Interesting Facts

I bet they recognise this one! According to a poll commissioned by Wilko, 25% of primary school children cannot identify a robin redbreast or a blackbird. (The survey also revealed that nearly 50% do not recognise a sparrow, with 42% unable to name the common bird from a photo. It's not surprising, when you remember most of kids in the UK think beef comes from McDonald's.) I guess I'd better add blackbird to our list: http://www.learnenglish.de/basics/animals.html

Allegedly, the two biggest welfare recipients in America today are Wal-Mart and McDonald's. (So, how does that work out?  Well, according to a report in Bloomberg, American fast food workers received more than $7 billion dollars in public assistance between 2007 and 2011. McDonald's even had a “McResource” line that helped employees and their families enroll in various state and local assistance programs. It exploded into the public when a recording advocated that full-time employees sign up for food stamps and welfare, and has since been closed down. According to the same report, Wal-Mart employees are the largest group of Medicaid recipients. They are also the single biggest group of food stamp recipients. Wal-mart’s "associates" are paid so little, according to Congressman Alan Grayson, that they receive $1,000 on average in public assistance. Once upon a time, if you were unemployed you needed financial help.  Working hard and still needing government hando...

According to the Office of National Statistics, over 1 million Britons are now on zero-hour contracts. (Under these contracts the employee agrees to be available for work as and when required, but the employer is not obliged to provide said work. Some zero-hours contracts even restrict the employee from seeking other work. 90% of people employed at McDonald's are tied to these contracts. I wonder if they are Luvin It?)

McDonald's used to sell pizza in the 1990s. (The McPizza, I kid you not, could be cooked in under 5 minutes. Suffice to say it was a big McFlop.) Don't believe me?

Interesting Food?  Olympics? Have I gone mad? No, but I am incensed, because this little factlet is about French fries at the Olympics. The fast food chain  McDonald’s has been given sole rights to offer French fries by the International Olympic Committee, because they are the official restaurant sponsor for London 2012 and have paid a small fortune for the privilege. (The 800 other eateries at Olympic venues nationwide will be allowed to sell the British favourite fish and chips — but not chips on their own. A note posted at the Olympic venue reads, “Due to sponsorship obligations with McDonald’s, Locog have instructed the catering team they are no longer allowed to serve chips on their own. The only loophole to this is if it is served with fish. Please understand this is not the decision of the staff serving up your meals, who given the choice would gladly give it to you. However they are not allowed.” Now IMHO there is no problem - French fries are not chips...

550 of the world's top medics have written an open letter to McDonald's to say that Ronald McDonald and Happy Meals must be axed to save kids' health. (They say that its gimmicks fuel obesity, and that Happy Meals, which come with a free toy, get kids hooked on junk food. Of course they're speaking to the converted when it comes to me, but as a coulrophobic I would love to see the demise of that scary clown.) Source

powered by ODEO The German village of Geschendorf, in Schleswig-Holstein, has won a fight to stop McDonald’s opening on its outskirts because it doesn’t sell sausages and sauerkraut. (In 2008 the A1 will be joined to their village, but the mayor, Fritz Kock, 66, said, "We are quite happy with the local restaurant where we can get sausages and schnitzel," all nine local councillors supported the decision. You can add one English teacher to that.)