Interesting article on the BBC web today about the British populations in French villages, their integration, the costs associated with French business and the rise of the National Front.
How many of you have asked and found out what your local neighbours and friends really think about the National Front? I have and it has been an eye opener. Even my best friend here in France is considering voting FN next time round.
No.
that one's easy - you answer the question you wanted to be asked and not the one you actually were asked.
"Clear legal English" is clear enough to anyone in the trade just like plumbing jargon or medical terminology or whatever
The one kind of language I would give anything to be able to decipher in french or english is the political speak, it never ceases to amaze me how many politicians can somehow manage to completely avoid answering a question. Whenever Mrs T opened with the words "well you know...." I knew a meaningless diatribe would follow.
A fascinating interview with Brice Hortefeux on Radio Info the other day saw him successfully negotiate awkward quesions about his best mate Sarko. It was a real masterclass in waffle. Chapeau monsieur !
that's not how it is. simply wrong.
Very belatedly returning to the original question, I have since been talking to family and neighbours as Nick suggested.
From the family side there was very definitely the view that the vote for the FN was usually to put the frighteners on the politicians IN THE FIRST ROUND. Remember the situation with Chirac v. Le Pen? When the second round arrived Chirac then romped home even though most weren't impressed with his record either.
Note how all the other parties garnered some points and rapidly incorporated them under different names, into their own manifestos as a protection at the polls. The fact they never intend or intended to implement most or even any of them is par for the course for politicians isn't it?
Keith, actually I was referring to the conversation (thread) flow, and more to my own recognition state - as in 'being half etc.....'
I must admit that I like a thread to ebb and flow a bit. But maybe that reflects my butterfly mind?
Jane, forgive me but 'clear legal English' or any 'legal' anything in my book by definition is never meant to be clear. At best it tries to cover an often contradictory multiplicity of subjects/points to protect the main instigator of the document.
If they WERE clear, then lawyers would be out of business and the Courts might find more to address things like crime, and not contracts.
Hang on, I'm going to try this thing :-)
I raised this very point with a 90year old neighbour this evening. Her words, we want people to come to our village and embrace what we have and contribute when they can. We don’t want holiday homes that stay locked up for 42 weeks of the year.
We moved to France from the South Devon area. Nice place to live if your retired on oodles of pension. But the locals have for a long time been on the receiving end of low wages and some of the highest property prices in the UK. No hope for local kids to buy property and the rental market is virtually non existent. We saw many second home owners from the affluent South East and the Holiday home buyers move into pretty little fishing or moorland villages. All at the expense of having the shops close down from lack of trade in the winter and the villages are empty most of the year.
Then when someone comes along and tells the youngsters that they can fix the problem if they vote for them..........it's a no brainer ! Bit of a shame that the main stream parties don't make similar promises.
God forbid ! (edited for accuracy)
I haven't seen any mockery on here - who are you talking about? It certainly wouldn't be kind to do that, now would it?
So why do you mock a member who does not respect the rules of english grammar or spelling (according to you ) ?
Think the poor boy has been run off his feet at work recently. As I should be on mine: the "lawn" (yes, I use the phrase loosely) needs cutting and I'm sitting here playing about. Ho hum.
Great video that James has just posted about the history of the internet. Hysterical.
Brilliant - David Cameron locked himself in a bunker because the budgie video wouldn't play and farmers stopped producing once high speed broadband hit rural areas. Hmmm, I think I might be losing a lot of my life too but then one must work, must one not...
I am totally with you boys. A great discussion about what points of view may have been offered over the fence by the neighbours appears to be degenerating into a bicker-fest about language use and an all too frequently mentioned blog post. Can we either get it back on track or just call it a day?
Come on Nick, me old mucker, we need a joke.
Brian - after dinner and half-pissed? It all seems vaguely familiar to me.
"Considered bad English" by some but not all. There's a comma after "English" because I am marking the break between one clause and another, in this case joined by the conjunction "and". "Anything goes" is in quotation marks because, er, it is a quotation, i.e. someone else's words and not mine. But hey, no worries. See what I did there? Used three kinds of English (British, US and Australian) in one very short sentence that started with "but" and you understood it!
and so was holidays...!