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Hello and welcome to more or less your indefatigable guide to the numbers that line up in front of us like ambulance is queuing at A&E.

Yes, this week we'll be looking again at the troubles faced by the NHS and what the data tell us about what's going wrong and why.

We answer a listener question about the curious proliferation of Irish pubs outside Ireland.

And a teachers union says that pay has fallen by 24% after adjusting for inflation. Is that right?

First up, imagine a member of your family has gone into cardiac arrest. They're on the floor, not breathing.

You pick up your phone and dial 999.

Emergency, which service do you require?

I need an ambulance.

Okay, we'll put you through.

The phone rings for five seconds, ten seconds. How long until they pick up?

Well, normally they would have by now. Between 2017 and early 2021, the average ambulance call in England was picked up after about ten seconds.

Then last year, things got worse.

On average for the year 2021 to 22, it took 32 seconds for the ambulance services to pick up the phone.

So last year, your call would have been answered round about now.

But not if you were calling in December 2022.

In December, things went from worse to dire.

The typical waiting time just to have the ambulance service pick up the phone was 37 seconds.

That's the median. Half the calls were answered quicker and half the calls took more time to answer.

The median waiting time used to be a couple of seconds.

37 seconds is the worst on record.

But that understates the true problem.

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