France - General strike?

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This talk of wine, wife was away so I thought try one of these Marks and Sparks meal for two for a tenner. Bottle of red wine included and a sweet for a tenner!! The food was alright but the red wine, wasn't. expecting very much at all and for a tenner for the whole sheebang who could. Opened the wine and took a sniff, I swear to the good Lord it must have burnt the hairs from out of my nose. Holy Mother. it should carry a health warning

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Jockman said:

crankedup said:

Ah yes Chateau Cabrieres Prestige, I recall that peppery red berried vanilla, smoke and herbal characteristics. Blending beautifully with the full bodied, soft, round, black raspberry and cherry filled personality. Truly wonderful and at £40 or so a bottle, sensational.

I take your point completely, although I was meaning the mass market end at £6 -- £15 a bottle, again the Aussies have since lost their way somewhat.

To be clear, I lifted the info' tasting notes from the aforementioned wine, never tried it myself . But severely now tempted.

Hell, it's Friday, you've had a hard week winding everyone up, HIGNFY is on tonight (hosted by Katherine Ryan), so is Gogglebox......go for it !!

Yup, and my wife is away again, won't be paying a visit to M&S though.

[Murph7355]

FredClogs said:

Here's the world productivity rankings by country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by...

You'll see that in 2013 (latest figure maybe?) France was almost 20% more productive than the UK, that's GDP per hour worked.

I think they'd be quite right to suppose there isn't much wrong with their employment laws etc... Maybe we should be doing more of what they're doing?

And yet they're doing roughly 20% worse than us on GDP per capita, 18% worse on overall GDP and our overall rate of GDP growth is more than twice theirs. (Using the same sources as yours).

Maybe they ought to be working a few more hours and hopefully their productivity rate can be maintained at the same time

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Murph7355 said:

FredClogs said:

Here's the world productivity rankings by country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by...

You'll see that in 2013 (latest figure maybe?) France was almost 20% more productive than the UK, that's GDP per hour worked.

I think they'd be quite right to suppose there isn't much wrong with their employment laws etc... Maybe we should be doing more of what they're doing?

And yet they're doing roughly 20% worse than us on GDP per capita, 18% worse on overall GDP and our overall rate of GDP growth is more than twice theirs. (Using the same sources as yours).

Maybe they ought to be working a few more hours and hopefully their productivity rate can be maintained at the same time

Yup, this is the answer, join the European rat race, the only way is work harder, longer and for less pay. Fat cat bosses are laughing though.

[Murph7355]

crankedup said:

Yup, this is the answer, join the European rat race, the only way is work harder, longer and for less pay. Fat cat bosses are laughing though.

It's a global rat race.

One can always opt out on an individual basis. Just don't bleat and moan that others then have more than you do (e.g. "fat cat bosses")

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Murph7355 said:

crankedup said:

Yup, this is the answer, join the European rat race, the only way is work harder, longer and for less pay. Fat cat bosses are laughing though.

It's a global rat race.

One can always opt out on an individual basis. Just don't bleat and moan that others then have more than you do (e.g. "fat cat bosses")

Strong argument, not. What I write is the truth, your assertion that I, on a personal level, am bleating simply shows how shallow and weak minded you are in evaluating the current situation. TBH I have no financial worries aside my Grandson and his future.
I am very hopeful that we, the U.K. will opt out. Now go away and come up with comments that are substantive and have at least some element of intelligence.

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What, like your comment?

[Murph7355]

crankedup said:

Strong argument, not. What I write is the truth, your assertion that I, on a personal level, am bleating simply shows how shallow and weak minded you are in evaluating the current situation. TBH I have no financial worries aside my Grandson and his future.
I am very hopeful that we, the U.K. will opt out. Now go away and come up with comments that are substantive and have at least some element of intelligence.

If I'd meant you personally, I'd have said "you"

The original reply you picked up on was in response to a notion that the French employment laws might be in some way superior to those of others because their productivity per hour is better than hours. I was suggesting that perhaps that metric isn't necessarily the best one in determining a nation's well being or even that its employment laws are helpful.

The rat race you cite is one you have benefitted from (it seems). It's no use telling everyone else it's not the right way now that you can sit on your arse in your "I'm all right jack" chair. I suspect your grandkids won't be able to ignore the rat race if they are also to prosper - kids in this country are likely to have to work much harder for similar rewards and comforts owing to prior generations having utterly unrealistic expectations.

Care to add some more of your intelligence to that debate? Or would you just like to get pissy all over again? I mean, I didn't even suggest Bury St Edmunds was a st hole and you get all uppity - have you been suffering from gout lately? Not getting enough sleep?

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Murph7355 said:

crankedup said:

Strong argument, not. What I write is the truth, your assertion that I, on a personal level, am bleating simply shows how shallow and weak minded you are in evaluating the current situation. TBH I have no financial worries aside my Grandson and his future.
I am very hopeful that we, the U.K. will opt out. Now go away and come up with comments that are substantive and have at least some element of intelligence.

If I'd meant you personally, I'd have said "you"

The original reply you picked up on was in response to a notion that the French employment laws might be in some way superior to those of others because their productivity per hour is better than hours. I was suggesting that perhaps that metric isn't necessarily the best one in determining a nation's well being or even that its employment laws are helpful.

The rat race you cite is one you have benefitted from (it seems). It's no use telling everyone else it's not the right way now that you can sit on your arse in your "I'm all right jack" chair. I suspect your grandkids won't be able to ignore the rat race if they are also to prosper - kids in this country are likely to have to work much harder for similar rewards and comforts owing to prior generations having utterly unrealistic expectations.

Care to add some more of your intelligence to that debate? Or would you just like to get pissy all over again? I mean, I didn't even suggest Bury St Edmunds was a st hole and you get all uppity - have you been suffering from gout lately? Not getting enough sleep?

Good to know you follow me.
I am now entitled to sit on my arse, as you put it. Did I suggest the French employment laws are superior to the U,K. Nope that what you have conjured up in your mind.
I'm all right jack, your accusation ignores severe hardship and long hours put in to survive and finally prosper. That is what PH is isn't it!
Was I a rat in the rat race? we all are / were, except those at the very top, to which I referred. These fortunate few prosper on the backs of the rats.
I have advocated for years that working people can have a strength in Unions, but this has met with derision.Your choice.

In 1972 When I got married we used old jam jars to save each monthly payment for mortgage, electric, gas, we didn't call them utilities back then, we had,about three Bob left over and trying to start a business. Don't assume that I have had an easy life, I was also a rat along with my new wife. How lucky we were

I am disappointed at your lack of substantive comment and your apparent disapproval of past success from a retired businessman.

[Pan Pan Pan]

This strike and its effect on UK motorists hoping to go to France this week on holiday, reminded me why was pleased I drive Passat Bluemotions.
At work I was required to drive for thousands of miles on the continent, much of it in France, and sometimes at times when (personally) I would have preferred not to.
Getting fuel was sometimes a problem, often requiring journeys off the autoroutes just to find an open fuel station within range. The Passat allows me to do forays up to 400 450 miles into Europe, and back on one tank of fuel. During the holiday periods (and now with fuel stations either empty, or those who still have fuel, rammed with drivers trying to fill up where they can) many of the Autoroute filling stations are somewhat unreliable, and the ability to sail past all of them without the need to stop and wait ages to fill up, was always a satisfying reason for having the Passat as my `purely transport' car.