HOBSON'S CHOICE

Number of different computer networks used by the 49 air traffic control centres in Europe:

31

Chance of delay, flying anywhere in Europe between June and August this year:

1 in 3

Cost to the Passport Agency of extra staff needed to to cope with the backlog of 565,000 passport applications in June this year:

pounds 6m

Cost to the Passport Agency of publicity needed to reassure the public over this backlog:

pounds 500,000

Cost to the Passport Agency of umbrellas needed for people queuing to pick up their passports:

pounds 16,000

Profit, per second, made by British Telecom last year:

pounds 98

Number of "viewing opportunities", or potential viewers, of the average American film after repeats, video, cable and other broadcasts:

180 million

Cost of placing a leading champagne as a product in a film:

pounds 20,000

Percentage of hip-hop records in US bought by white record buyers:

71

Amount Sir Ranulph Fiennes paid for a biscuit found next to the body of Captain Scott after the doomed 1912 South Pole expedition:

pounds 4,000

Percentage of the gold mined worldwide that goes into jewellery:

80

Number of shopping malls larger than 3,000 square feet permitted by law to be built outside urban centres in Norway:

0

Amount of time, per day, the average car in the Netherlands is used:

1 hr 12 min

Percentage of Russian children with Down's syndrome who are placed at birth in state-run orphanages:

94

Percentage of these children who die within their first year of life:

50

Number of people in the world suffering from leprosy:

2.5 million

Number of people suffering from leprosy successfully treated with multi- drug therapy in the past 15 years:

10 million

Number of deserted villages in Spain:

7,000

SOURCES: WALLPAPER*, PUBLIC FINANCE, THE INDEPENDENT, GAT, SHIFT, UTNE READER, YES!, WORLD WATCH, DOWNSIDE UP, DER SPIEGEL, GUARDIAN, METRO