Not without fuel it is not, France is one of the most beautiful, civilised and maddening countries in the world. The French are keen to have a 'manifestation' at the drop of the hat, and I say hurrah for that, at least they are not politically apathetic like the English. As long as they have enough baked beans and lager in the fridge and corrie is on the box, God is in his Heaven and the world is set right. However what are the French bringing the country to its knees for ? extending the retirement age to 62 from 60.
To be young and French is to be on the left, the heady days of soixante-huit when the students and workers nearly brought the French state to its knees are part of french culture and legend, Socialisme, Marxisme & Egalitie was the watchword, you could riot and still look tres chic.
But to demonstrate because you think that by the time you are sixty you are decrepit and incapable of work is a marxist nonsense. The reasons being given are that 'the old' are bed-blocking the jobs in the economy is jaw dropping. The young should be surging with energy to create new enterprises, instead the maximum hope is to fill dead mens shoes in the state/state monopoly companies and the dead hand of French bureaucracy.
Andrew - I think the work ethic must run deeper in you than it does me. For me, the French 'work to live' attitude should be the ultimate libertarian goal.
ReplyDeleteWhen I grew up in the 50s, all the talk was of a new age of leisure thanks to the advances in machines. Now I look around and see millions 'enjoying' an impoverished leisure of unemployment or (in my case) age-related redundancy while those still in work appear to be working ever-longer hours foregoing lunch breaks and engaging in 'who can leave the office latest' games in the desperate hope of preferment.
I am of the opinion that we need to face the fact that there is never again going to be sufficient work to keep us all gainfully occupied. New Labour's solution of filling in a few years paying your own way through university before becoming one of the army of bin inspectors, CCTV operators, database snopers etc has not worked and it's certainly not gainful.
I think we need to take a serious look at the way in which capitalism has developed over recent decades and develop a means of delivering a social environment to which all can meaningfully contribute to wealth creation.
For me, the French are stumbling towards just that by reducing the working week and protecting their retirement age.
Regards
John