What Germans do worst
Some things Germans aren’t very good at:
— Making reliable car engines. According to a survey by Warranty Direct last year, Audi came bottom, BMW seventh from bottom and Volkswagen ninth from bottom out of 36 manufacturers for engine failures.
— Making love. According to a spurious website survey of 15,000 women in 2009, German men were the world’s worst lovers, the main complaint being that they were ‘smelly’. (Englishmen were second worst.)
— Cricket. But they are not the worst. Germany lies between Ghana and Japan in division 8 of the ICC World Cricket League. This makes them the 42nd best team in the world, above France.
International health service
The government announced new charges to tackle health tourism. How much does the NHS spend treating foreign nationals?
| EEA nationals | £261m |
| Non-EEA | £1,075m |
| Foreign expats | £94m |
| Irregular migrants | £330m |
| Deliberate health tourists | £20m-£100m |
| Regular visitors | £50m-£200m |
| Total | £1.87bn-£2.04bn |
Source: Prederi, for Department of Health
Women of the cloth
The General Synod voted in favour of women bishops. How has the number of women priests grown in the past 20 years?
In 2012 6,017 men and 1,781 women were employed as full-time clergy. However, more women than men are now being ordained: in 2010 there were 290 women and 273 men. The dioceses with the highest percentage of female clergy were:
| Hereford | 47% |
| Ely | 42% |
| Salisbury | 41% |
| And the lowest: | |
| Chichester | 18% |
| London | 20% |
| Blackburn | 20% |
Dismissed
A reminder of what employment law says about dismissing employees:
— Employers must have a ‘valid reason’.
— They must ‘be consistent, e.g. not dismiss you for doing something that other employees do’.
— They must ‘have investigated the situation fully before dismissing you’ and ‘warn you that your work is unsatisfactory and give you a chance to improve’.
(Nothing about getting rid of people because you want to present a less ‘pale, male and stale’ image.)
Source: Gov.uk
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