You know those optical illusions where a vase turns into two faces? I was reminded of that when looking at some charts on the age structure of the UK population, which runs from 1971 and includes projections by the Office of National Statistics up to 2085.
1971 looks like a Dalek, largely because of the dent in the population aged around 53 in that year (i.e. people in their early 20s who died in the war) and the protuberance of people who were 24 (i.e. the product of lots of sex in 1946).
If you run the chart animation forward to today, you see Tony Hancock in a homburg or perhaps it's Telly Savalas as Kojak in a trilby. By 2032 it's turned into a gorilla. 2085 just looks like a pot belly, with a fine embonpoint for both male and female.
I need to get out more. Damn that rain.
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