Alex Selby-Boothroyd
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alexselbyb.bsky.social
Alex Selby-Boothroyd
@alexselbyb.bsky.social
14K followers 1.4K following 2.2K posts
Head of data journalism at The Economist
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alexselbyb.bsky.social
There's nothing like a confident idiot...
Jeremy Clarkson assuring a contestant on WWTBAM that there's nobody in Moby Dick called Ishmael
November 15, 2025 at 9:58 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
The works on display are eclectic to say the least
November 15, 2025 at 5:54 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
Went to the V&A East Storehouse with its innovative (and vertiginous) vertical viewing system
Looking through the glass floor at art works Looking through the glass floor at art works. I should shine my shoes
November 15, 2025 at 5:54 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
This 3D cholera map now comes with an anatomically correct handle that can be reattached, although this is not advisable

3dartmaps.etsy.com/listing/4300...
A replica of the original Broad Street Pump. The handle is being traced in Illustrator so that it can be exported as an SVG The SVG is imported into Tinkercad and extruded to make it a 3D object, which is then printed The pump on Broad Street from which the handle has been removed The removed handle is now supplied with each map purchase. For reasons of public sanitation, please do not reattach it
November 15, 2025 at 2:59 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
Roughly 35m adults in the UK regularly take part in a pub quiz. Really?
Today, quizzing in the UK remains a serious business, marrying as it does the great British pastimes of drinking and taking pleasure in being right. According to a 2023 survey commissioned by the brewer Greene King, 70% of people regularly take part in a pub quiz and almost one in 10 goes every single week.
November 14, 2025 at 4:16 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
Liar
Chart showing illegal immigration in the US. It was 11m in 2022
November 13, 2025 at 11:00 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
I can neither confirm nor deny that we used QLIS rather than QGIS for this map

www.economist.com/the-world-ah...
Map from The Economist showing the landing sites of space probes sent to the Moon. There is a cluster around the lunar south pole
November 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
There are some lovely maps in tomorrow's edition of The Economist, which features our annual World Ahead pullout

www.economist.com/the-world-ah...
Map from The Economist showing the Pearl River Delta, a chain of southern Chinese cities that have fused into one vast sprawl. Its population is projected to reach 73m people in 2026 Map from The Economist showing the largest ports in Taiwan, which are on its northern and western coasts, close to the shipping lanes of the Taiwan Strait and facing the Chinese coast. This makes the island vulnerable to a potential naval blockade by China Map from The Economist showing the outflow of gold from Sudan. The gold trade was one of the factors that led to the outbreak of civil war in the country in 2023 Map from The Economist showing the gerrymandering of the heavily Democratic Kansas City to erase a Democratic-held district
November 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
My grandad, who apparently had it goin' on
November 11, 2025 at 9:21 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
Trump's $1bn lawsuit could cost every BBC licence payer £33.27—the equivalent of about three pints in London, or two days of health insurance for the average American
One billion US dollars divided by 22.8 million licence payers is approximately £33.27 per licence payer.
November 11, 2025 at 3:57 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
Hoping these will last another three years
A 1 and a 6 balloon
November 10, 2025 at 10:27 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
The kid turned 16 today, which seems unconscionable
The kid as a kid The kid as a kid with Victorian vibes The kid as a cold kid The kid as a cool kid
November 10, 2025 at 9:33 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
The piece mentions the three attempts on Adolphe Sax's life by rival instrument makers, but not the frankly absurd number of times he almost died as a child
Sax faced many brushes with death. As a child, he once fell from a height of three floors, hit his head on a stone and was believed dead. At the age of three, he drank a bowl full of acidic water, mistaking it for milk, and later swallowed a pin. He received serious burns from a gunpowder explosion and once fell onto a hot cast-iron frying pan, burning his side. Several times he avoided accidental poisoning and asphyxiation from sleeping in a room where varnished furniture was drying. Another time young Sax was struck on the head by a cobblestone and fell into a river, almost dying.
November 10, 2025 at 2:22 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
I worked it out
November 9, 2025 at 5:45 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
Which one of these was Robertson guilty of?
November 9, 2025 at 5:31 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
Thousands of these lil guys have sprung up in my garden. Pretty soon there won't be... a lot of space for anything else (please admire my pun restraint)
Mushrooms More mushrooms
November 9, 2025 at 3:55 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
Page 17 of The Mirror v page 18. Spot the deference
Story in The Mirror about Omaze winners Story in The Mirror about cruise goers
November 8, 2025 at 8:29 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
These Tureen tests are getting crazy
A serving set mocked up as a Turing test. Don't ask why.
November 8, 2025 at 5:58 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
Big decision for my mum in the newsagents today
Photographs of some excellent Economist journalists (and me) in the back of this week's issue An exuberant cover price of £10.99
November 8, 2025 at 1:02 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
The other winner of Celebrity Traitors
Google Trends chart showing a big surge in search interest for Neuroblastoma UK, the charity chosen by Celebrity Traitors winner Alan Carr
November 8, 2025 at 12:58 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
I set today's cryptic crossword for The Economist. Glad to get 2d out into the ether (that's a clue)
www.economist.com/interactive/...
Weekend cryptic crossword by The Economist. The highlighted clue reads: Opiate or 0, Pi, 8 (6) ACROSS Overheard talk of force (6) Film debut of Perkins scared young critic. Hitchcock's overjoyed! (6) Mix and turn up the heat with this (6) Giant space for decapitated rodent to get tail removed (8) Take off face covering (don't ask) (4) Party in Pennsylvania Avenue is concerning landlord (10) Choose Rhode Island town for power source (11) You need five feet to solve this clue. So stressed! (10) Outstanding spoken verse (4) Lego firm remade cinematic feature (8) Identify internal briefing error (6) Introduction of writing instrument replacing five in six balls (6) Sounds like what's left after cooking part of pigs (6) DOWN Fit a thousand on return flight (5,3) Opiate or 0, Pi, 8 (6) Anti-scurvy tips to aid sailors: consume oranges regularly but ignore cigars (8) Extort detective leading to fishy end (6) Cook okra, it feeds three (6) Funny, Jack's missing an eye, or something like it (6) Anger returns thanks to midge causing heat (11) Taverner, for example, scores in bars (8) Thrashed, whirled round, etc (8) Setter's team has company south of the border (6) Admire night rider (6) Lumber around, be trim (6) They're for massively restricting change (6) ACROSS Overheard talk of force (6) Film debut of Perkins scared young critic. Hitchcock's overjoyed! (6) Mix and turn up the heat with this (6) Giant space for decapitated rodent to get tail removed (8) Take off face covering (don't ask) (4) Party in Pennsylvania Avenue is concerning landlord (10) Choose Rhode Island town for power source (11) You need five feet to solve this clue. So stressed! (10) Outstanding spoken verse (4) Lego firm remade cinematic feature (8) Identify internal briefing error (6) Introduction of writing instrument replacing five in six balls (6) Sounds like what's left after cooking part of pigs (6) DOWN Fit a thousand on return flight (5,3) Opiate or 0, Pi, 8 (6) Anti-scurvy tips to aid sailors: consume oranges regularly but ignore cigars (8) Extort detective leading to fishy end (6) Cook okra, it feeds three (6) Funny, Jack's missing an eye, or something like it (6) Anger returns thanks to midge causing heat (11) Taverner, for example, scores in bars (8) Thrashed, whirled round, etc (8) Setter's team has company south of the border (6) Admire night rider (6) Lumber around, be trim (6) They're for massively restricting change (6)
November 8, 2025 at 11:03 AM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
November 8, 2025 at 1:03 AM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 8:41 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
Bubble bubble charts

www.economist.com/interactive/...
How much wealth would be destroyed by an AI stockmarket crash? Our visual guide to how a bust that rivals the dotcom era could wipe out 8% of Americans’ household wealth Nov 5th 2025 About $42trn, or 20% of Americans’ total wealth is in American stocks—an increase of four percentage points since the dotcom era. By comparison, foreign investors hold $18trn-worth of American shares. A drop in nominal values on the same scale as the dotcom bust would wipe out $16trn, or 8%, of American household wealth. Foreign investors would lose $7trn. These totals do not include indirect holdings—such as investments via pension funds and life-insurance companies—of which American households have some $20trn.
November 5, 2025 at 8:46 PM
alexselbyb.bsky.social
New "land doesn't vote" just dropped
www.economist.com/united-state...
Map from The Economist showing Virginia Governor election results. Despite being mostly red, the blue team won
November 5, 2025 at 1:03 PM