Originally Posted by Andrew Constantine

I am one of these Englishmen who naturally hate the French, but cannot help admiring their ruthless pursuit of national self interest.

I have long felt that we English should take a leaf out of their book.

Just consider some recent events where the moral and financial bankrupcy of the British state is clearly shown, then compare with the French position:

- The UK invented civil atomic power in the 1950s - EDF will be paid to build our next generation of nuclear power stations.

Originally Posted by Andrew Constantine

- We still have thousands of our brave servicemen in Iraq - the French army stayed out of the war.

Originally Posted by Andrew Constantine

- A number of British banks have gone down - the French national banks seem in good shape.

Originally Posted by Andrew Constantine

- There is no UK owned domestic mass car maker - consider Peugeot and Citroen.

Originally Posted by Andrew Constantine

England needs a moral, financial and economic revival - and we will not even start to make progress while ruled by the failed and incompetant British political elite.

Originally Posted by Purging The Liberal

Why do the failed British elites sneer at France?

"I am one of these Englishmen who naturally hate the French..."

Remind me, who is sneering at the French?

Originally Posted by European Citizen

EDF will be paid, or EDF is paying for? I'm quite happy for EDF to provide energy in the UK, especially since they claim they can do it cheaper and are the leading experts in nuclear energy.



A purely political decision, nothing to do with "the state" as a whole.



Northern Rock isn't exactly big, neither is B&B. All the big British banks seem to be fine.

French national banks seem in good shape? Is this so easily forgotten?



Again, does it matter if it's British owned or not? Plenty of British car brands around, foreign-owned or otherwise. I really don't believe state-owned industries is the way to go.



And what, you want the State to step in and do something about it? Britain is already a world leader, I believe 34 of the world's top 500 companies are based here. London is the financial centre of the world. We have plenty of successful large corporations and internationally recognised brands, such as HSBC, Tesco, Jaguar etc.

Originally Posted by Gregory Lauder-Frost

"Why do the British sneer at France". Lets see: they had 100 years of war against England, they have the lowest use of soap per head of population in Western Europe, they provoked the Germans into two massive world wars and dragged us in by doing so, they were behind the establishment of the EU, they are rude and arrogant, they produced the French Revolution and murdered their King as well as tens of thousands of other politically incorrect folk, they gave Europe Napoleon who decimated it with a million dead?

I'm afraid the list is endless.