In 1278 the King of England came up with a new plan to raise money and land, as leaders are fond of doing. Certain that historic privileges had been usurped by uppity subjects, King Edward sent royal officers around to prominent individuals demanding by what legal right – quo warranto – they held their honours. However when Edward’s men arrived at the home of one John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, the ageing aristocrat pulled out his rusty sword and proclaimed: “My ancestors came with William the Bastard, and conquered their lands with the sword, and I will defend them with the sword against anyone wishing to seize them.”
Archives For france
Macron’s labor decrees are the first step in what he hopes will be deep economic changes. The decrees are to be finalized this month and ratified by year’s end.
Critics accuse the government of being undemocratic for using a special method to push the measures through parliament.
Companies argue that existing rules prevent them from hiring and contribute to France’s high unemployment rate, currently around 10 percent.
The protests come amid anger at a comment last week by Macron suggesting that opponents of labor reform are “lazy.”
Government spokesman Christophe Castaner said on RTL radio Tuesday that the president didn’t mean workers themselves but politicians who failed to update French labor rules for a globalized age.
It’s the most rapid descent for a French president in recent memory. A new poll published by YouGov last week found Macron has a remarkably weak 36 percent approval rating — a massive slide for a man who won the presidency with 65 percent of the vote despite never having held elected office.
https://www.vox.com/world/2017/8/14/16114640/emmanuel-macron-unpopular
https://pauluslandericus.com/2017/05/07/macron-wins-e-u-survives-for-now/
What unites the two countries often seems far more substantial than what divides them—an innate sense of elegance, a passion for gastronomy and proud histories of artistic and intellectual attainment. But all that, says Franco Venturini, is precisely what bedevils their relations. France and Italy both consider themselves the cultural superpower of Europe and the result is reciprocal jealousy. For Mr Venturini, who is a columnist on an Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, but French-educated and an officer of the Légion d’Honneur, the links between the two countries are “very close, yet not characterised by any great love. We’re like two cousins, each of whom thinks she is the prettier.”
It appears the French are a bit peeved with Nolan for not including their contributions further. I think what they fail to realize was this movie was not about the battle but rather the evacuation itself. Throughout the movie no real information about the battle is given just that the BEF is encircled along with French soldiers. The film does at times commend the French for their contributions and bravery. Moreover this is a British war film written and directed from the British perspective. The French are more than welcome to create a big budget war film chronicling their perspective as well. I will write my own spoiler free extended review later on but thought this negative reception was interesting and frankly disappointing. It seems the French maintain the massive chip on their shoulder.
The Russians being chuffed about the movie is just laughable really. They were too busy playing games with Hitler and ruining the mid and late 20th century with their communist expansion.
According to sources at the hearing, he also gave a stark warning about their impact; “There is no fat in our army. We are attacking the muscle here – and this as the security situation worsens,” he told the lawmakers.
Macron quickly fired back with a rebuke, saying: “I have made commitments. I am your boss.”
Does not bode well for the wannabe dictator to shrug off dissenting experts. Troubling news for France.
Today is the provincial francophone celebration in Newfoundland.
https://www.francotnl.ca/fr/nouvelles/2017/05/18/journee-de-la-francophonie-provinciale/
So as was predicted by me and countless others, Macron was victorious in defeating Le Pen and her right wing coalition. While Le Pen was not a terrible candidate her affiliation with her party and their past offensive rhetoric ultimately appears to be the cause for her unfavorability. Macron despite winning by a large margin of victory at 65% is still relatively unpopular with the populace who seem more content with a bureaucrat out of dislike for the National Front. Will this come back to bite them? I believe so and here is why.
Macron is essentially doomed from the start. In the coming weeks, Macron will be tasked with setting up his strategic alliances in a bid to gain total control over the government machinery. If unable to gain these alliances, Macron will have an extremely difficult time getting anything accomplished while president of France and will go the way of Sarkozy and Hollande. On the issue of Islamic extremism and immigration Macron must not renege on his campaign rhetoric and move in the opposite direction as his predecessors did. If he were to do so then he can expect to see Le Pen again and this time he might not be so fortunate. Double-digit unemployment, serious terrorist threats, the European migrant crisis, E.U. corruption, and ballooning public debt are the troubles that lay ahead for Macron and frankly I don’t believe his centrist platform will placate enough issues facing France. I will give him credit though for moving the French economic agenda away from failed central economic planning and moving towards a more free market capital approach.
Macron’s victory means that the E.U. will not go down without a wimper but I believe it will still go down nonetheless, just more slowly. The people across Europe appear to be wising up to the political aims of this bureaucracy whose end goals appear to be the destruction of national identity in the name of select economic gain. This is why the right has and will continue to gain traction in the political sphere so long as the E.U. continues to flounder. While Macron’s election may present a slightly more difficult negotiation with Britain over Brexit I suspect it won’t change much of the overall outcome of their leaving. Britain maintaining its own currency lends itself to be in a better strategic position. Ultimately Macron winning means the E.U. no longer has any scapegoats when problems arise, which they will.
Now to those who are now gloating that political “Trumpism” is dead with the loss of Le Pen, I feel some things need to be pointed out. While these native protectionist candidates might not appear to be doing well in the overall elections they are being effective in changing the tonality of the political discourse. Their ideas and beliefs can no long be ignored and large swaths of the population are finding their views appealing. An example of this was Austria’s president passing some legislation on religious dress aimed at curtailing niqabs and burqas. Its starting to create this interesting dichotomy where the countryside and rural areas of the countries are starting to rebel against the directions and ideas put forth by the wealthy urbanites. This does not bode well for resolving a continuously fracturing population. Not only does it pit people against each other but it increases the possibility of violent conflict and revolution. Obviously I am not condoning that course of action but it must be said for the fact that revolutions typically come from the countryside and make their way into the city, rarely the other way around. At the celebratory speech of Macron instead of coming on stage to the sounds of La Marseillaise he came on stage to the E.U. anthem. That says it all.
A clearer picture of the future will be realized in the coming French elections in June as well as the elections in Germany in September.
Acerbity [əˈsɜːbɪtɪ] 