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.
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