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[quote user="minnie"]There is a documentary on BBC2 in one hour (10pm French Time) with Robert Peston looking at the economic situation in France. [/quote]

Now hoping to catch up the first half hour as, due to circumstances beyond my control, I only saw the last 25 minutes. But wow what I saw was rivetting. So much food for thought in these troubled times.

Marine Le Pen can seem so reasonable until you think about what her actions would mean for France.

And ENA, what RP said about the system that produces all the senior politicos and civil servants made me smile.

I do so wish BBC had a +1 channel.

Sue

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I enjoyed it but it frightened me, I think I have been in partial denial for a long time, the French have always been in total denial.

That bloke who was an inspecteur de travail was indicative of what I dislike the most of many of the people around here, ignorant and narrow minded and he was a fonctionnaire not a syndicaliste, the ones I rub up against make him look decidedly moderate.

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I have always thought that Liberté, égalité, fraternité was a bit of a joke and didn't really exist in France

Liberté - Not really because the functionaries control French life.

égalité - Well the Grande Ecoles show that there isn't any.

fraternité - Only exists between the self serving functionaires.

Personally I think the greatest problem is the Grande Ecoles. When the students were interviewed it was ,like they saw themselves as teutonic knights and as one said it offers you advantages that are not available to ordinary people. The system turns out more of the same, clones if you like, which can be seen when you look at the last five presidents.

However France, like the UK and many other countries, does suffer from the lack of 'connection' between politicians and ordinary people. As I have said many time in the past they do not understand the wants, needs and aspirations of the ordinary working class.

The predictions for what would happen, with the exception of the Euro, if Le Penn became president and took France out of the EU are much the same as what would happen if the UK did the same thing except with the addition of the Euro it would cause a worldwide problem not just for France but for the rest of Europe (including the UK). The problems France has are internal and nothing really to do with being in Europe but if you don't have a 'fix' then it is easier to blame others for your own problems. I can see why many French I know want another republic.

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Indeed,  it was fascinating.    Given that Peston is described in some circles as "a bit left-wing" I could find nothing to confirm that in tonight's offerings,  I thought it was remarkably fair.

How I longed to show it to a lot of our French friends round here,   a vain hope as none of them would be able to follow it (and I don't just mean the language barrier).

I didn't think Macron came across as anything other than flimsy,   and I'm not sure I think he'll be in government for long.....

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After 10 years of seeing this place through detached and objective eyes I didnt think that anything would be reported that could shock me, I was wrong!

The guys taking a 2 year career break, well I met a few of them when travelling, I naively thought they were unpaid and living on savings, to learn that they were touching up to €5K per month amazed me, its only the highly educated highly paid cadrés that can effectively do this exactly those who dont need a social security safety net, cant see Intermarché taking back a cashier after finding herself for  couple of years.

But the maternity leave one, that really blew me away, people would think it an April fool yet the French just look on it as another desreved entitlement. a woman can take her paid maternity leave and not have to ever say whether she is coming back or not, she can decide at any time, her job must be kept open for her, she can even decide not to come back, take another job, change her mind within 2 years and demand her  first job back [blink]

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[quote user="Martin963"]

I didn't think Macron came across as anything other than flimsy,   and I'm not sure I think he'll be in government for long.....

[/quote]

I agree about Macron, he left me less than impressed.

Your comment could be about Cameron, do you think?[;-)][:D]

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The key thing for me was seeing how the book of rules for employment had grown over the years - a great presentation showing the actual series of books and comparing the size of the first one with the latest.

No wonder unemployment is an issue.
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[quote user="suein56"][quote user="minnie"]There is a documentary on BBC2 in one hour (10pm French Time) with Robert Peston looking at the economic situation in France. [/quote]

Now hoping to catch up the first half hour as, due to circumstances beyond my control, I only saw the last 25 minutes. But wow what I saw was rivetting. So much food for thought in these troubled times.

Marine Le Pen can seem so reasonable until you think about what her actions would mean for France.

And ENA, what RP said about the system that produces all the senior politicos and civil servants made me smile.

I do so wish BBC had a +1 channel.

Sue

[/quote]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b055kqhw/this-world-quelle-catastrophe-france-with-robert-peston

To watch BBCiPlayer in France you need either a VPN service or something like the Hola add on for Chrome.

The presenter can't pronounce Languedoc, which he calls Langwedoc, a pretty good indication of the level of ignorance of the programme.

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So as you wont be accused of being in denial, which to me was the main message of the program perhaps you could indicate what parts of the program were ignorant or incorrect Norman.

As I probably said earlier some of the things even I found hard to swallow but were they untrue?

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[quote user="NormanH"]

The presenter can't pronounce Languedoc, which he calls Langwedoc, a pretty good indication of the level of ignorance of the programme.

[/quote]

I agree. In the same way, this man's inability to pronounce words correctly is a pretty good indication of the level of ignorance of his party [:D]

[url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2066091/Does-Ed-Miliband-really-know-pronounce-Lieutenant.html[/url]

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Macron is a breath of fresh air in French politics as he is the only one of the bunch who is talking sense; as a result he has had to put up with vicious attacks from the dinosaur left of his party. I am sure that fighting his bill through the Assembly and eventually the Senate will serve to toughen him up a bit.

One might see him as presidential material but I suspect that the weight of knives in his back will eventually weigh him down and allow one of the young mediocraties from either left or right to ruin the country even more.

His analysis of the problems is France is pretty accurate though.
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[quote user="Chancer"]

So as you wont be accused of being in denial, which to me was the main message of the program perhaps you could indicate what parts of the program were ignorant or incorrect Norman.

As I probably said earlier some of the things even I found hard to swallow but were they untrue?

[/quote]

It was about as accurate as the old French 'canard' that there is no  allocation chomage in the UK.

Big on urban myths, and even bigger on unanalysed half-truths. Why let facts get in the way of a cheap point?

A simple example was the dismissive comment about the amount the French spend on 'paying taxis to take people to hospital'. If you have been following the threads about getting transport paid for (and that for the seriously ill)  you can see that things are more nuanced.

The programme maker had taken a standard neo-con 'analysis' of the French economy then found some parrots to mouth it.

The only person who reflected what I hear being said was the Inspector de Travail and the presentation of him was skewed.

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The inspector showed exactly what is wrong with the workplace in France; the left are still fighting a stupid class war which they have carried over in the workplace.

As to the medical taxi system, it is thoroughly abused. Example, people using it when they have family or partners who are quite capable of driving them, and even a couple of cars sitting in the drive.

Plus, gross overpayment of the taxi companies.

Public money chucked down the drain basically.

As to funds used locally for prestige building projects, it is just plain shameful.
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[quote user="NormanH"]

It was about as accurate as the old French 'canard' that there is no  allocation chomage in the UK.

Big on urban myths, and even bigger on unanalysed half-truths. Why let facts get in the way of a cheap point?

A simple example was the dismissive comment about the amount the French spend on 'paying taxis to take people to hospital'. If you have been following the threads about getting transport paid for (and that for the seriously ill)  you can see that things are more nuanced.

The programme maker had taken a standard neo-con 'analysis' of the French economy then found some parrots to mouth it.

The only person who reflected what I hear being said was the Inspector de Travail and the presentation of him was skewed.

[/quote]

I much agree, Norman.

In fact, I took the trouble to download the BBC app and then download and store the whole programme: I am about half way through and have been taking notes! When I have a little time (frantically busy, professionally at present) I will watch the rest and revert.

Whilst I used to like Peston, sadly, he has gone the same way as Will Hutton, now.......

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[quote user="woolybanana"]The inspector showed exactly what is wrong with the workplace in France; the left are still fighting a stupid class war which they have carried over in the workplace.

As to the medical taxi system, it is thoroughly abused. Example, people using it when they have family or partners who are quite capable of driving them, and even a couple of cars sitting in the drive.

Plus, gross overpayment of the taxi companies.

Public money chucked down the drain basically.

As to funds used locally for prestige building projects, it is just plain shameful.[/quote]

I have wondered why in France there are not more people who when retired volunteer to do things within the community like the medical car transport as provided by volunteers free to patients in the UK

Then you see how much power the unions in France have and I imagine they would not stand for

people doing somthing for nothing in case it means a worker not being hired . And what volunteer work is done is subject to many rules imposed on organisations wishing to use them .which must put them off .

Then it appears France is down at the bottom when it comes to the amount of time people want to give when it comes to voluntary work compared with other countries .according to the link

France does get a lot right .when it comes to a place to be for quality of life ... More than most ....which makes it where I certainly like to spend as much time as I can .

http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/france/

From OECD link :

Time spent volunteering also contributes to a healthy civil society. On average, people in France spend 1 minute per day in volunteering activities, less than the OECD average of 4 minutes per day. Around 30% reported having helped a stranger in the last month, one of the lowest rates in the OECD where the average is 49%.

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I don't think a couple of things you have said are right.

Firstly, I believe that 'we' decide on our quality of life no matter where we live, and I never saw anything exceptional in France that would ever make me say 'ah the quality of life in France', personally I'd be ashamed of myself IF no matter where I lived, I didn't make sure that my life was good and suited 'me'. 

The other thing is that the OECD seems to be very wrong about that as personally I would never accuse french people in general of not volunteering, because a high percentage of those I know do and always have.

In fact I doubt that there'd be a french national soccer or rugby team, or most other national sports played if it were not for volunteers at grass roots level, because lets face it sports teachers are as much use as chocolate fireguards in french colleges. I know this as my kids and husband did lots of sports and I did a lot of volunteering along with a lot of others, even those whose kids were no longer doing sports would still help out, even retraités.

No idea how that would work with one's car insurance in France, if acting as a taxi volunteer. I do know plenty of people who take friends and family to hospital, as it is not everyone who uses the bon from the CPAM.

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