All the stuff you never knew you needed to know about life in rural France.....and all the stuff the books and magazines won't tell you.

Saturday 29 September 2012

More Adventures in Wonderland


While I know that he didn't, for someone who took his education elsewhere Mr. Hollande, (Moije) President of France, shows all the signs of one whose learning was acquired at the school under the sea, at the knee of the Tortoise.

I support this view by his expertise in the fields of reeling and writhing.

Reeling first.... demonstrated by his pre election promise to renegotiate the European Stability Pact - an austerity measure produced by the Merkozy - which resulted in him reeling from the disapproval of the Mer part of the Kozy (and probably also from the disapproval of the minder from Rothschild's Bank who is at the Elysee to keep an eye on him).

Writhing next.....to ensure that the Socialist Party deputies elected on a programme including that promise wriggle round and vote for the opposite measure.

Further supporting evidence for his alma mater.....fainting in coils.
Ably demonstrated at the recent United Nations annual No One Has Talent show for heads of state.

He, with entourage, was about to enter a corridor when he beheld his ex ladyfriend and mother of four of his children, vice president of the Socialist International and president of the region of Poitou Charentes, giving a press conference on the other side of the glass doors.
Did he enter, salute her courteously in passing and go on his way?
Did he do a right about face and remove himself from the vicinity?

No, he spent some time with his back to the doors  - peek a boo, I can't see you, everything's looking fine - demonstrating to fascinated television crews the art of fainting in coils before shabbing off round the back way.

And he is a sound student of the four branches of arithmetic:

Ambition.....well, he he is at the top of the greasy pole.

Distraction.......that bit of fainting in coils will win him no brownie points with his latest lady friend.

Uglification......not a pretty sight in the baggy bermudas.

and, of course,

Derision.

During the election campaign he had nothing but derision for Sarkozy....referring to him as a 'salopard'.
He treated Sarkozy and his wife with contempt at the handover of power...turning on his heel as they walked to their car.

And now he is treating the ordinary people of France with derision.

A few token swipes at the rich.....but the working population put to contribution to support the bloated ranks of central and local government bureaucrats.

People who want to get ahead, be independent? He'll learn 'em....
The 'auto entrepreneur' scheme set up by Sarkozy, where you paid social security contributions based on what you made, is to have the guts torn out of it.
Bang goes an opportunity to get on your own feet.

At a period when utility bills are soaring, freezing the tax brackets so that more and more will be caught up by them is not a popular move any more than measures to penalise people for running the older cars they cannot afford to replace.

It is not appreciated either that when the state reckons you owe it money it's the bailiffs and the frozen bank accounts.....but when it owes you money, as when the courts order compensation for the state's illegal actions, you can whistle.

I just wonder if the French people will put up with this.....as they seem to put up with everything.....or whether another person from Wonderland will make an appearance......

The Queen of Hearts.

'Off with his head!'









 

43 comments:

  1. Hello:
    You write about a particular situation in France which, generally, we should hold to be true of many other European countries where, in our view, the poor and those less well off are being taxed further and penalised more heavily by the day.

    Here Áfa, VAT, is levied at 27% on absolutely everything including the crippling price of the utilities. If ever there was a tax on the poor, then this is it. For how long? We wonder this too.

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    1. I have always considered VAT as an iniquitous tax so you may imagine my horror when (thanks to EU advisors) the government proposed introducing it here.

      So far it has not happened.....there have just been increases in the luxury tax - which lists aubergines in its scope - but I note that when Central American governments want to raise tax revenues they go straight to the EU for advice!

      Instead of soaking the really rich governments find easier targets in those who can't move out of their clutches and make it impossible for these people to improve their situation by bleeding them dry with ever more ingenious taxes which fund....what of any value?

      Education systems that no longer educate...transport systems which neglect the rural areas...police forces which are not interested in repressing crime...health services falling apart at the seams....?

      Successive French governments have got away with a lot by playing the race card...blame the immigrants.
      British governments play the dependence card...blame the underclass.

      At what point will people bring it home to governments in general that they are supposed to govern in the interests of the people, rather than in the interests of the financial, media and political barons?


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    2. Thank you for this most detailed and thoughtful reply. We could not agree more.

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    3. A subject close to my heart as I suspect it may be to yours.

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  2. When I read "People who want to get ahead, be independent" I couldn't help but think about my area...Quebec. There are people here who would love Quebec to become a country, separate from the rest of Canada. Thankfully, though, there are enough who do not want this, which is why we are still a province in Canada, which I am proud of. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Always a thorny subject in Quebec,isn't it!

      Currently, it seems there's a movement in the French speaking part of Belgium to up sticks and become part of France because they've lost their long term dominance of the country to the Flemish speakers...goodness only knows what the German speaking Belgians want...

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    2. It sure is, Fly. If you take that away, Quebec is a beautiful place! The people are friendly, the province is beautiful.

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  3. Just as long as the new Queen of Hearts is not some thinly cloaked fascist of a neoliberalist puss in boots. Beware the sweeping brutality of the Spanish police in Madrid Station this weekend, in reaction to the austerity protesters, themselves deliberately infiltrated by plain clothes, undercover police, with orders to ‘agitate’ and ‘incite’ violence amongst them. These are worrying tactics to employ in a so called liberated democracy. Franco would have approved.

    No matter how Hollande trips and stumbles amongst the mole hills of the Elysee gardens during his tenure, he should avoid straying too close to the rabbit holes come the Spring.

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  4. Yes, the police brutality and use of agents provocateurs has been well covered here.

    My worry is that faced with the faceless rule of an EU hand in glove with the banks people will start looking for a strong man...a nationalist.... without thinking that where he will first demonstrate his strength will be upon them.

    Hollande is, I think, trying to get the medecine down in one go, hoping that people will have absorbed the shock by the time the elections come round again, but he should keep an eye on the weather too, remembering the old rhyme

    A wet winter
    A dry spring
    A bloody summer
    And no king

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    1. Ooooh. Now you’ve got me shivering… so if we defy the Mayans and cheat our way past that old 21-12-12 foretelling they so happily left for us, we’ve just got the red skies of 2013 to look forward to? Well bollocks to that then. “Happy New Year to one and all!” cos I’m off for an early plunge down the nearest wide rabbit hole, before the queues get too long for that mad hatters tea party.

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    2. One look at a Mayan sculpture is enough to convince anyone they were off their tiny noddles, so I'm not worrying about that!

      Seriously, I am glad to be out of Europe...be a damn sight gladder if I could sell the house...but still glad.

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  5. Madame Guillotine has rarely seemed so attractive.

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  6. Your last remark say it all - At what point will people bring it home to governments in general that they are supposed to govern in the interests of the people. Have a good week. Diane

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    1. I fear it will be brought home by violence as there seems to be a dialogue of the deaf between governed and governing.
      Yet it takes an awful lot before people, most of whom are naturally law abiding, can bring themselves to take such measures.

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    2. I’m with Zimbabwe. 100 per cent. The woman in the audience of this ‘Question Time’ video clip rams this very ‘reminder’ point home more succinctly than anyone I’ve witnessed to date:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ry0LmFP3Ig&feature=related

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    3. I can't get to this for some reason...my computer keeps offering me stupid music clips...
      Probably censored for being good sense!

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    4. Sorry about that Fly. I’ve just tried copying and pasting the same Youtube link straight from the same comment above, directly into Google’s search box this time (instead of my URL address bar at top of my screen) and it brought the video up straight away.

      May well be a jinx in translation over your side as you say, but give it another go and see how you get on. If it still doesn’t want to play your end, let me know and I’ll think of something else. Good luck!

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    5. Yes, that worked!
      With that lady all the way....except that I think politicians appreciate that they get far more from their cronies than they do from their official emoluments...

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  7. I hear that the Sarkozys are enjoying the Elysée soap opera enormously. If it weren't so tragic and if the country weren't in such a mess and heading downwards it would be a lot more amusing.

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    1. I know that if I were still in France my blood pressure would be at high Doh...what a betrayal of the very people the PS claims to serve!

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  8. He really is such a deeply unimpressive little man, so blinkered by his socialist tenets that he can't see that France need more entrepreneurs, auto or otherwise, rather than the extra fonctionnaires he's busy recruiting with the proceeds of the new taxes.

    I'm starting to wish that his former partner had succeeded in her attempt at the presidency. At least she has run a household and brought up a family, and had a career as well and therefore knows a bit about multi-tasking and the price of bread.

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    1. I wish he was a real socialist...but they're conspicuous by their absence from any political scene these days.

      He's just the usual grubby product of ENA, box tickers to a man or woman, with no idea that the times call for new boxes to be created.

      I'm no fan of Sego...but yes, she would have been the better of the two!

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  9. I have just begun my 41st year of service to Anglo/French misunderstanding, and am no more clear about what goes on in the minds of French politicians (other than the sleaze), than I was when I first arrived. I intend to keep it that way!

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    1. That's the spirit that lost the Empire...I believe in know your enemy!

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  10. Tumbrils are beginning to look very attractive!

    As an auto entrepreneuse [profession liberale] I've just signed the onine petition against the plans to have the guts of the auto entrpreneur scheme ripped out.[http://www.federation-auto-entrepreneur.fr/petition.php]

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    1. I'm not sure about this, but Guy tells me the cotisations for profession liberale bods already having to pay them is going to be brought in line with other regimes - i.e. put up - so this will be a doubly hard blow for the auto entrepreneurs if they get away with it.

      He says he's wondering about reviving the craft of tumbril making...reckons he could pay the cotisations and then some from the estimated demand!

      You'll know the government is worried when local authorities start taking down lamp posts...on 'green' grounds, of course.

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  11. I decided to stay away from politics... blogging that is .. :)

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    1. Though I see that politicians manage to creep into some of your photographs....they get everywhere at election time!

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  12. as an ignoramus on the subject I found all this so interesting!

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    1. All great stuff if you don't weaken!
      Glad you liked it.

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  13. You had me here by the way: "A few token swipes at the rich.....but the working population put to contribution to support the bloated ranks of central and local government bureaucrats."


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    1. Welcome, old friend!
      I'll have to be on my toes if you're around!

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  14. I shall be around for a while yet hen, I look forward to dropping in on you and reading quality posts yet again.

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    1. Just don't succomb to all this healthy living....

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  15. Replies
    1. The motto of this government...
      Don't upset the banks...
      Doesn't matter if you squeeze the life out of the real economy...just don't upset the banks.

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  16. Sitting on the side lines, it is quite entertaining!

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    1. I'd be a damn sight more amused if I'd sold my house there!

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  17. God Bless you, and we have Obama...off with his head indeed! I share your pain, my dear friend!
    Sandi

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    1. Would an Amish buggy substitute for a tumbril, do you believe?

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