I am fascinated by the letters (Mailbag issue 116 & 117) from your readers Dave Collar and Dr Sheila Rossan stating that the French get what they want because they protest until their politicians give it to them. It’s obvious that the French refuse to let their governments ride roughshod over them. They steadfastly cling on to their way of life, and that’s what Britons should be doing. Dr Rossan’s term “grassroots democracy” is spot on. In a democracy, the people are the boss, not the politicians. In dictatorships it’s the other way round.

And I’m not surprised by the recent survey that says that a fifth of Britons would rather have been born French. Not just live in France but actually be French. They’re right and I’m amongst them. In order to establish its “strong economy” Britain has exchanged the quality of life of the majority of the people for a higher quality of life for the very few. That’s democracy?

It’s no surprise that the survey showed that Brits seem to be more aware of French cultural and historic icons than their own. While 93% of British people could name the Eiffel Tower, only 83% could identify Blackpool’s equivalent. And more people could name Paris’ Arc de Triomphe (69%) than London’s Marble Arch (40%).

What’s the use of having “Europe’s strongest economy” and supposedly being the world’s 4th richest country if the everyday Briton has to live with rotting rubbish for a week or more because the so-called “strong economy” can’t even pay for something as simple and hygienically vital as regular collection? Where’s that economic strength when our third-world health care system is too under financed to properly fund the NHS so that many Britons resort to seeking health care abroad – often in France or Germany? What hope is there for British industry when our work week is so long and tiring that productivity levels are well below the French? What does this strong economy mean for our brightest young people when higher education is only available to the well-off and to those who are willing to put themselves into years of crippling student debt? What’s the point of being economically strong when so many of our older citizens have such miserly pensions that they have no other choice but to work until the day they die? Just look at the age of people working in British shops and supermarkets. Wouldn’t Britons be much better off if so many of them weren’t forced into menial labour in their old age? It’s easy to see that the advantages of our so-called “strong economy” haven’t trickled down to the man in the street. Some prosperity!

The knock-on effects of all this is that British personal bankruptcy and property repossession is the highest in Europe, yobbery and street crime is at shameful levels and Britain boasts the highest crime rates in the EU.
Most Britons would be much better off of they had more of the things that the French think makes life worthwhile – time with family, extended holidays, more days off work, long lunches – and fewer of the things that make our British economy “strong”. It might well be strong for a few fat cats but the average Brit doesn’t see much evidence of that economic strength in his everyday life.

Even where Britain comes out on top there are caveats. We are supposed to have less unemployment than France (around 10% in France and 5% in Britain). Yet no one looks at the employment levels which are almost identical (74% of people of working age). The only way to reconcile similar employment figures and very different unemployment figures is that the two countries don’t count their unemployed and employed according to the same criterion.

Britain might be rich but a greater proportion of its people live poorly. France might be poorer but people’s lives are richer in almost every way. There are signs that don’t lie: the “poor” French live, on the average, 4 years longer than the British and their health care system assures that their later years are of a higher quality. Your chances of surviving a serious illness like cancer, stroke or heart attack are statistically much greater in France.

You’d think that British economic strength could finance a decent education for all our children. Not so. One in five British children cannot find the UK on a map of the world according to a new report by National Geographic Kids magazine. The study also claims that one in 10 children cannot name a single continent. Less than two-thirds of children (60%) were able to locate the US, and despite dominating news headlines in recent years, 86% failed to identify Iraq.

I spent 18 years in France until my husband passed away. I then went back to the UK to be closer to my extended family but only managed 18 months there until I realised that the British social and economic system was vastly inferior to the French one for the average person. No wonder so many Britons want to escape! We’re told that 1000 people a day leave England. And we’re also told that 1500 enter, mostly from developing nations and the former Eastern block. We Britons have surrendered our way of life to foreigners. We’ve embraced crime, our streets are littered with rubbish, and nobody gives a damn. I was  born into a British Britain, but sadly that place no longer exists. At least I am one of the lucky ones to have had a French base to go back to.

Be grateful you’re living here and not there. I know I am.  

Paula West

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