[Malcolm Armsteen]

It's like the Farage love-bombs, all over again.

Zackly.
A point I made to Mrs A yesterday. See also some Sky News commentators. The search for good telly and an authoritarian bent...

[The Weeping Angel]

Those bloody centrists

[Tubby Isaacs]

Am I missing something or did Macron come top in the first round, before forcing this "terrible choice" on everyone?

Lots of Melenchon votes were trying to keep Le Pen out of the run off anyway. But of course, votes for the left endorse their brilliant programmes, as ever. As in 2017, where my vote against Theresa May was interpreted that way. In 2019, I thought, fuck it, I'll vote for Jo Swinson (in a safe seat, would have voted Labour if it weren't). At least Jo won't be in my ear about how I think she's brilliant for 5 years.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't at all like Macron's Islamophobia, though it's par for the course in France, sadly.

But this "rightwing" France stuff is bollocks. It has the highest tax "burden" in the world. Somebody on Facebook was comparing him to Mrs Thatcher. Absurd.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c ... _GDP_ratio

[mattomac]

My worry was on turnout but it hardly dropped from the two rounds.

[Oboogie]

My worry was on turnout but it hardly dropped from the two rounds.

But it was the lowest T/O for 50 years, that's an awful lot of people sitting on their hands.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

'They're all the same' is as powerful a message to the downright stupid in France as it is here.

[mattomac]

Quite, it’s not like there was a shortage of candidates, if you think of it in a similar basis to here we only really got Corbyn or Johnson

[Tubby Isaacs]

First round of French legislative elections. Disastrous unpopular Macron seems to be doing pretty well- predicted to have a small majority or be close to it in the second round. Melenchon's coalition are have a small vote lead on the first round. Zemmour didn't make the run off in his own seat, and I don't think any others from his party will.

[Spoonman]

Zemmour didn't make the run off in his own seat, and I don't think any others from his party will.

Thank fuck for that. Had he & his own party made any notable gains it would have been prominent on the front page of the BBC website as the headline regardless of the performance of anyone else, rather than a lower-secondary item on the main news page as it is.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Latest environment protection move in LBF:

On January 1, 2023, a new change will affect many French people. On site, fast food restaurants will have to serve their dishes in reusable containers.

This means that the cardboard packages for burgers, fries etc. will no longer be allowed, and food will have to be served on reusable plates and cups. Just like, y'know, a restaurant or something.

Everywhere, when eating on site, the dishes will have to be cleanable and reusable. The provision is scheduled to enter into force at the beginning of 2023, therefore. Restaurants with more than 20 seats are concerned. The only exception to the rule: the paper around the burgers, which is used to preserve the taste.

[mattomac]

What if you are taking away?

[Youngian]

The big fast food chains aren’t the worst offenders for packaging and have mainly moved from plastics to flimsy cardboard.

Speaking of France and net zero targets, Macron has offered environmental grants to convert electric cars and has now increased them fir the lowest earners. French citizens can buy any make of low end electric car they like (or buy an old banger to convert) but its no coincidence that Citroen, Peugeot and Renault have received large scale investment to be ready for this booming market. Smart thinking at the top can see popular politics, climate change targets and economic expansion merge.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

[quote=mattomac post_id=35869 time=1669769294 user_id=100]
What if you are taking away?
[/quote]

Paper and card I suppose - generally more recyclable in France. We can recycle a wider variety of stuff in our rural bit of France than our London borough...

[Spoonman]

Court upholds French far-right leader’s conviction over anti-Muslim comments
The European Court of Human Rights dismisses former French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour’s freedom of speech claim.

The European Court of Human Rights rejected the appeal of former French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, who was convicted in France for “inciting discrimination and religious hatred” over comments targeting the French Muslim community.

“The court held that the interference with the applicant’s right to freedom of expression had been necessary in a democratic society to protect the rights of others that were at stake,” the ECHR wrote in a statement released Tuesday.

Zemmour’s statements “contained derogatory and discriminatory claims of a kind that might exacerbate a rift between French people and the Muslim community as a whole,” the court noted.

https://www.politico.eu/article/eric-ze ... n-muslims/

[Tubby Isaacs]

More than 1 million people have taken part in demonstrations across France as transport, schools and refineries were hit by strikes in protest at Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plans to raise the retirement age by two years to 64.

France isn't as fucked as Germany or Greece, but it's got a pretty old population, with high life expectancy. Doubtless a big chunk of people angry about this will be moaning about high taxes and "malaise" too.

[Tubby Isaacs]

French Senate easily passes the raised pensions age, but I expect the opposition will continue.

For comparison, Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 supported a pension age of 66, while opposing the rise to 67, which was certainly an arguable position. Neo-liberal bastard Macron in 2023 is supporting a pension age 2 years younger than cuddly Jez. Funny old game.

[The Weeping Angel]

I'd go alonng with this

[kreuzberger]

“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”

― Charles de Gaulle

[mattomac]

The far right would collapse if it ever got to government, the problem is they don’t care about niceties around democracy.