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EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
€150 – The fine you get for being caught throwing chewing gum on the street. The first year of introduction of the fine, in 2012, saw a 28 per cent reduction in gum litter nationwide.
€1,506 – The approximate amount lost per minute by Ulster Bank in the first three months of 2013. The bank recorded an operating profit but had to offset massive amounts of money to take care of loans it doesn’t expect to be repaid.
€296,717.50 – The apparent amount that Ronnie O’Sullivan needs to cover school fees for his kids. The reigning world snooker champion is famously bored with the sport but agreed to participate in this year’s championship – with a top prize of £250,000 – because his kids’ schools need him to stump up. (That’s enough to keep Ulster Bank going for about 198 minutes.)
€21 million – The amount that the people of Ireland have so far paid in the Local Property Tax, according to the Exchequer’s official figures for April.
66 – The number of people who had died on Irish roads so far in 2013, as of this evening with the death of two women in Carlow. At the same time last year the figure was only 51 – meaning there’s been a 26 per cent increase in fatalities so far this year.
24 – The number of Tayto Cheese and Onion Chocolate Bars in all of Australia. And boy, people are keen to get them…
28 per cent – The amount by which suicide rates among middle-class Americans rose between 1999 and 2010.
34 per cent – The proportion by which robbery, extortion and hijacking offences increased between 2007 and 2011, according to CSO data out this week.
63 – The number of years you’d have to travel back in time to find an April as windy as the one of 2013.
300,000 - The estimated number of households in Ireland which have tracker mortgages, where the interest rate is linked to the ECB’s basic rate. The cut in the ECB’s rate is good news for them – but bad news for around 400,000 non-tracker households whose rates could be forced up in order for banks to cover their losses.
100 – The drop in the number on the Live Register in April 2013. Ireland still has a 14 per cent unemployment rate.
3,726 – The estimated number of lives saved through the introduction of a ban on smoking in Irish workplaces.
74,500 – The capacity of the smallest stadium Ireland will play in in the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff will host Ireland’s clash with France, while the boys in green will also take to the field in Wembley (90,000) and at the Olympic Stadium (80,000).
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No. Please stop with all the articles about food. Let people eat what they want in peace
Afraid people might learn something?
@: I would stop caring if our healthcare wasn’t subsidised/free. For every person that fails to control their eating habits, we all foot the bill.
@: I would agree, but don’t see it as limited to food.
@Sean Murphy:
Could argue similarly about citizen’s sexual habits, driving habits, drinking habits, sporting habits, smoking habits, drug smoking habits and most critically their voting habits….all considered!!
@P.J. Nolan: You can’t be babysitting people
@Sean Murphy: 10 megacompanies control the food industry in the west.
Supermarket aisles are full of sugary processed foods that cause long-term damage to most people’s health, particularly young people who have grown up since the massive influx of highly processed foods that are stuffed full of salt, sugar and trans fats because these are cheaper than quality ingredients, have a long shelf-life, exploit human biology and maximise profit. It’s not down to individuals making the right decision. Cost is the number one factor and many people cannot afford to buy healthy food any more. That’s a government problem to fix and consecutive health ministers have failed miserably for decades on this.
@: Too much salt in the diet causes blood clotting and strokes – it’s a major issue in the west as processed foods are full of salt to give bland ingredients some semblance of taste.
@james rowan: And salt, any view on that?
I don’t even check the salt content of salt.
@Chris O’Brien: probably about 40% after it’s cut and mixed with baby powder
@James Lyons:
Maltose is sweet too….Na….tiz all about D-Sodi-yum!
Terrible the government giving that kip rte more money should be closed down and the land sold ,I’ve never bought a TV license and never will
@: You actually have no right to an opinion if you have never bought a license…..and you are typical of the moaners in here.I find the people who moan the most contribute the least.
@uUleRhCu: every one should stop paying and get dodgy boxes great job
@: I’d say you pay for very little and whinge that you don’t get enough entitlements and that we have crap services and the country is a kip.
@uUleRhCu: yes and I buy lots of drink and smokes and sniff and don’t work
What has that to do with salt?
@uUleRhCu:
A bit like all the overpaid talent neutral parasites that present most of their stock shows and those who have run the Montrose Mafia franchise…..into the very grounds they’ll soon be selling off in order to keep the Wonderly Wagon chuggin’ along!!
Checked the salt content of a packet of Cup Of Soup – and it’s the entire daily allowance in 1 day.
I keep a food diary on my kitchen counter.
Very rarely would I buy a sauce in a jar – full of salt and sugar.
I make my own sauces and they are mighty fine.
When I do go out or eat sauce from a jar it’s almost inedible now that I am used to much lower salt/sugar content.
Me mouth is still open from the RTE funding article
@Vincent Wallace: Don’t you mean firing article? 400 jobs gone, it’s what you wanted no?
That’s right Tubs
@Thesaltyurchin: Over 4 years, plenty of bloated positions in RTE that can be gone, matter of fact they should scatter that entity to the winds and sell Montrose and other holdings.
@Tom L: you really think it’s gonna be the top earners who get fired? Oh boy you’ve a lot to learn about this country
@Martin Mongan: Nah, but I’m sure they have plenty of ‘assistants’
Pretty easy to do with the RDA graphics on most food products. It can be sometimes surprising to see you can only eat 1/4 of a pizza before going over the RDA limit.
@Susa delrosario: Traffic light system would be better – red for any food product with more than 10% of daily intake in one serving.
According to our expert, Senator Lynn Ruane, the amount of salt one consumes is a reliable index of male whyht priviloyidge [sic].
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: lol that one of the wokest things I ever heard.
@: Salt is racist!!!
I refuse to answer this question until they give us a definitive answer on the eggs good/bad thing.
Snore.
@Iano C: SALT TAX INCOMING!!!
Try not to live your life in fear.
Aromat and crushed mixed pepper on eggs……*Homer drool* ;@}
Can’t beat good salt
@Argus Romsworth: compared to bad salt, yes, I agree wholeheartedly..
@Argus Romsworth:
Especially in your overnight IV drip for staving off hangovers etc….it’s only whopporrrhhh!!
There’s an app on the iPhone (and probably Android too) called Yuka. We usually scan every new item we buy – just to see if it’s healthy. It’s amazing how many are really unhealthy, with many containing potential carcinogens. On the positive side, we often find that the new ones are quite healthy. For some products that are not healthy, there are alternative recommendations. Many products that are bad or unhealthy tend to be high in salt or MSG.
“No. Please stop with all the articles about food. Let people eat what they want in peace”
May I ask you how this article disturbs anybody’s peace whilst eating?
What a weak troll mind. So easily triggered.
No. Nor do I like paying a double tax.
Yes, but the levels of sugar in food are far more worrying, and it is ‘hidden’ in a multitude of terms. Sugar, Glucose, Sucrose, Fructose, Glucose Syrup, Corn Syrup, Honey, Concentrated Fruit Extract, etc, etc. Some breakfast cereals and ‘healthfood’ bars are almost 30% sugar. Pizzas also have crazy levels.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Hence the increased salt in a lot of these very same foods.
High in sugar does cover the salt = they have to add more salt to the stuff.
I’m waiting for a post about how females are forced to consume/do without more/less salt than males and how unfair it is.
@Pato: yes indeed it’s called SRM – Salt Related Misogyny. The culture of men putting salt on their food in front of women is making them feel uncomfortable so they end up eating chocolate to relieve the stress which makes them fat, so that’s men’s fault as well etc. . .
So Israel have admitted that their bombing is now resulting directly in killing Israeli hostages.
I always check the salt content. And sugar. And the rest. Foolish not to!
@Tom Dillon: Certainly, just as one would with pharmaceuticals & vaccines.
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin:
And especially ropey ‘alternative’ homeopathic alchemy tripe, livestock wormers and Hydroxy-Chloro-whim etc etc! ;~}
Not arsed, I want to enjoy my life, if a bit of salt is what does me in then fair play to it. Live by the sword die by the sword
I avoid processed foods regardless, salt content is the least concerning when it comes to processed muck. If one digs deep enough one can find the gaslighting behind this salt debate.
Graham Pickett Corrupt HR Pr!ck: While munching a McDonald’s, make sure to check the salt content! It’s the salt that’ll kill ya
What even is a good diet nowadays. Genuine question. Breakfast lunch and dinner ideas please.. or only one meal a day is it ?
@Emer Daly:
Self-heating by eating blended stews and coddles through thine neighbour’s glory portal!
Whatever you’re into..
Most stuff would be inedible without salt. Or at least wouldn’t be as tasty.
Try cabbage bacon and spuds sauce included without salt.
Salt is not bad for you. Suger and a bad diet is. Simple ..
Not gonna lie, salt is my biggest vice.
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: You must have so many wild and varied experiences to draw on for commentary.
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: Salt is the spice of life
What’s the point? Labels lie all the time.
@Anna Carr (Morrigan_Dubh): care to explain? Smaller producers might get away with some variations at time, but I’m sure the big ones are under regular scrutiny even from independent consumer agencies.
Do yourself a favour and cut out salts like monosodium glutamate and sodium nitrate.
On the one hand I prefer to make my own decisions instead instead of having to follow the dictates of the powers that be. On the other hand there is the (possibly) avoidable risk of premature disease that could clog up hospital beds and make burial directors prematurely wealthy. I am not sure that the case against salt has been proven.
have your say