Map Of The British Empire

The map below shows teritory that was at some point controlled by the British Empire (in the traditional pink) — the thin white lines show the modern country boundaries. Needless to say, the definition of ‘controlled by the British Empire’ is not universally agreed upon.

If you want to know more about the British Empire, the definitive book is Lawrence James’ The Rise And Fall Of The British Empire. Unlike most books on the British Empire, it is remarkably unbiased, and worth a read wherever you live.

• The Rise And Fall Of The British Empire at Amazon.com
• The Rise And Fall Of The British Empire at Amazon.co.uk (for British readers)

source: http://www.safalra.com/other/british-empire-map/

cumulative historical UK inflation rate between 1750 and today

The table below shows the cumulative historical UK inflation rate between 1750 and today and allows you to convert between prices in any years in that range, or just to browse the history of the UK inflation rate.

To calculate the modern-day price, multiple the price by its year’s multiplier — for example, £1000 in 1970 is the equivalent of £11000 (£1000 × 11) today.

The multipliers are rounded to two significant figures.

The Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation measure is used — the historical inflation data come from the 2004 paper ‘Consumer Price Inflation Since 1750’ (ISSN 0013-0400, Economic Trends No. 604, pp 38-46) by Jim O’Donoghue, Louise Goulding, and Grahame Allen, which estimates historic British inflation back to 1750. You can also download the data in either Comma-Separated Values (CSV) format or Tab-Separated Values (TSV) format.

Year	Inflation	Multiplier
2007	4.3%	1.0
2006	3.2%	1.0
2005	2.8%	1.1
2004	3.0%	1.1
2003	2.9%	1.1
2002	1.7%	1.2
2001	1.8%	1.2
2000	3.0%	1.2
1999	1.5%	1.3
1998	3.4%	1.3
1997	3.1%	1.3
1996	2.4%	1.4
1995	3.5%	1.4
1994	2.4%	1.4
1993	1.6%	1.5
1992	3.7%	1.5
1991	5.9%	1.5
1990	9.5%	1.6
1989	7.8%	1.8
1988	4.9%	1.9
1987	4.2%	2.0
1986	3.4%	2.1
1985	6.1%	2.2
1984	5.0%	2.3
1983	4.6%	2.4
1982	8.6%	2.5
1981	11.9%	2.8
1980	18.0%	3.1
1979	13.4%	3.7
1978	8.3%	4.1
1977	15.8%	4.5
1976	16.5%	5.2
1975	24.2%	6.1
1974	16.0%	7.5
1973	9.2%	8.7
1972	7.1%	9.5
1971	9.4%	10.0
1970	6.4%	11.0
1969	5.4%	12.0
1968	4.7%	13.0
1967	2.5%	13.0
1966	3.9%	13.0
1965	4.8%	14.0
1964	3.3%	15.0
1963	2.0%	15.0
1962	4.3%	15.0
1961	3.4%	16.0
1960	1.0%	17.0
1959	0.6%	17.0
1958	3.0%	17.0
1957	3.7%	17.0
1956	4.9%	18.0
1955	4.5%	19.0
1954	1.8%	20.0
1953	3.1%	20.0
1952	9.2%	21.0
1951	9.1%	23.0
1950	3.1%	25.0
1949	2.8%	25.0
1948	7.7%	26.0
1947	7.0%	28.0
1946	3.1%	30.0
1945	2.8%	31.0
1944	2.7%	32.0
1943	3.4%	33.0
1942	7.1%	34.0
1941	10.8%	36.0
1940	16.8%	40.0
1939	2.8%	47.0
1938	1.6%	48.0
1937	3.4%	49.0
1936	0.7%	51.0
1935	0.7%	51.0
1934	0.0%	52.0
1933	-2.1%	52.0
1932	-2.6%	50.0
1931	-4.3%	49.0
1930	-2.8%	47.0
1929	-0.9%	46.0
1928	-0.3%	45.0
1927	-2.4%	45.0
1926	-0.8%	44.0
1925	0.3%	44.0
1924	-0.7%	44.0
1923	-6.0%	44.0
1922	-14.0%	41.0
1921	-8.6%	35.0
1920	15.4%	32.0
1919	10.1%	37.0
1918	22.0%	41.0
1917	25.2%	50.0
1916	18.1%	62.0
1915	12.5%	74.0
1914	-0.3%	83.0
1913	-0.4%	83.0
1912	3.0%	82.0
1911	0.1%	85.0
1910	0.9%	85.0
1909	0.5%	86.0
1908	0.5%	86.0
1907	1.2%	87.0
1906	0.0%	88.0
1905	0.4%	88.0
1904	-0.2%	88.0
1903	0.4%	88.0
1902	0.0%	88.0
1901	0.5%	88.0
1900	5.1%	89.0

Zimbabweans play the zero game

By Kathryn Westcott BBC News

Quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion - crazy numbers with lots of zeros, that independent Zimbabwean economist John Robertson found himself chewing over with colleagues in the capital Harare this week.

In January, the bank introduced a Z$10m note

The financial throes of the country are now so severe, that some people are seeking a new language to understand it.

On Monday, the Zimbabwe government introduced the 100 billion Zimbabwe dollar note (for the uninitiated, a billion has nine zeros).

The counting of zeros had already become a nightmare for bankers and shoppers before the introduction of the new note - which at the time of writing would buy about two loaves of bread.

So far this year, the country ravaged by hyperinflation has been forced to print 100-million, 250-million and 500-million notes in rapid succession. All of them are now almost worthless.

It has become common now for Zimbabweans to talk of their daily expenses in trillions (one trillion has 12 zeros).

When John Robertson pinned a chart to the wall of office naming numbers up to twice as long, he says he "raised a bit of a laugh" from his colleagues.

But for many officials and accountants, a quadrillion - a million billion - is the number of the day.

BIG NUMBERS Quadrillion: 15 zeros Quintillion: 18 zeros Sextillion: 21 zeros Septillion 24 zeros This formulation is from the widely-used US system

Only last week, the Harare Herald advertised the Lotto bonanza prize being offered was 1.2 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars. At the time, that was equivalent to around 4,000 US dollars.

So how do Zimbabweans deal with such astronomical numbers?

"I actually Googled what comes after trillion about a month ago, and sent that out to all my friends so they'd be prepared," says 28-year-old Esther, a Harare resident who writes a regular diary for the BBC.

Day-to-day transactions for ordinary people have not reached the quadrillion stage, she says, but even trillions present difficulties.

"What is confusing is counting of the figures on your cheques as you try to make sure you are not under or over paying someone, or the struggling to read price tags in shops that have not yet knocked off zeros and so on," she says.

Hard currency

This practice - knocking off zeros - is the most common way of preserving sanity.

Most calculators simply cannot show enough digits.

The new note is three zeros short of Germany's 1924 100-trillion-mark note

Tills throughout the country have been struggling to cope, as have banking computers, and accounting systems.

As a result, the banks recently agreed to lop six zeros off transactions and documentation.

Economist John Robertson predicts that within a month they will be forced to drop another three.

The other main technique for keeping zeros under control, is to think in terms of a hard currency - in this case, US dollars.

It would be against the law to advertise your house in US dollars, Mr Robertson says, but in practice this is the currency used for big purchases.

"Nothing would be written down and on the day of exchange, that figure would either be paid in US dollars, or converted into Zimbabwe dollars. Then you would be talking big numbers - which will take a bit of getting used to."

While Zimbabwe is the only country currently suffering from hyperinflation its economic woes are not unprecedented.

Bundles of cash

History has shown that in countries experiencing

hyperinflation - characterised by a monthly inflation of more than 50%

- the central bank often prints money in larger and larger denominations as the smaller denomination notes become worthless.

Beyond a million it all becomes a blur Marcus du Sautoy, Maths professor

In Yugoslavia, for example, the rate of inflation was five quadrillion per cent between October 1993 and January 1994. The government was forced to issue a 500 billion dinar note in 1993.

In Germany after World War I, prices were doubling about every two days and workers were paid daily or more often with bundles of cash. The highest value banknote issued by the Reichsbank had a face value of 100 trillion marks.

Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford, says in general people are very bad at assessing numbers of this size.

"Beyond a million it all becomes a blur," he says.

"People are really looking for the ratio of one product to another, and then it's irrelevant how many zeros there are at the end of the number," he says.

If shops and banks don't drop the zeros, it's done instead by the human brain.

Net firmsn music pirates deal

Customers who illegally share music will get warning letters

Six of the UK's biggest net providers have agreed a plan with the music industry to tackle piracy online.

The deal, negotiated by the government, will see hundreds of thousands of letters sent to net users suspected of illegally sharing music.

Hard core file-sharers could see their broadband connections slowed, under measures proposed by the UK government.

BT, Virgin, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse have all signed up.

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, which represents the music industry, said: "All of the major ISPs in the UK now recognise they have a responsibility to deal with illegal file-sharers on their networks."

Mr Taylor said it had taken years to persuade ISPs to adopt this view.

So far, the ISPs seem to be grabbing the carrot - while avoiding the stick BBC Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones Read more on Dot.Life

The plan commits the firms to working towards a "significant reduction" in the illegal sharing of music.

It also commits the net firms to develop legal music services. "Conversations are ongoing between record labels and ISPs," said Mr Taylor.

Letters to pirates

The BPI has focused on educational efforts and limited legal action in recent years, in contrast to the US, which has embarked on tens of thousands of lawsuits against alleged file sharers.

The six internet service providers have signed a Memorandum of Understanding drawn up by the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR).

HAVE YOUR SAY

Why should I yet again pay for, say, the Beatles' White Album at full whack? I already bought it on LP, eight-track, cassette, and CD! This is those customers getting their own back

Mark, Hampshire

Send us your comments

The Motion Picture Association of America has also signed up.

The BPI said the memorandum covered consumers who were both uploading and downloading music.

Mr Taylor said: "The focus is on people sharing files illegally; there is not an acceptable level of file-sharing. Musicians need to be paid like everyone else."

He added: "File-sharing (of copyright tracks without permission) is not anonymous, it is not secret, it is against the law."

At the same time the government has started a consultation exercise that could result in laws that force net firms to tackle music piracy. A working group will be set up under the auspices of regulator Ofcom to look at effective measures to tackle persistant file-sharers.

Mr Taylor said newspaper reports stating that online users could be subject to an annual levy to cover losses from file-sharing were incorrect.

"A levy is not an issue under discussion. It has not been discussed between us and government and as far as we are aware it is not on the table."

He said: "There should be effective mechanisms in place (to deter file-sharing) and as long as they are effective, we don't mind what they are."

The consultation document proposed that hard core file-sharers could have technical measures imposed, such as "traffic management or filtering and marking of legitimate content to facilitate identification".

In the past few weeks net firms Virgin and BT have sent letters to some customers identified by the BPI, which represents the UK record industry, as persistent music pirates.

'Long process'

Before now the BPI has called for a "three-strikes" system which would see net connections of persistent pirates terminated if three warnings went ignored.

Many net firms have resisted the call from the BPI and have said it is not their job to act as policemen.

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme

Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of British Music Rights, said the plan was "a first step, and a very big step, in what we all acknowledge is going to be quite a long process".

Mr Sharkey, formerly lead singer with The Undertones added: "Government, particularly in the UK, has now realised there is an issue, there is a problem there."

One BBC News website user Mark, from Hampshire, said he downloaded and shared files illegally and argued customers were "getting their own back".

In an e-mail, he said: "I used to run half a dozen record shops in the 80s and saw how far the fat cats of the record industry would go, in milking customers and retailers dry with more hyped rubbish."

"Why should I yet again pay for, say, the Beatles' White Album at full whack? I already bought it on LP, eight-track, cassette, and CD! This is those customers getting their own back."

"So will this make me sharing a CD with my next-door neighbour over the fence illegal?" he added.

Lola

Crime figures

• Comment is free

Fear and loathing

All comments (6)

• Editorial
• The Guardian,
• Friday July 18, 2008
• Article history

It is not always foolish to be afraid, but nor is all fear rational.

As much as governments might wish otherwise, people will always judge risks in society on what they hear and what they feel, as well as what happens to them. That is why,

although overall crime dropped 10% last year, and has been falling since 1995, it matters that yesterday's British Crime Survey showed that 65% of people believe that it has gone up.

Anxiety can be an imprisoning thing, sometimes as pernicious as crime itself. It can also lead to bad policy - a race to severe punishment that neither reassures the public, nor reduces the risk, but instead only fuels a (false) sense that society is under siege.

Politicians, afraid of looking weak, or dismissive of real dangers such as the recent spate of knife crime (and the reporting of it) have not done as much as they should to explain the reality of crime in Britain. It is also true that this is not a wholly peaceful society. There were two murders a day in England and Wales in 2007-08, an increase; 15,094 recorded incidences of serious wounding; 595 recorded incidences of child abduction and - according to the British Crime Survey - almost a quarter of people can expect to be the victim of some sort of crime each year. Nonetheless,

the trend is clear, impressive and little recognised. The country is getting safer.

Crime has fallen by 48% since 1995 and the most common crimes also tend to be the least significant. Vandalism accounts for 27% of BCS crime. The data can be disputed, and is in conflict: the BCS, based on 47,000 interviews, does not mirror recorded crime figures, also issued yesterday, which are a reflection of what the police are told, rather than what happens. But on any measure, people should be getting more confident about their security, rather than less so. The central puzzle of yesterday's crime statistics is why, as crime falls, fear of it seems to grow.

One answer might be that crime is not falling at all: that some incidences of it, such as drug use or knife crime, have simply become so common in some parts of the country that it is never counted. Some researchers suggest that data from accident and emergency wards, which is not properly collected, shows knife crime rising; yesterday's figures also show gun and drug crime have gone up. Children are not interviewed by the BCS. Even when the overall trend is down, there will be visible episodes that run the other way.

It is true, too, that dangers are not shared equally: knife crime is concentrated in five big cities, led by London and inside each the main victims are young men in particular areas. For them, fear is rational.

Politicians will be tempted to blame anxiety on the media ("Knives: why no part of Britain is safe", exclaimed yesterday's Daily Mail). But they exploit it too. Both Labour and Tory politicians are guilty of offering instant fixes to problems that are complex and sometimes do not exist at all. People in all parties have become better, however, at recognising that one of the reasons people are afraid of crime is that they think it is not taken seriously and that criminals are mostly not caught. Crime has not fallen, primarily, because the police have prevented it, but because society has got richer and older - which is why it has gone down almost everywhere else in Europe, too. Young men remain violent, but there are fewer of them.

Yesterday's policing green paper is a response: it recognises that people will feel safer if they think that their fears are known. The proposal to allow elected mayors control over policing (and the Tory plan for elected chiefs that came before it) has its difficulties.

Logic may be lost to popularity. But as things stand, the police appear to be a distant and inadequate force: only 53% think they do a good or excellent job. People do not think they are being protected from risks they believe to exist. Until that changes, fear of crime will remain high - however reassuring the reality.