In fact

UFO sightings in Britain peaked in 1978, the year after Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released, with over 750 reports. The three years after 9/11 saw the fewest sightings (100 or less) since the mid-1960s. The Guardian Datablog, 18th August 2009 Next year, Britain’s annual payment to the EU will rise from £4.1bn to £6.4bn.

The Sun, 24th August 2009

Martha Stewart, Snoop Dogg, Pablo Neruda and Dimitri Shostakovich have all been banned from entering Britain. Mental Floss website, 6th May 2009

The average weight of new members to WeightWatchers has risen from 12.3 stone in 1989 to 13.7 stone today. Daily Mail, 24th August 2009

Americans are giving up their landlines at a rate of 700,000 per month. If this continues, the last cord will be cut in 2025. The Economist, 13th August 2009

The Times and Sunday Times lost £51.3m in the year to 29th June 2008. The Independent, 24th August 2009

The number of people killed at work has fallen to a record low. There were 180 deaths in the year to March 2009, the lowest number since records began in 1974. BBC News, 24th June 2009

General Electric is the only company remaining from the Dow Jones index of 1896. It has had fewer leaders since then (eight) than the Vatican has had popes. Fortune, 5th April 2004

The New York Times magazine’s cover story on 30th August, about a hospital during Hurricane Katrina, cost around $400,000.

New York Times, 24th August 2009