To ask at which point we will ‘do a France?’

[Narwhalelife]

With EVERYTHING that is going on in the UK (and the world) rising energy, food, housing, fuel costs, incompetent, lying, sesspits of governments, underfunded health care, crap education and social care.

The idea that people should be ‘cutting back’ on things from days out with their children and their car to actually buying less food.

My FIL(62) died suddenly last week and I thought afterwards we only get one life here when are we going to ‘do a France’ and tell everyone in power to shove it all up their arse!

*disclaimer - my work have also recently told us that we will be expected to do double our workload for no extra money due to funding cuts but increase in demand (I work in mental health), so I just about feel ready to riot (as long as it’s close by so I don’t have to shell out for extra diesel) 🙈

France derives over 75% of energy from nuclear power, perhaps a reason that their energy cost hasn't changed so much.

France has been an amazingly place to bring up kids and for quality of life. It's not a bed of roses and the taxes are high. But a lot of it's set up to allow people to work.

The school day, and pre and after school drop off mean people can work proper jobs. Childcare is very cheap and very good. Highly regulated too with very low ratios of adults to kids.

Maternity leave is 13 weeks pp and almost no one takes more.

Electricity is nuclear so low carbon and relatively cheap. According to a comparison site it's 0.17€ /kWh and the fixed costs are between 100-150€ a year.

@Walkaround That's actually a very good point Brexit was a very effective protest movement.

At this rate everyone will need to be on benefits because employers are really taking the piss right now.

As a non-Brit looking in, there seems to be some perception that a stiff upper lip is some kind of upper-class quality that the middle/working classes try to emulate.

The truth is, there is no stiff upper lip in the wealthy classes when it comes to money. They don’t take to the streets but they lobby and “donate” and threaten to withdraw that if they don’t get their way. It’s a form of protest but it’s not on the street and it’s not very visible, so non-elites don’t see the power of protest.

To answer the OPs question, we won't be like France. This is Britain, people will tut, post messages on social media, moan to friends etc. Young people are even more disengaged in politics than in France.

@HeyBlaby this might be the reason, utilities are capped 10x lower than the uk

www.connexionfrance.com/article/French-news/French-energy-bill-cap-will-not-cause-2023-price-rise-says-minister

So far, the bouclier tarifaire is estimated to have cost the state approximately €8billion to cap electricity prices and €6.5billion for gas.

Where are you getting this from? It really isn’t.

The stereotypes that some people have about us are really strange, whether it be around food, clothing, sex or politics.

Is there some old TV program that people get it all from?

My husband is French. We used to live in France. I saw it firsthand, not just among people I knew but on TV, the radio, etc. When I did my immigration integration class, it was in our readings, that French people are very vocal when they are not happy with the government, and yes we saw that directly with the gilets jaunes. My husband agrees with me, it actually annoys him that French people complain so much when they actually have one of the best qualities of life in the world.

So if you are seriously saying that only British people talk about how bad their country is, that French people do not do this, I literally have no idea how you can say this, unless you are living in some very posh Parisian bubble (which of course a lot of people do).

I take issue with your statement because I think it is perfectly legitimate that British people are talking about how bad things are here right now and this should not be dismissed as something only British people do, that's just not true.

It’s happening
we are home educating, growing food, sharing, and taking care of ourselves , making our own medical decisions

they don’t like it

i don’t think anything will happen en masse , only in small communities and grow outwards …. As long as they don’t implement laws preventing our freedom quicker than we’re become more independent from government