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Fascinating Factsand FiguresBROADER VIEWA Broader ViewLawrence Fullick looks at the wider worldEstimates suggest that there are 5.5million British expats worldwide, thatsome 385,000 (including 200,000 fromSpain, representing 21% of thosebased in Spain) visited the UK at thetime of the Olympics, that 275,000 ofthem held tickets for London 2012.On average an adult in the UK spends4 hours per day watching TV.The term 'love', as traditionally usedfor scoring in tennis, is a corruption ofthe French expression l'oeuf (meaning'the egg' and pronounced as L in 'lot' +UR as in 'urgent' + F as in 'forget). Theoval shape, like that of an egg, wasused to mean zero, nought.Major outbreaks of whooping coughseem to occur every 3/4 years or so.The last such outbreak was in 2008.According to research at HarvardUniversity, eating avocados with oliveoil can increase fertility by 3 times.The oldest buildings in the world are inMalta.A recent study has shown that, onaverage, 10-year-olds, who watchedTV for 18 hrs p.w. when aged 4, havewaistlines 7.6 mm bigger than thosewho spent an average of 14.8 hoursp.w. doing so. The study also showsthat the distance children can jump isreduced by 0.3 cm for each extra hourp.w. in front of the box when theywere 2-year-olds.English Premier League clubs' spendingon players reached almost £500mduring the 2012 summer transferwindow.At present Syria dominates the internationalheadlines. Nightly there are horrific sceneson the television news. What seemed like astraightforward popular revolt against anoppressive regime is developing into a morecomplex conflict. Governments and groupsfrom outside Syria are involving themselves,pursuing different interests. The real victims,innocent civilians, are often forgotten.Elsewhere in Asia less widely reported storiesare emerging of discriminatory treatmentagainst Christians in Pakistan. A worryingcase was that of an eleven-year-old girlwith Down’s syndrome who may face thedeath penalty under the country’sblasphemy law. Protests against her haveincluded attacks on other Christians in thecountry who are facing widespreadproblems on a scale leading the WorldCouncil of Churches to hold a specialconference in Geneva on the subject inSeptember.‘Local disputes change easilyinto violence’A problem for Christian churches is that inmany Asian countries they are identifiedwith Western political interests. In parts ofPakistan and Afghanistan the use of dronesto kill terrorists selected mainly by theAmericans, but often with casualties amonginnocent civilians, is taken as a pretext bythe Taliban to encourage attacks onWesterners and also local Christians.In the early days of the ‘Arab Spring’ itlooked as if Christians in Egypt were joinedwith Muslims and others in the campaignfor a democratic system of government.That having apparently come about,elections have been won by the IslamistMuslim Brotherhood. While the regime isapparently even-handed in its dealings withChristians, only one Copt has beenappointed as an assistant in thegovernment. Local disputes change easilyinto violence.Christians in Europe including Britain feelunder some threat as secularists influencegovernments on issues such as gaymarriage and life issues. HoweverChristians are not the only group to feelafflicted. In Germany anti-immigrantattitudes affect public treatment ofMuslims. A court decision against circumcisionof baby boys is causing concernamong the Jewish community. From timeto time different countries attempt tointroduce rules on the slaughtering ofanimals for meat by people applying halalor kosher rules.‘Christians in Europe includingBritain feel under some threat’Over the years Christians have not beeninnocent of bad treatment of others –remember the Crusades; but there havebeen many times when the worst crimeshave been those committed by oneChristian group against another. Today cooperationbetween churches is much betterdeveloped. A welcome event was thesigning of an historic message by thePresident of the Polish Catholic Bishops’Conference and the Russian Orthodoxpatriarch Kyrill.Groups which might benefit from an effortat harmonious relations do not alwaysachieve this; hopes of peace between Israeland Palestine seem to be on hold for themoment.The situation in Syria reminds us that thereare several different groups amongMuslims who sometimes have greatanimosity towards one another; suchfeelings are sometimes whipped up bypolitically motivated troublemakers.Thank God that the very significantAmerican election is proceeding withouttoo many acts of violence, even thoughsome do happen in that country.House of Lords staff are now formallyadvised that the ‘golden rule’ of treatothers as you would like to be treatedhas been replaced by the ‘platinumrule’ of treat others as they would liketo be treated.Lawrence Fullick, a parishioner in Bournemouth, is treasurer of the Wyndham PlaceCharlemagne Trust, a charity which promotes discussion of international issuesamong people of all faiths or none.Summer 2012 was the wettest summerfor 100 years.PEOPLE17