Following on from the success of the renowned Big-Mac Index,
devised by the Economist Magazine, which uses the relative price
of a Big Mac to measure relative differences in the value of
currencies across the globe, and the same magazine’s more recent
"shoe-thrower's index" which measures the potential for civil
unrest across the Arab world we today report the most recent
advance in the development of statistical indices. Building on
the £200 million announced in last weeks budget to repair
potholes in British roads, the "pothole-index" aims to chart the
economic recovery using the number of potholes on British roads.
Although unknown even to many historians, statistics on potholes
were first collected in the UK during Roman times when minimum
criteria for road quality were laid down by the Emperor Hadrian.
The Domesday book recorded the number of days peasants in each
village were expected to work for their feudal Lord repairing
holes in the roads. Although many British roads subsequently
fell into disrepair