As a Ros-Bif, it takes a heart of stone not to look across the channel and laugh at the state of France and its political economy. But overtime, the laugh fades.
After all France already has its version of Jeremy Corbyn, in the form of President Hollande. Even this left-wing President has realised that massive unemployment rates are not helped by companies never being allowed to fire anyone, nor that the huge state spending can be helped by large numbers of people on the payroll permanently.
In fact, it is a minor miracle of EU funding for the Common Agricultural Policy and export of nuclear energy that means that France's economy is actually not falling over worse than the UK. They have some manufacturing base, they have lots of space and not excessive property costs, the taxes are stupid but few pay and there are plenty of loopholes.
Increasingly though, this is not enough, the strikes that always afflict France are growing worse as the extreme-left senses victory and also rebels against the rise of Le Pen style nationalism. To an outside it is an obvious yin/yang dichotomy. The more the left grows, the more the extreme right too. Also when long-term Government makes so many bad mistakes that the economy suffers, extremist politics prosper.
France, whilst steadily deteriorating is a warning to the UK too. Centrist Government that cannot make painful decisions leads to a sclerotic economy that in turn gives rise to extremist politics. The UK with UKIP , SNP and militant takeover of Labour is itself someway down this path. Only the current Government has the actual power to change things in a way that will show people that a centrist path can be the right choice. Dodging discussions on immigration, Europe, Heathrow - any number of issues, only serves to destroy the Centre ground that wins elections for the Tories.
17 comments:
Except UKIP aren't extreme. They are the Conservatives in exile. Mainly old people and mild eccentrics.
EK,
I suspect most ukippers are brexiters and are otherwise fairly well split between the parties.
UKIP only really exists because the main parties have not been able to sell in or out to the electorate and so ignores the issue
Kev...that's me...Old(ish) eccentric but not mild,two out of three do?
Kev, extreme is relative to the centre. I think the centre is lost so I am now extreme. UKIP are pretty bizarre but I still vote for them, given the paucity of sensible types elsewhere.
France looks well stuffed to me
- property prices have collapsed (one family member has had the most extreme difficulty selling a fabulous house in Provence, at a price that would make an Englishman laugh in disbelief; while another has found getting an ultra-desirable flat in Paris simplicity itself, at a rent which makes it hard to believe London is on the same planet, let alone only another European capital city just a couple of hours away)
- the peasants are truly revolting
- the rural areas are 100% dependent on the CAP
- they are having to flog everything they can lay their hands on to finance Hinkley (!), the imbéciles
- their best graduates are flocking to the UK
- their army has served notice that the current internal security duty they are mounting renders them unable to carry out any other mission
etc etc. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch
seriously, I wouldn't go to Euro 2016 if I was given the tickets, something ba-ad is going to happen (this Beeb report is bang on the money)
I blogged before about the 1930s French popular front government. A communist/socialist/radical alliance that governed France in 1936 brought a Corbyn like attack of the biggest business and the richest families in France. A transfer of power from the richest to the ..well..not the poorest..maybe the next richest.
Anyway ..Wages rose some 48% but the immediate cost of living rose 47% so no-one was any better off. And the french working week and productivity suffered disastrously.
Strikes broke out on such a scale that, an ultra left wing government was unable to function and collapsed.
And on the other side on the right were assorted nationalist, monarchist, aristocratic parties. The damage caused by inter-war political impotency doomed France's Third republic more than any other reason.
Just found it. 2013 was written
http://www.cityunslicker.co.uk/2013/11/the-popular-front.html
interesting to see what we here and all the comments thought might happen to France.
By and large, we were all correct.
Vive us.
Quote:
"that a centrist path can be the right choice. Dodging discussions on immigration, Europe, Heathrow - any number of issues, only serves to destroy the Centre ground that wins elections for the Tories."/quote.
Oh dear me, is that the best you can do?
We don't quite have a Communist state in Britain, we have something rather similar though - do we not?
The Tories are part of the problem, big government is the problem, until such time as we can wean ourselves off the nanny state - then; there is no hope for the UK.
Big spending has to stop, mass immigration has to end, the corporate blob will have to forced to open up to real competition and to do that - will the politicians have to be forced to end the comfortable alliance with corporate big business - that's called Statism.
Criticize France - maybe, sneakingly I admire their chutzpah and lets face it a bit of civil disobedience - non union organized would poke a big stick into the backsides of our political elite, serving as a reminder to them, that they are there to serve the will of the people - not the other way around.
Out: of the EU is the start.
This is simply the outcome of "post-truth" politics and the centralisation of power.
Remember the Whitehall Centralising Tendancy is one that has been abroad in the land for a long time. Thatcher did much to worsen it, but the trend started pre-WWII, but the brave new world policies post war and the subsequent EU debacle saw the pace increase.
Agree we don't really have extremist mainstream political parties in the UK; Much as they pretend UKIP is not extremist, nor the SNP. You can make thecase both have already been co-opted.
seriously, I wouldn't go to Euro 2016 if I was given the tickets
Likewise, or any other football match for that matter, and most definitely not one in the middle of the cricket season. Even if the terrorists don't get you, the neanderthals that follow the game will probably crush you in a some sort of stampede, which won't be in any way their fault, presumably because it's just what is to be reasonably expected of them.
ravenscar - admirable stand - who exactly would you vote for to achieve any of your aims?
@"The UK with UKIP , SNP and militant takeover of Labour is itself someway down this path."
The SVP in Switzerland have probably more in common with UKIP than the conservatives - a country we should look at and copy.
"Even if the terrorists don't get you, the neanderthals that follow the game will probably crush you in a some sort of stampede, which won't be in any way their fault, presumably because it's just what is to be reasonably expected of them."
It's different now, but I used to go to football, and people really do forget what it was like. It's calm to the point of being boring now, but it was a somewhat risky activity.
I don't have any time for the cover-up, but what the police did on the day was entirely understandable in the culture of football at the time. The same thing could have happened at a number of other matches across the country. It's easy to judge from a place 25+ years later, forgetting the culture. The lies about what the fans did stuck and were very believable to people because that's what fans (and particularly Liverpool fans, who let's not forget killed 39 people in Heysel Stadium) were often like.
what the police did on the day was entirely understandable in the culture of football at the time
It wasn't just the Police, it seems they and the first aid folk and paramedics appear to have been clueless that lots of people in a confined space could actually generate enough force to crush one another to death. This is something they should have been aware of.
But there's very few types of event that generate the mindset needed to cause such a tragedy. I reckon it's limited to religious gatherings, rock concerts and football matches.
Perhaps the French will prove me wrong and crush one another in some sort of political protest this summer. Either way, we're avoiding the place entirely and heading to Ibiza again. The crowds there even seem to manage not to push each other into the swimming pools.
Let's not call it the centre ground.
Let's call it the common ground - and currently it shifts continuously leftwards.
To see this you need only look at some of the things this so-called conservative government has done: class war against private schools, aggressive taxation aimed at buy-to-let investors, endless zero interest rates to destroy savings, and so on.
it's not pretty and it can't last, but it's what we have at the moment.
Steven_L,
"It wasn't just the Police, it seems they and the first aid folk and paramedics appear to have been clueless that lots of people in a confined space could actually generate enough force to crush one another to death. This is something they should have been aware of."
But they weren't, because it hadn't happened. They weren't because people just didn't have the same sense of health and safety we have today. The whole problem with the Hillsborough case is that the past is another country and we are judging events by today's standards where football matches and gigs are far safer.
I used to go in the terraces and I wouldn't have taken a child or a woman in there. I realised after they got torn down that what I really loved was the terraces - the camaraderie, the chanting, the swearing, insulting the ref, the noise. The 22 blokes kicking a ball around just wasn't the same without being a part of the crowd.
Population eh?
My interest was piqued by an extended piece on BBC R4 at lunchtime today about the UK prison population - and the EU aspect in particular.
According to the DM 2 years ago Ireland was #2 - but the BBC seem to be claiming that they'd been bumped down the podium by Romanians.
Why might Ireland have 750+ nationals in UK jails?
Could it have something to do with a tale from the Emerald Isle related to me some years (10?) back by several unconnected natives.
Historically rascally drinking Tinkers had historically been banned from Irish pubs and shunned by the main population. The EU demanded that Tinker's human rights be upheld and that the widespread banning of this ethnic group from boozers be ended forthwith on pain of no pocket money.
The Irish Govt. complied and all hell broke loose as the Tinkers sought to rub the situation in in reputedly epic style... = panic! - rebellion! (not unknown over there)
What to do?
Patrick! - I've a plan!
We give every last one of them that agrees to go over to England €5000 cash each, ferry tickets and as much diesel as they can carry. The useless municipals over there won't know what's hit 'em.
I wonder if the UK incarcerated lags reflect the 2010 census - and wouldn't it be cheaper and less hassle to send them back?
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