The French are depressed at the prospect of returning to work, and the fact that France's biggest rival and enemy (Britain) is economically vastly better off than France makes it even worse for them.
The Times.
The French holidays end this week and the French are thoroughly miserable. Here are some reasons why.
Diddums.
"FRANCE basked in sunshine yesterday, but a sense of gloom descended on the nation as the end of the long summer holidays magnified a belief that disaster lurks around the corner.
While better-off Britons and other foreigners crowded France’s envied holiday spots, the natives moaned about “la crise” around café tables and camp sites. “La rentrée has never been so morose,” France Soir reported yesterday over four pages on why “the French are Worried”.
“The French went on holiday with their morale already at rock bottom,” the tabloid newspaper said. “They were crushed by the insolent success of the British, their eternal rivals...
1) ... Le Monde which prefers understatement, noted on its front page: “High unemployment, weak growth, rising petrol prices: the economic outlook is grey at the moment that the French go back to work.”
2) Bad news over the past month has sharpened what commentators and psychologists are calling a “state of fear” that is paralysing France.
3) According to Nicolas Baverez, author of “La France qui tombe,”:... “Confronted with (globalisation), France is the only developed democracy that has been carried away by uncontrolled individual and collective fear.”
4) Unemployment has stood at more than 10 per cent for most of the past decade
5) Economic growth is persistently weak and average purchasing power has declined.
6) Housing prices and rent have rocketed upwards for the past five years. Britons have forced up property prices, pushing out locals in rural areas
Soaring petrol prices
7) Declining public services as cost-saving reforms take effect on pensions and health care. Schools are also in decline as France falls in the world education league table.
8) France is losing out economically and politically to a world dominated by the United States and its “Anglo-Saxon” allies (the Olympic Games are a typical Anglo “stitch-up” )
Neither President Chirac nor the Socialist Opposition has a plausible answer to France’s plight
9) Islamic terrorism and unrest in French estates
10) The EU has lost its Gallic soul and wants Turkey as a member. Polish plumbers are about to invade France
11) French Caribbeans were victims of Venezula crash and Air France jumbo Airbus was wrecked in a casualty-free landing accident in Toronto
www.timesonline.co.uk . . .
The Times.
The French holidays end this week and the French are thoroughly miserable. Here are some reasons why.
Diddums.
"FRANCE basked in sunshine yesterday, but a sense of gloom descended on the nation as the end of the long summer holidays magnified a belief that disaster lurks around the corner.
While better-off Britons and other foreigners crowded France’s envied holiday spots, the natives moaned about “la crise” around café tables and camp sites. “La rentrée has never been so morose,” France Soir reported yesterday over four pages on why “the French are Worried”.
“The French went on holiday with their morale already at rock bottom,” the tabloid newspaper said. “They were crushed by the insolent success of the British, their eternal rivals...
1) ... Le Monde which prefers understatement, noted on its front page: “High unemployment, weak growth, rising petrol prices: the economic outlook is grey at the moment that the French go back to work.”
2) Bad news over the past month has sharpened what commentators and psychologists are calling a “state of fear” that is paralysing France.
3) According to Nicolas Baverez, author of “La France qui tombe,”:... “Confronted with (globalisation), France is the only developed democracy that has been carried away by uncontrolled individual and collective fear.”
4) Unemployment has stood at more than 10 per cent for most of the past decade
5) Economic growth is persistently weak and average purchasing power has declined.
6) Housing prices and rent have rocketed upwards for the past five years. Britons have forced up property prices, pushing out locals in rural areas
Soaring petrol prices
7) Declining public services as cost-saving reforms take effect on pensions and health care. Schools are also in decline as France falls in the world education league table.
8) France is losing out economically and politically to a world dominated by the United States and its “Anglo-Saxon” allies (the Olympic Games are a typical Anglo “stitch-up” )
Neither President Chirac nor the Socialist Opposition has a plausible answer to France’s plight
9) Islamic terrorism and unrest in French estates
10) The EU has lost its Gallic soul and wants Turkey as a member. Polish plumbers are about to invade France
11) French Caribbeans were victims of Venezula crash and Air France jumbo Airbus was wrecked in a casualty-free landing accident in Toronto
www.timesonline.co.uk . . .