Does anyone else rather admire the French?

[squashyhat]

They're not taking the proposed pension changes lying down are they? France riots

I don't think setting things on fire is something to be admired tbh.

I'm not sure. Yes they protest a lot, but there will be a lot of damage to the economy. Blocking roads just hurts other motorists and all the shouting and rioting probably won't make much difference in the end.

They do have the history behind them though. There's always the revolution to look back on, when real changes were made. I'm just not sure that an extra two years into the pensionable age is worth all this hassle and mayhem.

Oh yeah, I think riots are always something to be applauded. 🙄 Although, I will say to be fair, all the practice they have has made the French good at it.

Yanbu

In the UK we persistently get mugged off. By the government because we don't stand up for ourselves.

Not really. I see no reason why people should expect a funded retirement at such a young age

No I do not admire them one jot. Wrecking small businesses by setting light to everything, putting off tourists, how is that admirable on any level?! How do you think or they think, that pensions will be paid if people don't keep working? We live for far longer now, most countries cannot afford for people to be retired for decades

Who is going to pay for it all??

Not at all. I don’t admire anyone that finds it ok to go around setting fire to things.

Oh yeah. Setting fire to things, daubing graffiti over everything...at least the pictures show what a shithole Paris has become, so they're ruining the tourist industry as well. Great example to follow.

No, no admiration for people who think retirement should be both early and free. Money don't grow on trees people; burning stuff, striking and rioting doesn't change that.

No burning things down and rioting isn’t my thing

I do. I wish we were more like them and then this lying, cheating and immoral government might not be in power.

No , no Govt can afford for people to retire at that age . Now that the average age is higher pension age obviously should rise .

And now even less likely to be able to afford it with all the damage that's being done that will have to be repaired.

No one right minded can agree with the riots and damage.

I do admire their stand up and be counted approach. At least you can't accuse them of apathy.

No they're arrogant and they stamp their feet if they don't get their own way.

Causing damage to property is not very admirable.

No. Rioting and burning police cars!

I wish we'd stood up for ourselves rather than lamely allow the Government to keep us working for years longer to get the same pension.

(Meanwhile we also meekly stand by whilst the Government increases the pension allowances for their rich acquaintances.). The French would never have allowed that to happen unchallenged.

I'm by no means a 'rich acquaintance' and I'm relieved that the allowances have been increased, because it means for the next few years before I finally retire I can put as much as I can into my pension.

@squashyhat Go back to 1990, another time when French folks weren't getting their own way. That's when they burned trucks containing hundreds of live sheep. That's without mentioning the ones they poisoned, and the others who had their throats slit.
Did I mention the cattle, or the thousands of fish dumped on the roads?
Admire? No.

In general I do think it's a good thing that the French government can't screw over the population too much because they know people will start burning things down.

My DH is French and he cannot believe how much the Tories get away with, because there is not the same protest culture here. E.g. when energy bills were allowed to skyrocket last year.

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain What a wonderful position you are in to be grateful you can now save more than £1 million into your pension pot.

Most of the population will also be saving as much as they can towards retirement but have not benefitted in any way from the budget allowance the Tories have given to only the wealthiest.

We are so apathetic as a nation we strike but its not coordinated so it has little impact the recent school strikes didn't bother me at all apart from one day when my sen ds was off the reason the UK gets shat on is because we allow it the reason why its hard to govern the French is because they DONT

There is a huge tradition of protest in France, I agree with their right to protest but don't agree with damage to property or people.

It is not our country, let them at it. A big concern heading into the Summer will be the possibility of Air Traffic Control strikes if things are not resolved. I know it's not vital but it will affect many travel plans if it happens.

Sometimes I think they are right and yes I do. On this I don’t. I also don’t support the violence and destruction and deliberate blockading to stop things operating.