PaulT

Yes second the thanks to you Hoddy and a happy Xmas and New Year to all

In the UK they give them a knighthood

Idun mentioned things marked in FF and also euros........why do the French still need to have the amount in FF also shown?

Weegie the SNP might only have been Scotalnd but getting 48 seats means that as England does not have its own parliament it means they have an undue influence on England only matters. Plus whilst it can be problematic I am for PR. Conservative 294 Labour 217 Liberal Democrats 77 Scottish Nationalist 26 Green 18 Democratic Unionist 5 Sinn Fein 4 Plaid Cymru 3 Alliance 3 Social Democratic & Labour 3 These are the number via PR - which means that my vote counts instead of possibly being discounted because another party has been first past the post.

Perhaps the referendum was the most democratic thing since.....well, the previous referendum. The 2019 GE voting results for two parties: LibDems - 3,675,342 - 11 seats SNP - 1,242,380 - 48 seats So get 3 times the votes and you get less than a quarter of the seats - what a wonderful system. On the bright side those in France receiving a pension from the UK will now get more euros because of the strengthening pound

Perhaps that is where Labour went wrong. Lifelong supporters will vote without questioning what Labour is offering as well as what the other parties are offering. Are supermarkets similar in this. In the UK shoppers were staunch supporters of a single supermarket such as Tesco, Sainsbuys Waitrose etc. Then they suddenly discovered that the likes of Aldi and Lidl could provide the quality at a lower cost. The result the two German companies are expanding whilst the others are struggling. There is perhaps more information available that people will not vote for this party or that party because my parents voted for them so I have always voted for them. Mind you, be careful of the media spreading false views. Private Eye highlighted that the Daily Mail ran an article slating Corbyn for being opposed to conflicts such as the Gulf War and other conflicts.............exactly the same ones that the DM ran editorials that were also opposed to those conflicts but it did not publicise this.

They could elect Diane Abbott leader - that would be interesting.

Conservatives in for 5 years so next election 2024. What will happen during that time? Will those traditional Labour voters who voted Tory become disillusioned? Momentum carries on as it is and in 2024 those voters once again vote Momentum Labour?

Well, it is all over now, so onwards to the land of milk and honey.....allegedly.

Could be Santa carrying out training flights

Think the young will rally around her. She has the publicity - speaking at the UN and now at this conference. Her speech, in my opinion, was measured and questioning that some countries seemed to decide to miss....would be interesting to know those countries. Over time the young will grow old we will hove 'popped our clogs' so those aware of the environmental problems will become the majority and venture into politics.

Hearing all these candidates drone on and on about this that and the other perhaps the ballot paper should have an option of 'Lucky Dip' for those undecided. Putting an 'X' here would cause a computer to generate a random selection for a party and assign it to the voter.

Is it not the case that if there is a reciprocal agreement with the country then pensions rise, no agreement then no rise.

WB wrote: 'And then on Saturday it is the turn of the Gilets Jaunes, again, though they seem to have got much of what they wanted materially, anyway' But then the thought is 'we are on a roll, what else can we get'.

Taxe fonc has risen by 6 euros and taxe d'hab by 8 euros this year. If only my UK council tax rose by such a small amount I would be happy.

They have just shown this on Breakfast TV - those in the studio were killing themselves with laughter.

When it comes to wind power have any studies been carried out as to what effect removing the energy from wind will have? Remove the energy and the wind will not blow as far or as strongly as it did so therefore must cause a change in the weather.

One for the old hands. Just been and seen Le Mans 66 at the cinema. Coming home reminded me of the missed CooperLola and her love of Le Mans. And of her world tour, well, French tour at which a few meals were arranged with members of the forum. It was a pleasure to meet her and a few who are still on this forum at one of the meals.

Surely, cars are an easy target. How do people heat their homes, is the thermostat turned right up, do they heat all the rooms, even the ones they do not use, how many rooms do they have - is it a vast mansion? What I am saying is 'what about the things you do not see'? Have a look at this website: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ the number of cruise ships burning lots and lots of oil. How many people go on cruises!

Sorry but my mind went to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k and yes, no allergies, and common day foods a luxury back then.

Was it a case of 'i've done this plenty of times and nothing has ever happened'. Presumably the lorry insurance company will be working on reasons why it should not pay out and a big bill it will be.

The other thing is the time allowed for appointments. 10 minutes in UK and 30 mins at our French vet. This, in the UK the vet wants you in and out very quickly. In France then plenty of time to discuss matters and also time to calm the pet before doing anything. In my previous post I mentioned that our dog might have required a major op last year which would have been carried out by another practice. Our vet outlined exactly what it would entail, what the problem was and possible ways that the op might not be needed (her advice worked). We contacted the vet would would carry out the op if needed - a rather specialised procedure - and had an hour meeting with him where he went over every aspect of the op and aftercare requirements at a cost of 50 euros. The check for the passport when we return to the UK is far more thorough than when we go to the UK vet (and we have had a few) for the annual check and as I stated previously, our French vet twice picked up a heart condition that our UK vet did not AND without these being detected she would have died long before she did. I will admit that the French practice has a very good reputation and I can only judge the French side on one practice.

We have experience and the answer is yes. Plus last year it looked as though our dog might need a major op whilst we were in France. Fortunately, the op was not needed but if it had the cost would have been a fraction of it being done in the UK. In addition, our French vet practice is superb. They detected a heart defect that our UK vet had not. And then a couple of years later said 'the heart condition has changed you need to see your UK vet and get some small white tablets. In both cases the findings were during a check for OK to travel under the pet passport scheme. If our current dog was seriously ill and we could get him to our French vet then that is what we would do.

I suppose that if vegans took things to the limit then they should be asking 'have any non vegans been involved in producing my nut cutlet' :) What ever your views you should accept that others may have different views, seems some vegans are not inclined to accept that. Perhaps, the Romans had the right idea, one in ten goes. Do that each year and population problems solved in the future. You can imagine the amount of courage that the French youngsters must have in coming out and saying 'Mum, Dad, I'm vegan'.

Always amazes me how much some paintings go for. Amazes me even more when a painting is thought to be by a particular artist by the experts who then carry out all sorts of tests and decide that in all probability it is not by the artist. Its value is worthless but if it had been then worth millions. Nothing to do with the quality of the painting just the name on it.