the sixth daybefore the beginning of March, the equivalent of 24 February.

A year is a leap year if the date of the year is divisible byfour without remainder, unless it is the last year of the century.The last year of a century is a leap year only if its number isdivisible by 400 without remainder, eg the years 1800 and1900 had only 365 days but the year 2000 had 366 days.

THE SOLSTICEA solstice is the point in the tropical year at which the Sunattains its greatest distance, north or south, from the Equator.In the northern hemisphere the furthest point north of theEquator marks the summer solstice and the furthest pointsouth marks the winter solstice.

Sunday nuSloSMonday nooManuLTuesday Tiw/Tyr (god of war) MarsWednesday Woden/Odin MercuryThursday retipuJrohTFriday Frigga/Freyja (goddess of love) VenusSaturday nrutaSenreteaS

The date of the solstice varies according to locality. Forexample, if the summer solstice falls on 21 June late in theday by Greenwich time, that day will be the longest of theyear at Greenwich, but it will fall on 22 June, local date, inJapan, and so 22 June will be the longest day there. The dateof the solstice is also a�ected by the length of the tropicalyear, which is 365 days 6 hours less about 11 minutes 15seconds. If a solstice happens late on 21 June in one year,it will be nearly 6 hours later in the next (unless the nextyear is a leap year), ie early on 22 June, and that will be thelongest day.

This delay of the solstice does not continue because theextra day in a leap year brings it back a day in the calendar.However, because of the 11 minutes 15 seconds mentionedabove, the additional day in a leap year brings the solsticeback too far by 45 minutes, and the time of the solstice in thecalendar is earlier, in a four-year pattern, as the centuryprogresses. The last year of a century is in most cases not aleap year, and the omission of the extra day puts the date ofthe solstice later by about 6 hours. Compensation for thisis made by the fourth centennial year being a leap year.The solstice became earlier in date throughout the lastcentury and, because the year 2000 was a leap year, thesolstice will get earlier still throughout the 21st century.The date of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year,is a�ected by the same factors as the longest day.

At Greenwich the Sun sets at its earliest by the clock aboutten days before the shortest day. The daily change in the timeof sunset is due in the first place to the Sun’s movementsouthwards at this time of the year, which diminishes theinterval between the Sun’s transit and its setting. However,the daily decrease of the Equation of Time causes the time ofapparent noon to be continuously later day by day, which tosome extent counteracts the first e�ect. The rates of thechange of these two quantities are not equal or uniform; theircombination causes the date of earliest sunset to be 12 or13 December at Greenwich. In more southerly latitudes thee�ect of the movement of the Sun is less, and the change inthe time of sunset depends on that of the Equation of Time toa greater degree, and the date of earliest sunset is earlier thanit is at Greenwich, eg on the Equator it is about 1 November.

THE EQUINOXThe equinox is the point at which the Sun crosses the Equatorand day and night are of equal length all over the world. Thisoccurs in March and September.

DOG DAYSThe days about the heliacal rising of the Dog Star, notedfrom ancient times as the hottest period of the year in thenorthern hemisphere, are called the Dog Days. Theirincidence has been variously calculated as depending on theGreater or Lesser Dog Star (Sirius or Procyon) and theirduration has been reckoned as from 30 to 54 days. Agenerally accepted period is from 3 July to 15 August.

CHRISTIAN CALENDAR

In the Christian chronological system the years aredistinguished by cardinal numbers before or after the birth ofChrist, the period being denoted by the letters BC (BeforeChrist) or, more rarely, AC (Ante Christum), and AD (AnnoDomini – In the Year of Our Lord); BCE (Before the ChristianEra) and CE (Christian Era) are now sometimes used instead

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