France and Greece Election results!

[LadyWithEDS]

So, what do you think it means for Europe?

& you implied various people on the thread were sociopaths...so you can dish it out...so you can take it.

I can't take what? I have found this thread very interesting.

I expect they would, Lady.

I have been donating staples like packets of rice and lentils (everyone seems to eat lentils a lot here!) and cartons of UHT milk. One of the other mums (who is involved with the organising details) told me toothpaste and soap are also a good idea. Apparently people have been neglecting their children's teeth in order to buy bread.

you judged people you dont know then didnt like it when you were judged.

just wondering, what do you do to help Greece?

I didn't dislike being judged, I challenged your judgement of me, I don't get upset by MN comments, if I do then I ask myself why.

not the hoisting of a swastika over the Greek Parliament.

Many Athenians remember/ had family members who starved under German occupation. The current situation must remind many older people of those times. Hunger, depravation, etc.

Modern Greece is a young democracy/parliament. Context is all sometimes.

good good... i am still wonder about you & greece though...

Why do you need to know?

i dont need to know and this is getting rather tedious. so back to the OP....

I campaign vigorously against Tory austerity, anti-State, Eton loving, Bullingdon gits - get rid like France - that will help Greece, Spain, Ireland, us

Austerity is strangling any chance of growth and to think that Greek people are neglecting their children's teeth to buy bread or even abandoning to the state is a disaster. I'm with OP, if this was a natural disaster every nation would be stepping in to help.

regardless of your politics, and how you see debt, the relationship of wealth creators to the rest of a country, the responsibility of a democratic nation state to its citizens, i find it hard to comprehend the kind of mind that not only sees starvation as something people 'deserve', but positively delights in it, even where some of the sufferers are children

what a terribly fascinating worldview some posters have that they should delight so in human misery.

"We are under the thumb of bankers because we overspent in the good times."

who are the we you mean, wasabi? Because you will find the UK did not overspend. It was the toxic debt pot that the City had its fingers deep in that caused the crisis. For that the banks involved should have burned, and the banks that were clean should have risen. The best option now is [still] to default. Surely if you work in the City you'll know that is the consensus.

I have no preference one way for any bank, only a faster end to this manufactured extended market restructure.

hear, hear, chibi

If only you could be harder on business and more forgiving about people, wasabi. Behaving the other way round makes for failure in both.

Some people also seem to point their fingers at individuals and say that some lived the high life on debt. Shame really because they themselves have probably profited from rising property prices over the same period. Yes individuals took on debt but many have done so because wages have been in decline for the past 30 years, whilst the cost of living has risen.

The state whether a democracy or not should not need to have a responsibility for solve all it's citizens choices. The state should take care of those big issues that require a overall view eg. Defence/law and order/infrastructure/basic even secondary education and that is about it really. The citizens should take responsibility for their own actions.

Newsround has just said Hollande will be hiring 60,000 more teachers and increasing the minimum wage. Anyone seen the underlapping assumptions and costing for this?

Also, in the other European election, Putin has won (as expected),

"underlapping" ?!? underlying

Novack, if you were in a car crash tomorrow, and you lost your legs, you had just third party insurance and the other driver was uninsured, how long do you think your personal savings/investments etc would last? Would your family and friends help you out for the rest of your life?

Wow Edith and do you think that will be 60,000 jobs for all europeans as I know there are many qualified young Spanish who have passed their oposiciones and British grads who could take up maybe 40,000 of those post.

third hill - i am business. i just hired someone new this week. thats one more well paid job, in the middle of a recession. whats not to like?

NovackNGood: not sure what you're getting at, but to teach in state schools in France, you have to have passed the appropriate French teaching examinations, which are constitute, not qualifying. I would be very much surprised if there were many candidates who were not resident in France (though they need not be French).

My savings are fine thankyou Lady as I took responsibility at 18 for my finances and personal pension planning.

I also ensure my car insurance covers me comprehensively in case of accident as I also do for skiing and other activities I choose to take part in.

Those who choose otherwise do so at their own risk. as do people who wave their hands outside of the rollercoaster.

The state should offer nothing more than a safety net. Note a safety net is their to catch those who fall and are in imminent danger. The safety net is not there to carry them back to where they came from it is there to arrest the fall and they are to get off and ease themselves to the ground. People who sit on the safety net will quickly fill it up and leave little room for others dropping if they choose to stay there. People are free to climb back up but should take more care more personal responsibility or may end up back in the safety net. The safety net is not to be certified as a trampoline.

Edith the point is that France is taking EU bailout cash but will restrict access to it's employment market against EU rules by specifying French qualifications without accepting EU equivalents.