Photo credit: Pete Millson
At this year's Playground for the New Economy Festival, our festival quiz was hosted by Spanish drag King sensation Prinx Silver and some special guests. Test your alternative economics knowledge and beyond with these questions. (Answers can be downloaded at the end.)
Round One
Multiple choice
Question
On 1 April, workers at an 8,300-employee Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, voted to make their site the first unionised Amazon facility in the country. Since then, however, no other Amazon warehouse has even petitioned for a union election.
What other US business has seen a surge in unionisations of its locations since December last?
A: Starbucks B: Target C: CostCo D: Walmart
Question
On this day – 12th July 1962 – what happened?
A. A two-day steel strike began in Italy, in support of increased wages and a 5-day working week. B. The Rolling Stones played their first gig, at London’s Marquee Jazz Club. C. Marilyn Monroe was fired by 20th Century Fox. D. The first cosmic x-ray source to be discovered by mankind was found.
Question
This year is the highest rise in inflation in 40 years, the cost of living crisis is affecting millions of people, and most advanced economies are entering a wage-price spiral.
In the United States, between 1979 and 2019, wage/productivity costs accounted for 62% of price increases/inflation. But what percentage of price increases have wages accounted for since the pandemic 2020?
A. 69% B. 8% C. 3% D. 26%
Question
In last month’s byelection in Tiverton and Honiton, what was the size of the majority overturned in the defeat of the local Conservative MP?
A: 12,000 B: 24,000 C: 36,000 D: 48,000
Question
As Britain is hit by its biggest rail strike for a generation, union leaders have warned that industrial action will spread across the country unless the government backs pay rises. What union is celebrating their 150th birthday this year?
A: Communication Workers Union B: The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers C: Working Men’s Club & Institute Union D: Unison
Question
British Tennis player Emma Raducanu is fluent in three languages. Are they:
A: English, German, Portuguese. B: English, Romanian, Cantonese. C: English, Bulgarian, Tamil. D: English, Romanian, Mandarin.
Question
Italian mineral water and non-alcoholic beverage brand San Pellegrino has grown significantly in foreign markets over the last five years. But what are (English) northerners now calling this drink?
A: Liberade B: Tory Fanta C: Greentini D: Snowflake’s Schweppes
Question
England's peasants were evicted off the land during the long history of enclosure and were later forced into new cities as part of industrialisation. In 1901, what percentage of the country’s labour force was working in agriculture?
A: 67% B: 24.2% C: 42% D: 8.1%
Question
Tomorrow afternoon, Charlie Bones will be getting us up and moving with a punk aerobics class combining the pogo jumps & air punches of the front row at a rowdy gig with aerobic dance moves & core strength work. On average, how many hours a day do adults in the UK spend sitting down?
A. 9 B. 13 C. 4 D. 6
Second Round
Question
The shorter working week has been a regular policy initiative at different times across history, with the introduction of the eight-hour in 1593 in Spain, in 1817 in the UK, and in 1866 in the US.
In 1930, what well-known company, specialising in early morning nutrition, introduced a six-hour day as part of its belief in ‘liberation capitalism’?
Question
In 2022 it was revealed that Prince Charles took a large donation in cash from a Qatari Sheikh for his charity. A senior aide has since reassured us it will not happen again, but how much was stuffed in the bag?
Question
A British band’s 2020 single was the slowest song to reach number one in the US when it peaked in March 2022. Name the band?
Question
At the start of this year, the former CEO of the blood test company Theranos, was found guilty of defrauding her investors after it was revealed the tests were knowingly inaccurate. Can you name this American fraudster?
Question
The British mathematician and entrepreneur Clive Humby has compared ‘data’ to what commodity with a poor environment record?
Question
Finish this sentence… (Creative interpretations allowed)
In the past 12 months there have been 1,812 “I’m sorry”s from both houses, and counting (the House of Commons tips the Lords at 1090/722), and 1,273 “I apologise”s. Finish this sentence from the PM… “this is not to mitigate or extenuate, but I had no knowledge of subsequent proceedings because…"
Question
Which famous Spanish artist was blamed for stealing the “Mona Lisa” in 1911?
Question
Which South American country elected its first left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, last month?
To see the answers, click here.
