France is finished

[Théière]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/article4225315.ece

Is it time the Emperors new suit was examined?

[Spyder]

Like the bit "...nothing works and nobody cares". Sometimes it feels like that.

[NormanH]

It sounds like the comments I hear about the UK from those living outside the south east, especially where things like social services and health are concerned.

In both cases such generalities are just silly, and one needs always to look at the (often political) motivation behind them.

[Frederick]

I cant access the whole story in the Times without paying ....for other skinflints .......open link below to get it .

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/03/john-lewis-boss-andy-street-says-france-finished

[idun]

Some things work in France and work really really well. Never ceases to amaze me as to how organised some things are. And then other things are rubbish, not helped with useless fonctionnaires not doing their jobs.

And some things in the UK are rubbish too, equally as the bad in France, and other things work really well, quite different things from France.

Like many on here we have a foot in both camps, ours, financially

dependant on France for income and health care, but live in the UK. So I have dealings with both countries. And my son lives in France.

 

 I have always said that France is just a country warts and all.......... good bad and indifferent..... and not some sort of Eden......... because that is just what it is.

France IMO needs rid of Hollande ASAP. He is as far as I am concerned 'useless'.

Re the John Lewis boss, well, I see what he means, but I believe that much in France could be remedied rather quickly with a decent government.

[woolybanana]

Well, listening to two UMP candidates over the last couple of days, Sarkozy sounds like a worn out has been with a knife in his pocket, whilst Juppe is tough, not afraid to say when he has made mistakes and a man who will get many, many votes I reckon.

[woolybanana]

On the other hand, the French car industry is beginning to motor again with both major companies getting a good share of the market and inclreased numbers, thanks to a lot of new models.

Now, if this bunch of goons could just get the housing market going then France might turn the corner.

And, being in the Gulf again to bomb IS means that their Rafales will be on display and might sell, even if a bit out of date, particularly as the Eurofighter has hit serious problems.

[NormanH]

Although Hollande has made some mistakes the problems that France faces have been brewing for a long time.

The two Presidencies of Chirac, especially the second were marked by almost complete failure to move with the times, and although Sarkozy gave a false impression of frenzied activity he actually achieved little except to bring in measures to suit rich cronies.

Anyone who took over from all that would have multiple problems, and 2012 was a bad election to win.

At the same time France is not the USA or the UK and has an alternative philosophy which has merit but which makes her the target of vicious attacks from the 'free market' lobby.

It is no use blindly  imposing the neocon policies that have so badly failed elsewhere.

The last thing any country needs is the sort of housing boom which makes it impossible for young people without an inheritance to buy somewhere to live.

[woolybanana]

Affordable housing, Norman.

[mint]

Yes, affordable!

The young couple who bought our house were aged 20 and 21.  So, was it some dump in some sink estate?  Hardly.  Fully renovated 18th century farmhouse, 170 sq ft of habitable space and just under 4000 sq ft of garden, half an hour's drive from Bordeaux.

Well, were they yuppy types who work in financial services?  No, he is a routier and she is an aide domicile.

Did their parents pay for the house for them?  I wouldn't say that, having seen their mortgage documentation, but they are working over time to pay for the house and CA seemed more than happy to give them a mortgage which took the fees into account.

So "affordable" in this context seems a good word to use.

"nothing works and nobody cares"?  What sort of numpty makes sweeping generalisations like that?  Makes you wonder how a motor-mouth like that who obviously opens his mouth before engaging his brain gets to be such a big shot in his job.

[NormanH]

Affordable means different things to different people: [:D]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/02/boris-johnson-approve-affordable-london-flats-rent

mint your house was in France, and my point is that France does not need the sort of house price inflation that would make such a purchase impossible for the same young couple in the UK.

[mint]

Interesting article, Norman.

Talk about redefinition.  More and more right-wing clap trap ............... I despair.  Increasingly public resources being turned into private wealth for the few at the expense of the many and there are people out there who do not heed what is taking place [+o(]

 This idea that the "market place" will take care of everything is the bleakest and most devastatingly sterile concept to be spread around the world.

[Benjamin]

Bit knee jerk that sweets. After all it was a report in The Guardian.Try and find the counter article in the Daily Mail and everything will come out smelling of roses.

Watched "Location location" last night on Ch 4. Two couples,both youngish, who had decided to move, one from Leeds and the others from South Wales, to London. Both had budgets of around €500.000 for one and two bedroom flats.

Yes, I know those figures to most on here are staggering, but so were interest rates (for the whole of the country by the way) of 15 to 18% in the 70's but somehow we managed.

Having lunch a couple of weeks back with my neice who lives in London, and I commented about places such as No. 1 Hyde Park and the prices those places fetch. She told me you can drive past those and similar properties at night and there are no lights on anywhere. Simply speculative purchases.

The so called Mansion Tax is about the only sensible policy that came out of the Labour Party Conference when, quite astonishingly, Ed (normally a brilliant speaker without notes), managed not to mention the economy at all.

[mint]

I know, Ben, a bit OTT possibly but not really knee jerk as I have thought about these major shifts in policy with nobody apparently noticing.

How could that be?

AND nobody talks about the billions that the Tories have borrowed in this administration to give the semblance of prosperity and the economy growing (against all the trends in Europe, by their PR spin).

I don't have a crystal ball to foretell when it will all come home to roost but I have no doubt of the eventual outcome of all the greed, the disregard for the less well-off, the selfishness, the conspicuous consumtion, the short termism .................need I go on?

[woolybanana]

But, my darling Nimt, t'was always thus. There is no Earthly Paradise where greed and selfishness do not exist.

[mint]

Yes, Wools, but it doesn't mean I have to like it?

[woolybanana]

What irks me to the very bottom of my teeny toes is that much of the money which came into London was relatively hot yet no serious attempt to check on its provinence was ever made. Whereas if I manage to make a few thousand (I never have), to put it into my bank account, I have to go throught enough hoops to make the Stasi look like choir boys and girls.

[idun]

[quote user="woolybanana"]What irks me to the very bottom of my teeny toes is that much of the money which came into London was relatively hot yet no serious attempt to check on its provinence was ever made. Whereas if I manage to make a few thousand (I never have), to put it into my bank account, I have to go throught enough hoops to make the Stasi look like choir boys and girls.[/quote]

Now how could you do that to me on a Friday evening wooly, that was naughty. Winds me up beyond belief. But I'll tell you what, Paris would've been delighted if such funds had found their way there instead. And I just do not believe that they would have ever considered turning it away.

[mint]

I know exactly what you mean, Wools.

And God help you if you want to open a savings account say with your UK bank (now that you are living in France) of which you have been a customer for 30 years, have built up a relationship with them (as you thought) used to have a mortgage with them and they have had years of your wages go to them month after month.  No dice!  But perfect strangers could go to live there and have no problem opening whatever sort of account they damn well please.

Let me recount my little tale of frustration which only happened a couple of weeks ago.  Out of the blue and without my bothering to fill in a tax form, HMRC sent me a very small cheque for tax overpaid on a new pension I only started claiming last year.

It was made out in my maiden name (but remember I used my maiden name to open the account in the first place but did change it after I married OH) and the bank returned the cheque, saying that the name didn't match.  I rang the "talking shop", no can do, I asked to speak to someone "in charge", might as well have saved my breath.

Managed to get through to my branch eventually.  More arguments.  I pointed out that I'd paid in other cheques in the past made out in my maiden name, that they didn't mind the tax-free lump sum from the same employer paid in only the year before.  But no, it's against "banking law" (NEVER heard of that).  Well, my unique tax reference number is on that, wouldn't you know, and it HAS been sent to my address in a little known village in the south-west of France?  Would you not think that, by the laws of all that is reasonable, the cheque is meant for me?

Speaking like a spoilt child, I then said, if I sent you my marriage certificate, can you change my name on the account back into my maiden name so that I can pay the cheque in?

Reluctantly, the answer was, OK, send in your marriage certificate and we will see what we can do.

Then, lo and behold, because I dare say they didn't want the bother of changing the name on my account, the cheque was credited.  But what a palaver!

Of course, in France, the name you were given at birth would have followed you throughout your life and so you woudn't have been treated like some money launderer just because you tried to pay in some cheque which would have hardly bought you lunch in a posh London pub[:@]

[woolybanana]

Ban marriage, then, keep life simple!

[CSV]

Sorry, I was 'only joking' (in other words 'you caught me out')

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29475011

"The boss of John Lewis,

Andy Street, has apologised for describing France as "hopeless and

downbeat" and advising people with investments there "to get them out

quickly".

Quoted in The Times, Mr Street said about France that "nothing works and worse, nobody cares about it."

Mr Street later said the comments were not meant to be taken seriously but that he "clearly went too far".

He made the remarks at a dinner after his Eurostar train had been delayed."

[HoneySuckleDreams]

[quote user="CSV"]"nothing works and worse, nobody cares about it."
[/quote]

 

He wasn't wrong though was he ? About Paris Nord that is.

It is literally a cess pit.  I had an even more disturbing time last Tuesday and I'm normally quite calm about travelling but this was almost the last nail in the coffin.

The first impression you get of Paris Nord (this is the east entrance down to the Metro) is that it is a Pissoire. After 5pm on a hot day you have to hold your breath and jump over the rivers of p!55 outside the entrance. They installed big fences outside to stop the locals from peeing up the building as it was leaking into the café. Now, they have had to install big stainless steel plates as the filthy sh1tes were peeing between the grills further up and it was leaking through into the main concourse.  They just do it up against La Poste next door now. The whole area is extremely intimidating. Rather like Kings Cross 20 years ago.

This time, none of the ticket machines would accept cards..and I mean out of 10...not 1. CB Non Acceptee on all the machines. The queues were horrendous, many tourists milling about not having a clue. Non of the guichets were open and there was zero staff present to help. So we had to use coins (they don't accept notes...and I only had 2€ on me). No worries I thought, I will change at Antony anyway and get the 2nd part there.

And don't get me started on the youths who push right up behind you when you are going through the barriers so that they don't have to pay.

However, when I got to Antony (the exchange to get the little automatic train to Orly) there were 6 or 7 controllers and a couple of security men on the tiny platform. I got jumped on the moment I stepped in the station. It turns out that in my haste (and I go thru there at least 30times a year) I paid for a metro ticket (€1.70) and I should have bought another ticket for Antony (€2,65)....I will do the maths for you...that's 95cents.  I had 2 controllers pin me against the machine whilst some witch kept screaming "amend trente-trois euro" "amend trente-trois euros". I was petrified. For the sake of a simple error and 95cents difference they wouldn't let me on the train until I handed over a card to pay.  The cynic in me thinks that it was an Arnaque, well planned to scam as much out of the unsuspecting tourists as possible.

The thing that really made me angry though is that there were a couple of French girls who had made the same mistake and they got let thru. There were only a few of us on the train to Orly, but at least 2 other couples said that they would never ever come back to Paris. I didn't stop shaking until I got home.

So, is France finished?  If that is their attitude to customer service then it will be "will the last one out turn off the lights please". When there are no tourists left to fleece, then France will be finished.

I unfortunately have to go through the Metro to get home, but believe you me, if I didn't need to I wouldn't go back thru Paris if you paid me

 

[HoneySuckleDreams]

and this just in from the Daily Mash

06-10-14

FRANCE has hit back at John Lewis, claiming the store treats its customers as if they have rights and feelings.

Following John Lewis boss Andy Street’s attack on France, French retailers said Mr Lewis was an ‘Uncle Tom’ who may as well ask his customers to thrash him with a belt.

A spokesman for the French Retail Federation said: “Look how John Lewis degrades and humiliates itself by assuming the customer’s complaint may be even remotely valid.

“John Lewis offers refunds and exchanges as if it was some kind of shop. In France you only do that after ignoring the customer for two months and even then you’d always make a point of setting fire to their car.”

[Chancer]

Honeysuckledream.

Did they take €30 off you or the €2.70?

Even if it was the latter it seems like a terrible but entirely familiar experience.

[HoneySuckleDreams]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Did they take €30 off you or the €2.70?

[/quote]

 

Chancer : it was €33