Beyond a joke

Is it time to rewrite an old joke? A letter published in Time in 1963 suggested that heaven would consist of French chefs, British police, German engineers, Italian lovers and Swiss bankers, while hell would consist of English chefs, German police, French engineers, Swiss lovers and Italian bankers. British police, however, have sunk in the world’s estimation – a poll last year revealed that only 44% of people trust them, which puts us behind France and Germany. The most trusted police are in Denmark and the Netherlands, where they are trusted by 58%. The good news is that British chefs are no longer staffing hell’s kitchens. According to a YouGov survey of 24 countries in 2019, British food came mid-table, with Scandinavian countries filling the bottom places. Italy was voted
as having the best food in the world.

Emissions missions

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres called on the world to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, a decade earlier than Britain’s current target. How many countries have a net-zero target?

– 17 countries have a net-zero commitment written into law. 15 have set a date of 2050, while Germany and Sweden have a date of 2045. The 17 countries do not include China or the US, which between them account for 45% of global emissions.
– 45 countries have a net-zero target in a policy document.
– 14 have made a declaration or a pledge.
– 43 have proposed or discussed a target.

Source: Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit

Retiring types

There were riots in Paris over Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to raise the state retirement age from 62 to 64. How does the retirement age vary among OECD countries?

Iceland, Israel (men), Norway 67
Australia, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, UK, US 66
Belgium, Canada, Chile, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (men) 65
Czech Republic, Switzerland (women) 64
France, Greece, Italy, Israel (women), South Korea 62

Source: OECD

Picture of health

How healthy do we think we are? Self-reported assessments of our health from the 2021 census:

Very good 48%
Good 34%
Fair 13%
Bad 4%
Very bad 1%

Source: Office for National Statistics