Hobson's Choice: Trivia

Number of people killed in Jammu and Kashmir in the past nine years:

25,000

Number of Israeli citizens in the occupied territories killed by

Palestinians between the outbreak of the Intifada, 9 December 1987, and

15 November

1995:

90

Number of Palestinians killed by Israeli citizens, mostly settlers,

between 9 December 1987 and 15 November 1995

112

Number of cases of Arab violence against Jews in this period where the

file was closed and no judicial measures taken:

1

Number of cases of Jewish violence against Arabs in this period where

the file was closed and no judicial measures taken:

38

Number of immigrants into the UK in 1994:

253,000

Number of emigrants from the UK in 1994: 191,000

Percentage of workforce in Belgium working more than 48 hours a week:

2.3

Percentage of workforce in UK working more than 48 hours a week: 15.9

Percentage of a sloth's life spent asleep:

80

Estimated number of people working in the art market in London: 45,000

Minutes so far shot of filmmaker Harmony Korinne's film, Fight, in which he taunts members of every demographic group in New York until they beat him up:

13

Number of times Harmony Korinne

has been arrested during the four

fights that have so far been filmed in Fight:

2

Number of birds killed every year by flying into skyscrapers in Toronto:

10,000

Fastest speed a snake can achieve:

8 mph

Number of virgins who have bought an insurance policy against immaculate conception next year: 10,113

Number of priests manning the bless-me hotline in Philadelphia, in a campaign to retrieve lapsed Catholics before the

millennium:

140

SOURCES: ASIAN TIMES, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, POPULATION TRENDS, LABOUR FORCE SURVEY, SUPERNATURAL BY JOHN DOWNER, LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS, THE GUARDIAN, SUPERNATURAL, TIME, GRIP (LONDON)/HARPER'S, DIRECT RESPONSE.