This article is in
The Spectator’s October 2019 US edition. Subscribe here.
Leading minds
Where are world leaders educated? According to an analysis by the UK-based Higher Education Policy Institute, the US has just overtaken Britain in the number of world leaders educated at the country’s universities.
— 62 world leaders (monarchs, presidents or prime ministers) were educated at US universities.
— 59 were educated at UK universities.
— Two years ago, the respective figures were 57 and 58.
— 40 current world leaders were educated in France, 10 in Russia and 9 in Australia.
The burning question
Is climate change making wildfires worse? Acres burned in US wildfires:
1928 43.54m
1938 33.81m
1948 16.56m
1958 3.28m
1968 4.23m
1978 3.91m
1988 5.01m
1998 1.33m
2008 5.29m
2018 8.77m
Source: National Interagency Fire Center (current reporting regime began in 1983)
Big ticket
Which congressional districts were the strongest Republican and Democrat strongholds in the 2016 presidential election? Notably, there are more extreme Democrat districts than Republican ones.
Democrat
New York 15 93.5% voted Clinton
New York 13 91.8%
Pennsylvania 03 90.9%
Illinois 07 86.5%
California 13 86.0%
Republican
Alabama 04 79.8% voted Trump
Kentucky 05 79.6%
Texas 13 79.5%
Texas 11 77.5%
Tennessee 01 76.4%
Source: Cook Partisan Voting Index
