Extracts from an interesting article by AA Gill in yesterday's Sunday Times 'Happiness is a French riot':
'Only 36% of French people actually agree with the concept of a free market economy. They believe it's not the purpose of a modern liberal democracy to make a few of its citizens rich by making everyone else compete with the most desperate workforces that business can find...

...consider for a moment that the French, for all their protection, restrictions, compromises, wasteful practices, exemptions, lies and backhanders, are still more productive than us and have a higher standard of living...

...why should we put up with part-time self-employment for performance- related pay, longer hours and shorter holidays, worry over nipped pensions, threadbare healthcare - all because business needs an edge to compete? Many professions and trades are worse off now than they were 20 years ago. Most company directors are an awful lot better off'.

aye, but they are still french :rolleyes: :hihi:

I lived in France for 8 years and I would be the first to say that their way of life and standards of living are far better then ours.

Not to mention the food, the weather, the beaches, I'll not go on...

Yes they are still French, and that is not a problem for them! but they sure know how to live.

If you have watched the programme "no going back" you'll have seen the fantastic hospital the wife has been to for her ante natal check up.
Compare that that to some of the old run down buildings in the UK

French are great while ever the stay in France.Whatever the french way things looking a bit dodgy over there at moment.:hihi:

Could go searching to get the exact figures but the French do have double digit unemployment and one-third of people under 26? are unemployed.

How on earth this could possibly transcend into somehow the French way is better is amazing.

It's only like the wasteful, selfish public sector over here. Once you're in you get pampered, for the wealth creating workers of the nation it equals misery, and, unlike capitalist Britain, where jobs are plentiful, over in France it's unemployment for the masses.

Could go searching to get the exact figures but the French do have double digit unemployment and one-third of people under 26? are unemployed.

How on earth this could possibly transcend into somehow the French way is better is amazing.

It's only like the wasteful, selfish public sector over here. Once you're in you get pampered, for the wealth creating workers of the nation it equals misery, and, unlike capitalist Britain, where jobs are plentiful, over in France it's unemployment for the masses.

That's all very true.

French problems only hit our media when they're really big-time, but their employment issues are major, they suffer the militant worker problem that Thatcher thankfully eradicated in the UK years ago, and they have at least as big a problem with immigrants as we do.

Not all a bed of roses. However, as France is so much bigger than the UK with about the same population, you can at least get away from it all in France.

Whatever the french way things looking a bit dodgy over there at moment.:hihi:

But the sustained protest has had the desired result, - the legislation imposed by decree by an unelected prime minister has been scrapped.

That kind of protest here would have been met with tanks on the streets and a shoot to kill policy ;)

:thumbsup: And there a bunch of spineless ********

If we'd shared the same length of border as they do with Germany do you really think the situation would have been any different?

:thumbsup: And there a bunch of spineless ********

I wouldnt say that, most people in britain walk around thinking that they are 10 men with their burberry and chavish lifestyle, the french op for an easy way out aslongs as they are safe.

I lived in France for 8 years and I would be the first to say that their way of life and standards of living are far better then ours.

Not to mention the food, the weather, the beaches, I'll not go on..



Let me then lizzmobile...... a totally competent national health service.....

The French make a tidy living from European subsidies... next time you want to compare our standard of living with theirs take a look at the tax you pay each month, some of that goes towards funding the French way of life.

The French make a tidy living from European subsidies... next time you want to compare our standard of living with theirs take a look at the tax you pay each month, some of that goes towards funding the French way of life.

I havent seen any records that say our tax is funding the way of the french.

One small example http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1927728,00.html

Yes Draggs, I was going to mention that too! It is amazing, and no-one ever complains. Money always flowing through the system and you get the majority of it back. PLUS you can choose your own doctor and see a specialist at the drop of a hat, not like waiting months over here. You got a skin problem? Phone the dermato and book an appointment for next week...

When I lived in France, I recall paying three lots of tax, one on my salary, one on almost everything I purchased and then again at the end of the year via my tax return, which was most painful.

Let's face it, if the UK had figured out a way to work the system they would be doing it; the French just got there first.

But the sustained protest has had the desired result, - the legislation imposed by decree by an unelected prime minister has been scrapped.

That kind of protest here would have been met with tanks on the streets and a shoot to kill policy ;)


At least the French have the balls to say 'Non' to their government, and are prepared to defend their rights.

Their government know this, so they won't push the populace too far.

Unlike our own dear governments, who tear our society apart as they see fit, and attempt to destroy our hard-won freedoms and our civil liberties - and do so quite safely in the knowledge that the only opposition they will suffer is a bit of 'chattering' round Islington dinner tables.

They treat us with contempt because they know most British are fairly placid sort of people who will take everything thrown at them on the chin.

StarSparkle

If British people turned into wild animals every time there's a dispute then we would be worse off.

It wasn't the French people showing balls and saying 'non' for the good of the country, it was greedy and selfish workers with not a care in the world for the future of their country, their children's future but more importantly their fellow citizens who would benefit from reform and actually find work.

So France stagnates and will do so for time immorial (sp) until they get much needed reform.

The masses of unemployed will stay unemployed, the masses of under 26s - who this was aimed at helping will stay out of work, with no hope for the future.

If that's showing 'balls' then i'm Nelson Mandella.

If British people turned into wild animals every time there's a dispute then we would be worse off.

It wasn't the French people showing balls and saying 'non' for the good of the country, it was greedy and selfish workers with not a care in the world for the future of their country, their children's future but more importantly their fellow citizens who would benefit from reform and actually find work.

So France stagnates and will do so for time immorial (sp) until they get much needed reform.

The masses of unemployed will stay unemployed, the masses of under 26s - who this was aimed at helping will stay out of work, with no hope for the future.

If that's showing 'balls' then i'm Nelson Mandella.

Hello Nelson, how are you? :hihi: You spelt your own surname incorrectly :cool:

I repeat - I think the French do a grand job of standing up for themselves and their rights against the relentless attacks of modern capitalism, and I wish them well.

I only wish our health service was like theirs.....

StarSparkle

Well said sparkle!

:thumbsup: And there a bunch of spineless ********

To say the least:mad:

To say the least:mad:

Will the people who continue to spout this piffle,please grow up,read your self a history book,and come back to the discussion when youve something mature to add....

Nice to see Politicians have to grovel and backtrack when unpopular measures are forced on the populace and the people rise up to give them a bloody nose.

In this country we get ID cards, council tax rises, lies about WMDs, cash for peerages and a myriad of other policies that get people tapping their keyboards on this Forum, spitting at their monitors, and what happens? Bugger all.

And then they moan about the French for opposing a Govt. and winning