News

182 places could be happier than the “UK’s happiest place”

By Joël Reland • 2 mins

Because of confidence intervals in the data, it’s very hard to tell which is actually the happiest place in the UK. Read

Europe

The Brexit deal has not passed Parliament

By Tom Phillips • 2 mins

The Withdrawal Agreement Bill has not passed Parliament—it passed its “second reading”, which is just an early stage in Parliament passing it. Read

How long does the average government last?

By Joël Reland • 3 mins

Since WWII, the mean length of a government is 3.8 years, and the median length is 4.1 years. Read

The ‘headline’ on this BBC article linked to by a Conservative Party Facebook ad isn’t the real headline

By Claire Milne • 3 mins

A Conservative Party Facebook advert seems to have altered the headline of a BBC article to make the government seem more generous than it’s being. Read

Why Sinn Féin MPs don’t get salaries

By Abbas Panjwani • 3 mins

Sinn Féin MPs aren’t allowed to take salaries but can claim expenses. Read

Survation didn’t say the Liberal Democrats are polling ahead of the Conservatives in Esher and Walton

By Claire Milne • 2 mins

Survation’s poll was a national survey of voting intention which was then used to model an estimate of what local voting could be – this might not be reliable. Read

An article about leaked Lib Dem emails is fake

By Joël Reland • 2 mins

Images of an apparent Guardian article reporting on “turmoil at heart of Liberal Democrats” are fake. Read

Was William Wilberforce a Tory?

By Abbas Panjwani • 2 mins

Abolitionist William Wilberforce was an independent MP, not a Tory MP, though he was fairly loyal to the Tory Prime Minister, Pitt the Younger. Read

This Guardian quiz on Boris Johnson is meaningless

By Abbas Panjwani • 2 mins

A recent Guardian quiz on Boris Johnson attracted over 70,000 responses. The respondents were not representative of Guardian readers or the public. Read

It’s correct that Labour’s support is at a record low in polling history

By Joël Reland • 1 min

The Labour Party polled 18% this week. It has only polled this low once before, in May 2009. Read