Yes, apologies but I do mean English and not British.
I am not looking to rile anybody but I would be interested in forum members’ knee jerk reaction to the question.
I am not usually a great fan of social media but I am convalescing and very bored and end up passing the time by looking at pages I would not normally look at, a mix of French and English. Yes I know it is all clickbait and my comments are probably naive because it is a new thing to me. But.
The French topic of the day is the coming budget, the talk of surendettement with soundbites from various political figures. On the whole the debate is pretty much to the point and the views expressed are justified by explanations, statistics or personal experiences. In particular, Bayrou’s jibe at the boomers has drawn response after response from people recognising this as an attempt to divide and rule by setting people against each other. There is critical thinking going on, the comments show intelligence and quite a lot of dry humour and rarely any aggression towards other posters.
Compare and contrast with threads on the UK topics of the day which are Farage’s speech yesterday and the flag epidemic. I would say that the majority of comments add nothing whatsoever to the debate, many are simply two words (Vote Reform), and the same comments and quips are used time after time after time and the original topic of the thread soon gets lost in the general shouting about immigrants being rapists/all being given the latest iPhones, ‘liebour’ policies, ‘two-tier Kier’, The chief point seems to be to shout the loudest and throw personal insults at ‘opposite side’.
I find the French pages quite interesting to scroll down and if the politicians themselves read them, which I do not for a moment suppose they do, they might think more carefully before they open their mouths next time. The English pages I cannot stomach for long, they are repetitive and not interesting and it makes me despair. I imagine Farage grinning with satisfaction.
Yet for all that, both countries seem to be going down the tubes equally fast.
My impression is that there’s a seriousness to French politics and how is covered in the media which is really lacking in the UK (I don’t have the insight to differentiate between England and the UK in this context).
Coverage in the UK feels more like celebrity Bake Off then politics, all about who’s top of the polls, whose policy has a soggy bottom but very little real analysis of what the policies actually are. Even the once-esteemed Newsnight is a shadow of it’s formal self and the broadsheets have become tabloids with the tabloids becoming comics, arguably with a sinister agenda for both.
When did you last see a serious political interview on the evening news in the UK? Whereas last night Bayrou was grilled on TF1, with Bardella on the previous night.
Now in the UK, it appears to be wall to wall Farage without him actually being asked any serious questions.
I get the impression that French ministers and other politicians answer journalists’ questions more directly than their UK counterparts and don’t try to play games as much.
A bit unfair. BBC doesn’t interview on its news programmes but does elsewhere. “Today” has interviews with ministers. However, it’s true that at the moment it’s just “flagshagging” and Farage. Whether that makes us less discriminating is a moot point.
This is so true! Whenever we have locals round for a cup of tea or lunch, my wife begs me to to try and avoid politics discussions. Of course I sympathise with her, but point out it’s nearly impossible, as the subject is invariably brought up by our French guests.
Occasionally those guests might ask politely about UK politics. You can see their brows furrowing in puzzlement if you describe (for example) the Monster Raving Loony Party or equivalents. The concept of a fundamentally ‘unserious’ party is hard to comprehend (possibly not just for the French!). Setting aside his politics, a number of guests found Boris also fundamentally unserious as a politician. They explained to me there is no equivalent (and never has been) of the ‘play-at-being-a-buffoon’ type in French politics, which is a very serious affair .
Except here, near Rouen, where the subject appears to be a virtual standing item on the conversational agenda! The English are (fortunately) exonerated in the eyes of some local historians, as they genuinely believe that Joan wasn’t burnt, due to her royal connections, and was subsequently parked in a nearby nunnery for the rest of her years.
Is it a function of the education system? We went to the village square the morning after the Charlie Hebdo atrocity and were astonished (but impressed) when the 5 and 6 year olds arrived proudly displaying their hand made "Je suis Charlie” posters. Can’t imagine that happening in a British primary school.
