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The Great British workplace

Monday, September 01, 2008
The TUC, bless it, has a YouGov-conducted survey out, entitled 'What workers want'. There is rather a lot of detail that the organisation does not bother featuring in the accompanying press release, and that is what I am going to focus on.

Trade unionists are less loyal to employers than the unionised:

"I feel committed to the organisation for which I currently work"

Non-union - 57%
Union - 54%

"I would speak highly to people..about my employer" -

Non-union 53%
Union -46%

"I feel the organisation I work for deserves my loyalty"

Non-union - 47%
Union - 41%


Lousy public sector managers / egg-shell employees:

"Bullying by management is an issue where I work"

Public sector - 31%
Private sector - 18%

"Discrimination on grounds of gender is an issue where I work"



Public sector - 7%
Private sector - 4%


"Discrimination on grounds of race is an issue where I work"

Public sector - 3%
Private sector - 2%

"Discrimination on grounds of age is an issue where I work"

Public sector - 7%
Private sector - 4%

There is preferential treatment by managers that unfairly benefits some staff where I work

Public sector - 36%
Private sector - 30%

Increased workload over the past three years (interpret as you see fit....)

Public sector - 65%
Private sector - 51%

Increased stress etc etc

Public sector - 63%
Private sector - 48%

Longer working hours

Public sector - 33%
Private sector - 29%

Leftist attitudes in the public sector


"Support measures to make workplaces more environmentally friendly"

Public sector - 75%
Private sector - 67%

"Support a shift in the balance of tax so that big companies pay more tax and
ordinary people pay less"

Public sector - 77%
Private sector - 71%

"Support a shift in the balance of tax so that very wealthy individuals pay
more tax and ordinary people pay less"

Public sector - 78%
Private sector - 69%

(The South West (!) and Scotland lead the agreers - 78% and 76%)

"End child poverty in the UK"

Public sector - 83%
Private sector - 76%



Folk in the public sector do know when they are on to a good thing, pension-wise:

"Satisfied with pension provision"

Public sector - 70%
Private sector - 41%


Meanwhile, there is a fabulous degree of hypocrisy / cant etc going on across the workplace, in that precious few people seem to think they are overpaid, as 'fair pay' is reckoned to be very important / important by 98% in the private sector and 99% in the public sector. Really? I have heard of few folk volunteering for a pay cut, because if they are overpaid, that wouldn't be fair, would it?


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L'esprit des Français

Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Our French friends are in the throes of one of their bouts of weltschmerz, juding by IFOP's findings for Ouest France.

I didn't think much of the way that IFOP charted its data, so a bit of fiddling around with the data gave this:

As ever, click for legibility, but burgundy is negative and the rather attractive greyish-blue positive. Things to note, all pollees have managed to self-assess themselves as optimistic or pessimistic since August 2004, economic pessimism is at its worst since August '05 and in all available data, more than a third of pollees has always been pessimistic. Quite the rayons du soleil, eh?

Digging into the socio-economic etc findings, women are more pessimistic than men (70 / 63), Parisians perkier than the rest (63/68) - there's no break out for Auvergnats, which is a pity. The Communists (87%) and the extreme left (83%) are extremely pessimisitic about the economy, so must be on the verge of dancing in the street presuming that they take their historical materialism etc seriously.

Meanwhile, Besancenot's Trots have found some useful idiots (Greens, Bovists etc) prepared to coalesce into the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste. I doubt that the revolution really is just a t-shirt away, frankly.

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A nation of moochers...

Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The DWP has been polling the nation on 'intergenerational ties'. Thrilling, huh? Most of it is far too dull to be worthy of note, but the reasons for being chummy with one's neighbours are classic:

1. To keep an eye on my house when I'm away 72%

5. To borrow things when I run out 29%

7. To feed my pets when I'm away 23%

Don't answer the door people....

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Money can't buy happiness. But it helps...

Thursday, August 14, 2008
I am indebted to the research wing of the Scottish 'Government' for that particular jaw-dropper (links to be added later), it having investigated life satisfaction North of the Tweed.

Our Caledonian chums belying their rep are the third perkiest Europeans after the Danes and the Swiss at 8.06 out of ten. The rest of the UK rates 13th at 7.2. *krainians are last at 4.38. Those deeming that they are living comfortably outscore those struggling for life satisfaction by a commanding margin.

Further, Morag is happier than Angus and the young & the old outdo the middle aged. Wodehouse's Scotsman with a grievance would appear to be a middle aged man, unemployed, in poor health and living in a city.

Looking grim for Labour ex MPs in 2010, isn't it?

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The Despotate of Massachusetts, the Margravate of Ohio and the Grand Duchy of Rhode Island

Tuesday, August 05, 2008
It could happen, unlikely though it seems. Zogby has polled Americans on separatism, secession and the like and found a jaw dropping 18% would be in favour of their home state leaving the union. Annoyingly, there is no detail by state level.

However, the detail given shows that support for the right to secede is highest among Hispanics (43%) and African Americans (40%), in the South (24%) and among those identifying as Liberal (32) or very Liberal (28%). The young are keener than the old and support for it falls with education.

The group that commissioned the poll, the Middlebury Institute, has a surprisingly long list of North American separatist groups, ranging from the Alaska Independence Party all the way through to the Vermont Republic. Not much doing in the state I'd most like to secede, Massachusetts.

Should Obama fail to win in November, expect more - admittedly small and not entirely serious - rumblings either side of flyover country.

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Come on down and name that vegetable....

Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Great surveys of our time dept (requires registration):

"Tootsies [a restaurant chain] asked 200 children between the ages of 11 and 13 if they were able to name 40 items commonly available from a greengrocer's stall".

And they were not very good at it. Carrots topped the table at 94.5%, while there was single figure recognition for artichokes, aubergines, spinach and turnips (good job they didn't include rocket and sweet potatoes, eh readers?) The differential between boys and girls was sharpest with cucumbers - 90% of girls recognised it but only 67% of boys. Boys were better at identifying tomatoes and cauliflowers.

As to fruit, apples, bananas, oranges and strawberries secured 90% + recognition, with the poor gooseberry languishing on 1%.

Two things to note - only 200 children were questioned, and they were selected from diners at the chain's restaurant, so it may well be a woeful reflection on the parenting of its patrons rather than an indictment of small people overall.

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Trots, Greens and Communists for the Third Empire

Tuesday, July 29, 2008
La Voix du Nord has, very kindly, grilled Walloons and Gauls as to the future of Belgium and if it were to break up whether it should enter the warm embrace of Paris.

The Gauls are keener than their trans-Meuse neighbours - 60% fancy adding a few départements (let's face it, they are not going to rename it La République Française-Wallon, are they?) to the 49% of Walloons who are supportive.

However, as the headline implies, it is the breakdown of figures that is the most interesting - 25-34 year olds are the keenest age group, top end white collar workers the keenest socio-economic group (66%), Greens (67%) and the rest of the extreme left (66%) the most enthused voters.

Less keen are Parisians (57%), Bayrou's liberals (56%) and 50-64 year olds (57%). Women lead men at 62% to 59% pro.

As for the Walloons themselves, it is the people of Hainaut (56%) and Namur (57%) who are the keenest (dark blue), Liege (42%) is unsure (mid blue) and Brabant-Wallon (40%) and Luxembourg (40%) the least enthusiastic. Perhaps some of the Liegeois/e grilled are actually German speakers and would like the historic wrong of the Eupen and the Ost-Kantone landgrab rectified.


Not entirely sure what one should conclude about France's neighbouring provinces being the keenest, although perhaps the legendary French rudeness seems like the last word in politeness after living among Belgians.

As to the attitudes of the French, the FN vote is not broken out, but is presumably captured as part of the overall Right. On that basis, it is intriguing that the nationalists are the least given to irridentist dreams, while the far left is. Perhaps the Greens fancy shutting down a few factories while the Trots and Communists think that this could be the French equivalent of Lenin trying to export the Red Terror to Poland and the West.

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'Pakistanis in greater understanding of democracy than Indians' shocker.

Monday, July 21, 2008
From Worldopinion.org:

"Suppose the majority of Kashmiris...want Kashmir to be an independent state. In that case, would you regard an independent Kashmir as desirable, acceptable, tolerable or unacceptable?"

India - 13%/24%/14% (51% positive), 35% unacceptable. And 14% could not express an opinion..

Pakistan - 21/32/13 (66% positive), 11% unacceptable. And 23% found the question just way too difficult.

Can't say I have especially strong views on Kashmir, but were I living in Kashmir, I would rather be ruled from New Delhi than entrust myself to the tender mercies of Islamabad.

Elsewhere, a rather foolish 35% of Pakistanis think that kicking off a war to annexe Kashmir is a great idea.

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"Continental people have sex life; the English have hot water bottles"

Monday, July 07, 2008
George Mikes' observation seems to be believed by our various neighbours Outre Manche, judging from a survey for the Game of Love Observatory, or Observatoire du Jeu Amoureux. Looks to be a PR stunt for an internet dating firm, but enough pre-amble, to the amusing findings:

In which of these countries (UK, D, F, I, E) is love most important?:

We reckon Italy - 43%. And us? 14%. Pity the poor Germans: 2%. Our average score across five countries is 5%, and the lowest overall. France's average is 31% and Italy's 37%.

Mind you, the reputation of our womanhood (and chaps too) has been noted - 33% think the time between meeting and closing the deal, as it were, is shortest with Britons.

Elsewhere, Italy leads for Lotharios and Lothariettos, with the British, French and the ever modest Italians considering them the most seductive. The Spanish think they are the best, we give ourselves 22%, no one else goes above 3%.

Best dressed? 14% of Germans think they are, and a rather deluded (present company excepted) 16% of Britons think we are. They shoot horses, don't they?

Pity the land of Cervantes, Lorca, Velasquez etc - only 2% of Germans, Italians and Gauls judge them 'the most cultivated'. We give them 5%, they give themselves 16%. A modest 62% of Germans give themselves the laurels. We attract a solid 25% average share of voice.

Don't bother telling a joke in Milan or Valencia - the Italians and Spanish do not think we are funny. They think they are. However, you have a one in four chance of bringing the house down in Germany or France. Pity the Germans and the French - take away folk voting for themselves and they fail to secure a double figure share of voice anywhere. We are the most likely to be creasing up at Teutonic humour after the Germans - 2% of us think they have best humour. I suspect that those responding thus were having some fun with the questionaire....

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Taking sides

Worldpublicopinion.org has been polling 'the world' on the Palestinian- Israeli conflict and whether national governments should take sides. And pretty depressing the results are too:

UK -

Pro Arab- 8%, neutral - 79%, pro Israel - 2%.

And there was I thinking that that kind of wretched moral equivalence went out with square wheels.

The Americans fare somewhat better:

Pro Israel - 31, neutral 71%, Pro Arab - 2%

Figures for India are intriguing - Pro Israel - 24, neutral - 22, pro Arab - 24. Perhaps 24% have some knowledge of Indian history....

Muslim countries are rather better at siding with their own than we are, with absolute or relative majorities for the Arabs in Iran, Turkey and Egypt

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Does her bum look big in that? At last, an answer

Friday, July 04, 2008
At least for French women, courtesy of a survey commissioned by Elle (1).

"What do you think of your wife's / partner's figure?"

Fine just the way it is - 69%
Too round - 12%
Too skinny - 2%

Single (as a result of saying too round in the last survey?) - 17%

Other findings - the retired are the most likely to prefer the fuller figure, and the unemployed thin women. Chaps from the North East, North West and South West prefer bigger women, while South Easterners and Parisians prefer thinner women. Bar Paris (37/62), the figures are fairly even 55/45 one way or the other. Overall, women should make haste to the SW (82%) and find a pensioner (81%), as he is the most likely to take you just the way you are.

Sticking with French women, Ségolène Royal has been accused of 'behaving like a little girl in the playground' and 'lacking all dignity'. And for why? Because she said Sarko had had nothing to do with freeing Isabel Betancourt. She averred this while in Quebec City, thus violating the principle of never bad mouthing the Pres while outside France.


1) Way back lost in the mists of time I used to work in advertising, and as God is my witness, the Manchester sales team for Elle used to pronounce it 'Elly'. Yes, really.

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Armchair generals

Tuesday, July 01, 2008
It is almost axiomatic that every man in this country has to have an opinion on football, at the risk of having his masculinity called into question. The French, however, seem to go that little bit further - everyone has to have an opinion on football.

And so, L'Equipe, the French sports paper has polled the citizenry - all of them, or at least those above the age of 18, I suppose - as to their thoughts on the management of the national side. Before diving into the results, pause to mull on some of the Gauls you might know. Do they have strong, or even informed, opinions on football? I can think of a few that I would not trust to define the offside rule while standing on one leg....

Anyway, 52% want the manager to be given the Spanish Archer, 41% want him to stay, and a profoundly non-credible mere 8% have no opinion.

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Brown popular in Nigeria shocker

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Our ashtray on a motorbike of a prime minister has the confidence of the majority of both Americans and Nigerians, as a survey by WorldPublicopinion.org shows.

Those two nations see 59% having a lot / some confidence in Broon doing the right thing in world affairs, narrowly ahead of South Korea at 57%, China at 50% and - the shame of it - my fellow citizens at 48%.

Our neighbours are fairly unimpressed - 35% of the French rate him, as do 22% of Spaniards.

At the other end of the scale, the Jordanians show their usual good sense with 72% having little or no confidence, likewise 90% of 'Palestinians'.

Meanwhile, the Egyptians impress by having 99% able to decide one way or the other, whereas only 43% of Ukrainians can. I guess Broon's books are not big sellers in Kiev.

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Research finding of the week

Tuesday, June 17, 2008
From the Chicago Tribune:

"Drivers of cars with bumper stickers, window decals, personalized license plates and other "territorial markers" not only get mad when someone cuts into their lane or is slow to respond to a traffic light, they also are far more likely than others to use their vehicles to express rage —by honking, tailgating and other aggressive behavior".

What's more, sticker content has no bearing on the level of aggression etc etc, so transferring the findings to these parts, one is as likely to get hooted at by Save the Whales / Baby on Board types as much as 'Don't follow me, follow Generic FC' sticker sporters.

I cannot think of any car sticker equivalent of those carried by American right wingers. Maybe we feel less of a need to display something we already know and nobody else cares about, or more likely there is the prospect of some freedom-loving Socialist key-ing the paint work.

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Even worse than losing an election

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Pity Ségolène Royal: this time in 2006 she was rated the sixth sexiest woman in the entire world by the 'readers' of FHM's (Should be PLI, surely?) French edition.

Two years on and not only is she not in the Élysée, she fails to make the top 100, even when only the 50-60 age group is polled. To add insult to injury, there do not appear to be any left wing politicians in the list, but the lovely Mme Bruni-Sarkozy makes 15th, Rame Yade 25th and Rachida Dati 35th. I do not think that La Royal has fallen off a cliff, looks-wise, in 24 months but who am I to dispute the verdict of the people?

Anyway, more here.

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The French and their surveys

Friday, May 23, 2008
Yet again I am indebted to the French media for the frankly bizarre surveys that they commission. Today's curiosity is a survey on which of a list of over 50s has had the most positive impact on French society. The commissioning title is a mag for the retired, I think.

Anyway, top of the list is Nicholas Hulot, a sort of French David Attenborough only with a little more bite. He is followed by Simone Veil, who continues to amaze me by not being dead yet. She was behind the legalisation of abortion and freeing up the availability of contraception. So far so not too silly, but number three with a bullet is Johnny Hallyday. Yes, really. The top five is rounded out by Sarko and Chirac. The foreign minister / founder of MSF Bernard Kouchner, Bernie Chirac (Why? What has she done, ever, apart from being married to the former pres?), footballer Platini, Ségolène Royal and football coach Aimé Jacquet. Charles Aznavour makes 11th, Bardot 14th and Belmondo 28th. The still divine Catherine Deneuve is edged out by that old fraud Foucault for 43rd.

Hulot takes the spoils for the 50-59 sub group, Hallyday for 60-69, Chirac for 70-79, and Simone Veil for the 80+.

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The French and their shoes

Monday, May 19, 2008
In quite possibly the least credible survey so far this month, French researchers have revealed that the average Frenchwoman has just nine pairs of shoes (1). Scarcely less believable is the claim of six pairs for French men. I have been testing a shoe theory for 12 years or more, which is that the average woman has a double figure tally of footwear, whereas chaps (bar trainer nutters) will struggle to reach double figures even if they include wellies, last summer's espadrilles and that pair of decaying football boots in the attic. In all the years of asking the question, only one woman has failed to reach double figures, and she was a white woman with dreadlocks and therefore not exactly Ms Average.

Judging from other results, the mean, mode and median of shoe ownership must be quite different:

"4 out of 10 women stop to look in window displays / can't resist going into a show shop". The 2/10 men who feel the same way have Dorothy on speed dial.....

And a third of women with 20+ pairs of shoes think that to have such a number of pairs is "reasonable". The wealthy and Parisiennes were statistically the most likely to think this.

Anyway, I'm eager for Trixy's take on this.


(1) Note that the results were not audited, and anyone who knows a woman with a fondness with footwear knows full well that boots, espadrilles, sandals etc do not count as shoes.

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Three cheers for the Peruvians

Tuesday, May 06, 2008
And for the Mexicans and Argentinians too, as they posted the highest percentages judging media freedom important, at 96% for Peru, and 94% for Mexico and Argentina. Rather depressingly, India underperformed tyrannies like China and Iran, with only 52% valuing media freedom.

Rather disgustingly, 12% of Britons judged media freedom neither very nor somewhat important. Is Broon's payroll vote really that big?

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Ask a loaded question

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Like this one:

PCS is campaigning for fair pay for its members, meaning that their pay should increase in line with inflation and be negotiated nationally instead of 200 separate sets of negotiations. Do you support PCS’s campaign for fair pay for public servants?

Or this one:

The government has proposed to cut over 100,000 civil and public service jobs. They claim these cuts will not impact service delivery to the public, however every day our members are seeing how less staff means a poorer service to the public. Where do you stand on cutting civil and public service jobs?

Or, indeed, this one:

PCS is concerned that the government has privatised more of the civil service since 1997 than the Conservative government did in 18 years. These privatisations are costly and unnecessary as they are jeopardising services being delivered to the public, often the most vulnerable in society. Where do you stand on privatising public services?


The PCS is more fully known as the Public & Commercial Services Union, and it set up the various straw man, straw woman and straw babe in arms questions for the benefit of Labour, Plaid Cymru and extreme left (Greens, Galloway Fan Club (1), Left List etc) candidates for tomorrow's council elections. That some 15% of Labour candidates agreed with clubbing puppies to death did not give the 'correct' response to question one is, to some degree, to their credit.


(1). Is it just me, or do Galloway and Josef Fritzl bear a striking resemblance?

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Curious people, the Germans

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Der Spiegel has aggregated some polls to show what the German man and woman in the strasse think, and the findings are, in places, pretty curious.

Consider that the nation which gave the world the Reformation, much of its high art, the wirtschaftswunder and a relatively bloodless end to the two Germanies, inter alia, sees 29% of German women considering that there is nothing in German history to be proud of. 14% of the men agree. I am not one to play down the horrors of the '39-45 war, but given that at the very least three quarters of the German population were born post war, is it not time to rein in the breast beating somewhat?

Elsewhere, less than two-thirds of German men would fight to defend their country. If memory serves, the US WW3 TV movie (1) 'The Day After' was a tad controversial in suggesting that the Ossis and the Wessis would find fighting each other too big an ask. Maybe.

In stark contrast to this neck of the woods, 91% of German women and 89% of the men consider 'discipline' important. Crikey. Oddest stat of the lot is that more women think chaps should earn more than ladies - 21% to 15% of the men. Mind you, around two-thirds of those polled think it is gender equality that makes Germany special. Without wishing to knock gender equality, it is hardly a unique selling point, is it?

I have seen traces of an interesting looking survey on the extent or otherwise of basic Christian knowledge, but will not be doing it unless I can lay hands on the source material.


(1) - A term that freezes the blood.

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