Deep dives

One measure over a long run of years, read from several publishers, in chapters.

Where is deprivation in Wales, and who decides?

Wales ranks its 1,917 neighbourhoods from most to least deprived. Here is why, how the ranking is built, how England and Scotland do it differently, and what moves if you set the points yourself.

  1. IWhy Wales measures deprivation
  2. IIHow the index is built
  3. IIIWhere deprivation is
  4. IVWhat the index is used for
  5. VThree nations, three indexes

How many people are living in temporary accommodation?

Councils place households in B&Bs, hostels, nightly-paid rooms and leased flats while they wait for a settled home. Watch England’s count light a tower block from 1998, then find your council.

  1. IWhat temporary accommodation is
  2. IIThe long run
  3. IIIChildren
  4. IVWhere
  5. VOn the streets
  6. VIGreater Manchester: the pledge and the counts

What happened to the high street?

ONS counts every registered business site each March. Watch Britain’s banks, pubs, cafes, shops and salons change from 2010 to 2026, then redraw the street for your own council.

  1. IThe street
  2. IIBanks
  3. IIIPubs, cafes and restaurants
  4. IVHair and beauty
  5. VYour council

New homes finished in 2025-26: three nations, three counts

England, Wales and Scotland each count new homes their own way. See each nation’s count, the councils that finished the most and the fewest, and where your council stands.

  1. IEngland
  2. IIWales and Scotland
  3. IIIHomes already standing
  4. IVYour council

Council tax still rests on what homes were worth in 1991

A band is fixed by a home’s value on one day: 1 April 1991 in England and Scotland, 1 April 2003 in Wales. Set each council’s bill beside today’s prices, then see what it would be if bills followed them.

  1. IThe bands
  2. IIValue against bill
  3. IIIHomes by band
  4. IVEvery council
  5. VIf bills followed prices
  6. VIWhat has been proposed

The State Pension from 2010/11 to 2024/25: what it cost, who it paid, what it paid

DWP’s own figures for the bill, the people and the weekly rate, beside ONS’s count of people aged 65 and over. Then pick one measure and see what each pension would pay had it risen with that alone.

  1. IThe bill
  2. IIThe people
  3. IIIThe rate and the lock
  4. IVIf the rate had followed one measure
  5. VPeople of pension age

Drafted with the help of AI, checked against the publishers' own files, and read by a person before it goes up.