What’s not true?
sorry folks… I’m switching channels… getting a headache…
à demain !!! 
4 Likes
Yes how very dare you!!! #leagueofgentlemen 
5 Likes
Arrêter de creuser IMHO 
2 Likes
I think you’re right…
1 Like
Of course not !!! Heaven forbid. Just strange
Many SFers are retirees who are also French residents and thus are in a strange economic position between two worlds, and there is also a spectrum of positions vis à vis their relationship with the UK, and therefore by implication France. Neither my wife nor myself envisage visiting the UK again, but we have many local friends who regularly return there to visit family.
By contrast, if, as with many retirees, one’s income is primarily or wholly UK sourced, what goes on there politically remains pretty important. However, to some extent this also distances one from the immediate everyday economic concerns of many French people. I follow French politics but not all of ii affects me, whilst despite being a tax payer, I can’t express my opinions through the ballot box even for my commune. Surprisingly even post-Brexit, EU citizens appear to be able to vote in three categories of English elections.
7 Likes
I would really like to vote in all elections here, I live here and am liable to pay taxes here so I don’t know why I am excluded.
2 Likes
I think you do know and unfortunately, as with many aspects of French life, foreign tax paying residents are excluded. Not all rosy!
1 Like
What other aspects of French life do foreign tax- paying residents of France miss out on?
Worse than not being able to vote in a community and a country that i care about?
Could answer that I don’t know, 'cos these are ‘known unknowns’ but OTOH that’s maybe a tad paranoid
Not ‘worse’ but nevertheless present, maybe it would be less so if we lived in our commune’s main village…
PS. I have no interest in international rugby, while our neighbours have no interest in Mbappé and co.
Local threads for local people.
5 Likes
I really can’t figure out why anyone actually engages, it’s the apocryphal playing chess with a pigeon.
4 Likes
This seems an interesting topic though it doesn’t seem to have attracted too many lists of plus and minus points. Probably good to remind ourselves.
I can see why someone’s plus might be another’s minus for example being a republic which is the first of my pluses. I’ll try to avoid any comparisons within the UK though -only observing I might struggle to build a plus list for England. Beer excepted. And music. But obviously people can do that.
That said, the fact that France has been somewhat of a bulwark against the Anglo-American rush to pure capitalistic greed and possible global hegemony at the cost of human decency and dignity has to be admired in my opinion. Think disaster capitalism - happening at this very moment in Hawaii after the fire.
Some other ‘roses’ might be -
Geography - ever skied the Mer de Glace? Gorges du Verdon recently posted
Also possibly the way the DOM’s came to be - though there might be minus’s here…
Food, farmers and wine
Trains, and other transport and data infrastructure actually maintained
The country’s unwavering commitment to the EU project.
The Grand Projets - and architecture in general
Cinema
Art - plenty of galleries
The support for villages - every summer fete and band
Healthcare and social security (probably still a plus, if only relatively now rather an an absolute) - and effective public services
The progressive tax system
Not invading Iraq.
Minus’s
Probably Algeria is a big one
The whole approach to N Africa and the Sahel - not sure what’s going on but it seems some sort of failure
Treatment of jews e.g. Dumas, WW2
Which brings us to racism - so much more to do here, though perhaps a ‘plus’ is French people will vote for Macron who they dislike to keep Le Pen out. Is it the people, is it the institutions? Liberty yes, equality possibly, not much fraternity? But then support for asylum seekers…
The rainbow warrior - total state terror disaster
The patriarchy
Bureaucracy / Paperasse - though could be viewed as a trade off for the state materially caring for it’s citizens (a plus point) one legitimate power in the land, the state, existing for the good of all - like Duma’s three musketeers - Tous pour un, un pour tous, all for one and one for all, perhaps a useful motto for SF… 
4 Likes
Food
Wine
Employee rights and protection second to none
Minus : consumer abuse, consumer rights are there but somehow seem to be not taken into account by many large companies, this is something I have to work on understanding as I am sure French consumers have a reason for appearing to accept this as much as they seem to
I can see the point of this main courante - and the OP has to do as he sees fit - as it has been mentioned once or twice on threads as a suggestion.
But it makes me worry as it seems to be a Quisling thing - as I gather was encouraged by the German authorities prior to World War II and caused harm unjustly to a lot of people who weren’t necessarily guilty of what they’d been accused of. And I believe it’s been encouraged by other régimes eg China, Italy pre-war/during the war and may have done similar harm.
I wonder what everyman in France really thinks about this? Fine while times are good and reasonable political parties are in power, perhaps… It is not something I could see myself doing.
What’s it got to do with Norway?
Prior to WWII the German authorities had no say in France.
A main courante isn’t anonymous.
Just the concept of ratting on someone and that it could be done as a campaign by a person or a set of people for an impure reason.
Quisling has passed into English as that type of thing - not just Norway.
The issue in Germany being 3rd Reich and where that went - ie Germans being encouraged to rat on their fellow Germans.
Well yes but Quisling was a pro-nazi politician who colluded in the invasion of his country and was quite rightly deemed a traitor for supporting and implementing nazi rules, cf Pétain, whereas déposer une main courante isn’t anonymous and is the only way some vulnerable people can start to make a case against an abuser, or someone can get compensation for damage or a theft from their insurance.
Don’t confuse it with délation, which is malicious and disgusting.
3 Likes