A few interesting statistics

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer (Liberal Democrat) on the Second Reading of the Policing and Crime Bill (3 June 2009):

The Bill is the 66th criminal justice Bill since 1997. Between them, they have created 3,600 new criminal offences. We feel that the Government have still failed to understand that you cannot solve social problems by making criminal offences of them; you simply fill up our courts and prisons. The prison population has reflected this, increasing from 61,114 in 1997 to 82,586 in February 2009, an increase of 35 per cent. The Bill does nothing to solve that situation.

(Thank you to Patrick for that.)

"As of 1st May 2009, there are 17,314 EU Acts in force."

(For this, I am indebted to Raedwald, who adds “To be fair, not all of these apply to the UK. ”)