Ronaldo didn’t visit a mosque in Birmingham
Footage of a lookalike of the Portuguese footballer has been widely shared online. Read
Fact checks
Leo Benedictus
Journalist
Leo joined Full Fact in January 2020. For 15 years, he worked freelance as a feature writer for the Guardian, Prospect, the New Scientist and others, making maps of immigration, explaining citizens’ assemblies and debunking superfoods. He has a fondness for science and statistics. He also writes novels.
Economy, Business & Finance
The UK will cut aid this year, but barely did last year
The UK spends more on aid than most G7 countries, although the gap will close in 2021. Read
Fact checks
Economy, Business & Finance
Boris Johnson was broadly right about aid spending
The government’s plan to reduce foreign aid will still mean spending more on it than past governments did. Read
Fact checks
Covid-19 vaccines are very effective
Some people are unlikely to get ill with Covid anyway, but that doesn’t mean that the vaccines offer less protection. Read
Fact checks
The BBC did not claim 350 people attended anti-lockdown protests
A widely shared screenshot suggesting otherwise has itself been faked. Read
Fact checks
Health
The UK does not have the worst death toll in Europe, when you account for population
It has recorded the 14th highest number of Covid-19 deaths per million people. Read
Fact checks
These cars were not abandoned because their batteries failed
The electric cars were part of a French car-sharing business, which stopped trading suddenly in 2018. Read
Fact checks
Health
It’s not clear whether bald people get more ill with Covid-19
Several newspapers have reported that being bald doubles your risk of severe Covid, but this is far from certain. Read
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Health
This map in the Daily Express uses all the wrong numbers
No UK regions reported zero “new daily cases” of Covid-19 on the day before. Read
Fact checks
Prince Philip did not dress up in a bearskin for a prank
He was the Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and this was his uniform. A famous photograph shows him and the Queen laughing when an event was disrupted by bees. Read
Fact checks
