spectateur

I read today that in some poll both Labour and Liberal Dems had 28%. It went on to say that converted to seats this would give Labour 280 and the Libs a mere 80. For how much longer is the UK electorate going to put up with this travesty of so called democracy?

As I do not live in UK and I also have no access to UK television I am fortunately spared the daily tedium. From what I can be bothered to read on UK paper websites none of the 3 main parties seem to truthfully address the national debt problem. Is the truth so bad that it would be vote loser? The best outcome would be a coalition government so that national issues could be taken more seriously than party dogma.

I beg to differ on this one. Surely the one thing that the UK does need is a coalition government. That government must totally reform the UK electoral system and provide some proper democracy. How much longer have the great majority of the electorate have to put up with a dictatorship that is governing on the basis of 25 to 30% of votes cast. Another 5 years of this, no matter which party rules, would be a total disaster Why on earth should a coalition government be considered 'bad' by the all powerful financial masters?.This is scare mongering by the right wing media. After all most of the countries in the western world are run by coalition governments,some good and some bad but none of them have a minority dictating matters.

I do believe that there were many French civilians killed in June/July 1944.  In support of the Battle of Normandy, allied air forces heavily bombed French cities such as Caen, Le Havre, Lorient, Rouen, Rennes. Many small towns and villages were also, in modern terminology, "taken out"  with considerable " collateral damage". Edit: This point has already been adequately covered. I missed a page when I was scrolling through the thread.

[quote user="dragonrouge"]Dear Russethouse it is part of the story at least. However for all of it to happen guess what some well-heeled banker has to get involved and whilst their fees will be probably just 1% or less then their fee income will be huge. That goes as well for those highly intelligent colleagues of mine in the legal profession (they not I) who will put together the contracts and the like.[/quote] There's just no stopping that gravy train for the rich privileged minority. But then, isn't that the intended way of the new world order? Where will it all end up? For a good example look no further than the 2 main cities of Brazil!

Enjoy whilst you still have it Clark. Modernisation followed by Privatisation will lead to the scrapping of your rural delivery service. Your delivery people will be sacked and you will have to go to Worcester to collect your mail.

[quote user="velcorin"]15%? The ILO don't agree, they say 5.7%, they compile the figures, the Government provide a "Claimant Count".. How have (now) 4 of my wife's (french) nephews/neices found jobs in the UK in the last 2 months, after no work for over 6 months here, not even a McJob. 2 of them don't even speak English, one of whom arrived on spec, and had a job within 3 days. None, except 1, of them have got any particular, in-demand skills. Maybe they should have gone to Italy?[/quote] velcorin, this interests me as I am subsidising a daughter in England. Yes she has a job but doesn't earn enough to pay for her accommodation. What sort of jobs have these young French people got themselves.Are they 'proper'jobs? Can they fully support themselves on what they are being paid?.

Sound like a nice little earner for the banks. Many observers are of the opinion that sterling will continue to fall against the euro, worst possible scenario being a euro worth around 1.20 pounds sterling.

[quote user="bigears"]voters should not be asked to vote on such an issue as it becomes more of a vote on how people feel about the EU itself. [/quote] I agree, people use a referendum to express displeasure at a whole range of things not necessarily connected with the question posed. The UK government were quite right in making their decision on the Lisbon Treaty  without a referendum. How on earth can a referendum in the UK, on any EU issue, produce a result based on the due consideration of the people after they have been subjected to 30 years of europhobe  propaganda and misinformation by a predominantly right wing press.

I have just checked with Google and got the following: Bastille Day is the French national holiday, celebrated on 14 July each year . In France, it is called Fête Nationale ("National Celebration")

[quote user="milkeybar kid"]Yes,!! because looking at another forum many have been given the same rate by different tax office departments of 0.9525 when divided by 1.0000 gives 1.04 , in fact some tax offices have actually said 1.04. Damn![/quote] Yes, I called in at my tax office and asked if there was an official exchange rate to use for income obtained in pounds sterling. The lady shuffled some papers, found the right one and said "use the rate of 1 euro = 0.9525 pounds". I went so far as to point out that the rate was much less than the average for the year, she replied "well this is the one that I have been told to give to enquirers".

Well it must depend on which part of the country it is situated .Not much point at all having the bother if the weather only allows 2 or 3 weeks comfortable use per year.

Just another tip in case of problems. If your tax inspector does not like your E121 for any reason (as happened in my case) go to your local CPAM office and ask them for an "attestation" to the effect that your medical costs are covered by the UK. The tax man accepted that without comment in my case.

You can't blame DG for the absence of French troops at D-Day. I'm sure that Patton would have loved to have see his 3rd Army storming ashore, complete with the French Division, rather than Bradley's 1st Army. Similarly Mongomery would have loved to have been given reinforcements and the order to get to Berlin in April '45. However it was that scheming devious politician ,  Allied Supreme Commander Eisenhower, who decided who went where and when. With regards to D-Day, perhaps he was led to believe that the French Canadians were indeed French.

[quote user="John Martin BRADLEY"]Quillan, I must call you up on your claim about the French and the Battle of Britain.  Seven Free French pilots died in the Battle of Britain.  Only 13 French pilots fought in BoB! 1500 Czech pilots managed to make it to Britain from a little country to the east of Germany, how bloody difficult could have been for the French to make it across the Channel. More Norwegian combatants died on D-Day than French.  Shameful. [/quote] Bit down on the French aren't you? The Czech pilots had seen that after their annexation by the 3rd Reich there was no future in staying in their own country. The French pilots had an air force of their own to belong to and to fly for. It was mainly destroyed on the ground in May/June 1940. The French were not deployed for D-Day. The French involvement in the Battle of Normandy came with their 2nd Armoured Division,   Leclercs division that came under the command of Patton's 3rd U S Army. They were landed in France on August 1st 1944 and were in action in the battle closing of the Falaise gap in the middle of August.

[quote user="Quillan"]Europe does have a debt of gratitude to America for its modern freedom (WW2) because without them nobody would have had access to the vast resources of materials and later manpower to defeat Germany. Nobody can deny this.  [/quote] The Soviet Union would have beaten Hitler eventually - and they would have also annexed Western Europe. Surely it was that possible scenario above all else that got the USA involved in the war against Hitler. After all it was the Japanese who attacked them and were their prime enemy.

My old dad had a Rolex watch, I recall. He was very fond of it as he had stolen it from a German officer that he and his mates had captured in 1944.

If you are living in France and your home is your principal residence you should be registered with, and declaring your world wide income to the French tax authorities. If the income is high enough you will be paying income tax to France. If so, you would normally also have completed and submitted forms to the UK tax people for a tax refund and exemption from UK tax on UK pensions and earnings.(Double taxation treaty). If the above applies to you, then in my opinion, if his English employer does make deductions for UK tax,   your husband should be able to claim it back when he finished the work there. His income from the UK employment should of course be declared with your annual return to the French authority, where it would be assessed for any tax due.

I don't know what the situation has been, however, according this evening's TV metio, snow is forecast for Centre region tomorrow 07/02..

[quote user="valB"]Checked it yesterday morning and it was 1.25 but fell to 1.13 by afternoon[/quote] Sorry, perhaps you meant 1.15  because it hasn't been near 1.25 since last October. See: http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?from=GBP&to=EUR&amt=100000&t=3m

Besancenot has a certain charisma. He made an impression (as a person) on me during the elections a couple of years ago. I thought at the time that if he could moderate some of the excesses in his agenda, then he could be a real threat to the "political class". Yes, in my view, he is being demonised because they are afraid of his potential.

I don't visit here often but I have read this thread with interest. I note that a couple of posters have experienced personal racial verbal abuse here in France and in England. I sympathise with them, I know it is not a pleasant experience to be constantly reminded that you are different. I have spent time in places where I and my colleague were the only white Europeans in the place, moreover we were the first whites that some people had seen apart from on TV. To be addressed as 'hello white person what do you want here' or  'the white foreigners' or 'ghosts' and having children throwing stones at you and being reminded regularly  that 'your people did this to my grandparents etc' can be quite threatening and intimidating. The point that I am making is that racism comes in many levels of severity, amongst which, in my opinion, the off hand reference to a third party having hair like a gollywog, does not rate very highly.

I would suggest that you ask the friend to pay you in euros by transfer to your bank in France. You can then declare the income on your 2009 declaration.Why get involved with the UK tax people.

[quote user="cooperlola"]Grecian.  Yes you are correct.  You should make a tax declaration this year for the months you lived in France in '08.  [/quote] I'm sure that you are correct, however on visiting the tax office with our first return we were told to forget the part year's residence and to submit a return for the first full year only. I suspect it depends on the local interpretation, as with so many things here in France.

With bad economic news now coming in from Germany with its car factory lay-offs and rapidly falling order books and rapidly rising unemployment, it would appear that the forex traders are only interested in, and following, interest rate.The UK government/bank is intent on further reductions (american style) whilst the ECB intends to stick at present rates of interest. It looks like the pound has no chance of coming back against the euro until the ECB is forced to bring its rates down to those of then B of E. When will that be? When those stubborn folk in berlin accept that the German economy has ground to a halt.