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French unrest.

5K views 56 replies 14 participants last post by  Devonboy 
#1 ·
Just a thought. Most of the French protestors marching and blockading Paris and major cities in France are young. In fact very young and the impending pension change from age 62 to 64 won't affect them for another 40 years.
In the meantime so much can change and probably will happen that pensions and other life matters will bear no resemblance to todays problems.

Ray.
 
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#3 ·
So far Bill we have not seen any blockades or fuel shortages in La Manche or Dept.50. But they do seem to be concentrating on the larger cities.

Ray.
 
#4 ·
Just a thought. Most of the French protestors marching and blockading Paris and major cities in France are young. In fact very young and the impending pension change from age 62 to 64 won't affect them for another 40 years.
In the meantime so much can change and probably will happen that pensions and other life matters will bear no resemblance to todays problems.

Ray.
True, but you have to start somewhere.
No doubt they know what the pension age is for the UK and don't want any of that!
Look also at the Dutch farmers and what they've achieved, brilliant.
I, for one, admire them.
 
#5 ·
Sadly the French don't realise someone has to pay for these favourable pensions and it doesn't seem to dawn thats it will be them.
Like their Health Service which is brilliant but costing big bucks and in debt. But there is so much waste and abuse that could be halved at a stroke.

Ray.
 
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#6 ·
"Everything in life must be paid for" was a favourite saying of an old Governor of mine.
It depends on who is doing the paying and when. The UK pension fund used to be, I understand, pretty much self finding until it was robbed.
Simplistically, either pay more, pay for longer or get someone else to pay are the options. The last one is a non starter, they don't want the second so that only leaves the first.
Of course, if there's a problem with the birth rate then that's another matter, but in principle nobody should have to work until they drop.
 
#7 ·
But stating the obvious we are all living longer so consuming more of the pension cash as well as receiving more and more medical treatment.

Ray.
 
#26 ·
But stating the obvious we are all living longer so consuming more of the pension cash as well as receiving more and more medical treatment.
Ray.
Is that still true? I read that the Government were rethinking raising the retirement age so soon after it was reported that Life expectancy in England and Wales has stalled, and in some cases reversed with similar trends in Europe. Why is life expectancy in England and Wales ‘stalling’? | Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health
 
#8 ·
Good on the French for not just doing the British thing and accepting what's been told as has to happen.
We saw our pension age slipping further and further away during our working lives.
Beyond the age either of my parents lived to.
So we used the house equity to retire early.
In the UK we've had over a decade of being told a small state low tax society is what we need and should vote for. And look where it's led to.
Economic growth hasn't happened. Services have been sold off and lost. We failed to prepare for the warned about pandemic to save money and that cost so many lives.
We discouraged new families from having more than 2 children by limiting child benefit. That automatically causes a decline in population as not all 2 of those children will survive to become tax payers.
And to top it all we are making laws in the UK to prohibit protesting about eroded rights.
 
#9 ·
Agreed Pat.

I took voluntary redundancy to retire early after not having had a pay rise for two years. I wouldn't get another until I retired 6 years from then, unless I signed new T&C's agreeing to work an extra 5 years. I could see the writing on the wall and that 5 years has now become 7 alongside a longer wait for the OAP.
Going early cost me 24% of my pension. That might not be right, or possible, for everyone but it's given me 9 years in Spain. Not "living the dream" and far from high on the hog, but with care we've kept our heads above water.
Anyone who is prepared protest about things that will affect them directly is to be applauded. Any worthwhile change comes at a cost.
 
#10 ·
Perversely I do admire the French. They love a good demonstration and as said, don't just take things thrown at them without standing up for themselves.
 
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#11 ·
Agreed G. But as most strikes it hits the wrong people. I wouldn't warm to the strikers if it caused me to suffer health or mobility issues.
The only strike I was involved in was to Save the TSR2. Didn't do any good at all except lose those threatened with redundancy more wages.

Ray.
 
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#12 ·
The young seem much more politically engaged in France. It was students and young people coming out onto the streets of Paris in support of the Unions in 1968. That led to almost 2 months of nationwide protests, strickes, sit-ins and riots that completely shut down the county and led to serious fears of anarchy and revolution.

We subsequently learned that President De Gaulle had even fled to the safety of West Germany for a week or two

Difficult to believe today.
 
#14 ·
It's bluddy rentamob to vandalise.
Daft buggers being led by radicals.

Ray.
 
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#16 ·
Rentamob.......gosh I haven't heard that expression since the 70s.
The thing I ask you and your brigade to consider Ray is that change does not come about without protest and struggle.From the Chartists to Suffragettes to Black Civil rights.............other examples are available
The ruling classes don't give up anything without a struggle.............they just criticise and discredit those who protest and sit back and pour another glass.
 
#19 ·
You must surely have seen the references to the elf and safety brigade and the PC gone mad brigade.They created the insult and I returned the favour.
I don't like it but I say once again................ they won't give up anything without a fight.
 
#18 ·
The term 'rentamob' has been used frequently when quiet protest gets violent. And I can't think of any justifiable cause to set fire to town halls and high streets.
In fact I was slightly against the strikers on the pension topic but now I am very much against the whole rabble and their cause.

Ray.
 
#20 ·
Thank you G. You missed my question, but perhaps it wasn't clear enough.

What I wanted you to reflect on was why you are characterising Ray in that way? Not what other people do or have done or what I have read or seen elsewhere.
 
#22 ·
It's Peter not G by the way and I think your question is clear. I reflected on what I was about to post and decided to go ahead.
I am charactising Ray in that way because I think that in this and other recent posts he has shown similar views to those who think that there is an elf and safety and PC gone mad brigade threatening their very way of life.
Backward looking dinosaurs prefering that black and white world we all used to live in
No shades of grey and certainly no colour
@raynipper seems a decent bloke (like most of us) and I am happy to be proved wrong, but that is what I am seeing at the moment.
 
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#21 ·
There is an anarchist element to the French antiestablishment protests that we don't see ine the UK don't you think Peter. Long time since I've seen a black flag flying on a march here.
 
#23 ·
Just seen an ironic comment on Twitter.

"Lineker will no longer be lying when he tweets that dinghy migrants are fleeing a war-torn country."

Ray.
 
#27 ·
Just another day at the office.......................................



Ray.
 
#29 ·
Unfortunately it works every time. They will never give up anything without a fight.
It has happened throughout colonial history.Well perhaps we gave up India without bloodshed......well not ours anyway. Look at the development of civil rights in Northern Ireland, American South or South Africa.
Given generously by the ruling classes because it was the right thing to do..................err don't think so.
And I said unfortunately that's the case.
 
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