What do the French think of living in France?

So what is it really like living in France? It depends, of course, who you ask. You might ask a happily retired expat who speaks very little French, has a lovely house in the country, and sees everything through rose-tinted specs. "Lovely" s/he'd say, "never been happier, life is so good here, so peaceful" and be surprised when they get snowed in because they only watch the UK tele.

Then you might ask a struggling expat, one who is trying to restore a crumbling shack in a bog at the end of Perpete les Eaux and set up a gite. "Bloody nightmare" s/he'd say, "it's freezing cold, can't afford to heat, can't get the workmen in, stuff costs a fortune, got the law on me over planning permission, admin's a fucking merde and our savings are sinking faster than the Titanic".

Or me, and I might say 'Country's going to the dogs, mate, I can see myself working to 70 and then having to bop a cop in the arse to get nourri-logé in prison in the warm.' I'm an optimistic little bugger...

Then you might ask a French person. What do the French think? You can find out exactly what they think by looking at the studies published by CEVIPOV in association with SciencesPo. Twice a year they publish the results of answers given by 1500 French people on the electoral role to a series of questions. It's called The Barometer of Political Confidence (Le Baromètre de la confiance politique) and I can tell you straight off that the pendulum has swung unusually far over towards 'not bloody confident at all'.

My favourite question in the study is Perception de soi et de sa vie personnelle. While 49% believe that their life corresponds to expectations (down from 52% in 2009), a not inconsequential 18% (up from 13%) say that 'Parfois j'ai l'impression d'être un raté' (sometimes I get the impression that I'm a loser). Isn't that a classic response? Nearly a fifth of respondents believe themselves to be losers. Awww bless.

Most people believe they have control over their lives (61%), so that's positive, and they consider that although you can never be too careful when dealing with others (73% up from 66%), most people (61% down from 70%) do what they can to behave properly. However, there is a marked drop in their confidence in institutions, such as the Conseil Municipal (down 10 to 56%), Conseil Régional (down 13 to 45%), the EU (down 9 to 33%) and so on.

Back in 2009 people thought a lot more highly political personalities such as the maire, deputies, president (now down 10 to 28%). In this survey, 85% believe that politicians don't give a toss about them, and are so incompetent that 66% would prefer having a bunch of experts decide what's best for the country. Unsurprisingly, in that case, 54% consider that democracy in France functions badly, which is true.

As for various organisations, 85% have faith in hospitals, but only 25% have faith in banks, and a measly 12% in political parties. Asked whether they have confidence in François Hollande, 20% (up from 7% in Oct 2011) said they had it but have lost it, while those who didn't have confidence in him but do now has plummeted from 26% to 11%. 51% said they've never had confidence in him (obviously not the ones who voted him into office then...). A staggering 60% up from 33% say Mr Hollande worries them, and only 27% think he's up to the job of President. My opinion is that he's been promoted above his capabilities and is in it hopelessly over his head. As Mr Hollande, throughout the election campaign, declared that he wanted to be the candidate de la confiance, it's all rather ironic that he inspires the least confidence of any president ever, even less than that much-maligned (and regretted) Sarkozy.

People believe that right and left in politics has become blurred to the point that no one really thinks you can tell the difference (68%), and 52% has no confidence in either side.

An unsurprising 65% (up from 19% in 2009) think there are too many immigrants, while 45% think that the death penalty should be reintroduced (a connection there do you think...?). Support for homosexual marriage has gone down now that it's on the cards, from 58% to 52%.

Interestingly, people are more and more opposed to government interference in business. 53% up from 43% think that the Government should have more confidence in business and give them more liberty. Only 44% down from 52% believe that the Government should interfere with tighter controls and more rules. This is important because people used to believe that the State should solve all problems. Now they believe they can only rely on themselves (58%), plus family and friends to get out of the crisis. Government institutions are too distant to care.

The previous year (Oct 2011), 73% thought money should be taken from the rich to give to the poor in order to establish social justice. That number is now 53%, probably as a result of all those immigrants on welfare...

Should the capitalist system be reformed? Yes, according to 92%, either profoundly or on certain points. Especially as 68% believe that their kids will have less opportunity to succeed than their parents which is a seriously pessimistic outlook.

For those who think that the system should be reformed, I wonder how many believe it should go as far as suggested in this article. Remove the 'Etat-Providence' and put in place 'un Etat de droit' where "on respecte la liberté et tout le monde le comprend : le pouvoir d’achat est plus élevé et les possibilités de s’épanouir librement sont accrues... Pour combattre la déresponsabilisation entraînée par la croissance de l’État-providence et le sentiment que tout est gratuit, je proposerais un véritable programme de sensibilisation nationale à la responsabilité, à ce qu’elle implique (assumer les conséquences de ses actes, etc.). Enfin, je réduis le nombre de députés et de fonctionnaires inutiles. Au moins 20% des fonctionnaires dans les ministères ne servent à rien. Donc, du jour au lendemain, je les mets à la porte." 

That's revolutionary thinking!

One thing you can be sure of though, talk to the rose-tinted expat about all this and they'll say "eh, what?" from their own little bubble, glass of rosé in one hand, baguette-fromage in the other. Ignorance is bliss.

Pointless Advertising

If I was an advertiser in France, I'd be thinking twice about staying given the results of a study by l'Institut Nielson (Executive Summary) as described in le Figaro today. A total of 25,500 people were questioned on their attitudes to advertising from around the world.

The French, whose advertising is the most strictly controlled in the world, declare themselves to be the least affected by its messages. In response to the question 'Is advertising useful?', 38% - the highest in the world - believe that it is not.

Western Europeans, on the whole, are more sceptical of advertising than those in the emerging markets of Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia which is pretty normal as we've been bombarded with the stuff for eons. The point of it all was to find out consumer perceptions towards the benefits of advertising.

Most people agree that it's useful in sponsoring sport and culture, and that it helps creates jobs. Where the most discrepancy falls is advertising as a source of information, and it's here that the French distinguish themselves with their high negative score.

The comments to Le Figaro's article reinforce this negativity, with many people declaring that they don't take any notice of advertising when it comes to choosing what to buy, although many also go on to cite the advertising they fail to take notice of. Several declare that they studiously avoid buying any item where the advertising has pissed them off, and switch television channels when certain loathed ads come on.

But don't we all do this? In the UK, the adverts are the time when electricity usage soars as people put the kettle on for a cuppa. People go to the loo during the ads, or put washing away, zap onto other channels to watch some ad-free minutes of something else, load the dishwasher, send their kids to bed or just about anything you do in a free couple of minutes.

My favourite comment was this one:

les français sont tellement prétentieux qu'ils préfèrent dire qu'ils n'aiment pas la pub. Le fait de l'aimer voudrait dire qu'elle serait plus forte qu'eux en ayant une influence sur leurs comportements... ce qui serait totalement inadmissible pour les champions toutes catégories des donneurs de leçons !

Translation: The French are so pretentious that they prefer saying they don't like ads. Saying they do like them would mean that the ads would be stronger than them by having an influence on their behaviour... which would be totally inadmissible for these champions of all categories of lesson-givers".

Fair comment, n'est-ce pas?

Naturally, the French misunderstood the question about the usefulness of ads, taking it to simply mean those ads designed to sell them Activia rather than Yakult. In fact, ads have been used in many instances to draw attention to societal issues. For the list from the WFA see here. They include Amnesty International, Fondation Abbé Pierre, WWF, Greenpeace, to mention a few. Even Benetton had their 'United Colours of Benetton' ad, plus others which were systematically used to make a social statement as well as sell pullies.

Maybe the French restrictions on advertising remove any possibility of carrying out such campaigns which is why they have such a negative attitude towards it. Except Abbé Pierre, natch, who was French and thus allowed access to the tele.

Coluche summed up French attitudes in many areas, and advertising is no exception and it seems the French have taken his words to heart, summarised in his immortal words:

La publicité à la télévision, ça s'adresse uniquement aux débiles mentaux. J'le dis parce que si y en a parmi vous, ça s'adresse à eux... Les autres, circulez, y a rien à voir. Allez hop.

Personally, advertising drives me nuts. I hate the huge quantity of billboards that make the outskirts of towns so ugly; many ads on French tele are just so bad you wonder how anyone who lives in the same universe as the rest of us could come up with them, and I frequently turn the radio station over when certain ads assail my ears when driving so I don't become a road-enraged danger to all and sundry. However, I love a good, imaginative, clever ad. The "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label" ones are classics, as are the old Heineken and Silk Cut ones.

Advertising can be a force for the good, the imaginative, the clever and the informative, but you have to be French not to see it, or have regulations which assume you are totally unable to control yourself. State nannying par excellence, I should write immediately to Our Gordon to tell him of another fabulous opportunity for interfering.

But I won't, cos I drink Carling Black Label.

1M Women Study

The Million Women Study has just knocked another nail in the coffin that was Fun. This huge study involving British women over the age of 50 is proving to be an invaluable source of information on women's health.

Information, however, is a dangerous thing. Do you really want to know, for example, that drinking low to moderate quantities of alcohol will increase the likelihood of you getting certain cancers by 15 per 1000 women? Having a drink is such a pleasure, or it used to be. Will you ever be able to look at a glass of wine again without seeing the worst consequences of breast cancer in your mind's eye?

This effect comes if you drink no more than 1 drink per day. The more you consume, the more likely it is that you'll be struck down with breast cancer, cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, cancer of the rectum, or cancers of the esophagus, larynx and liver.

How friggin' depressing. Of course, you've got to offset this data with that which exhorts us to drink red wine full of polyphenals to protect us against heart disease. Unfortunately, the balance doesn't work out sufficiently strongly in favour of the heart when compared with the higher incidence of cancer.

Great! We might as well all throw ourselves off the nearest bridge in an alcoholic haze - our last. I suppose we know that everything agreable is either killing us, making us fat, or making us targets for nasty diseases. Now we can add alcohol to the list of serious offenders.

Alternatively, as the NHS is panicking at the increasing numbers of old people, why don't they offer a special treatment to kill us off quicker? They could subsidise alcohol on the understanding that treatment other than painkillers would not be available if we developed cancer. The nation would perk up no end, and the substantial amount of money saved could be spent on financing care homes for the sozzled and freeing their family up to go back to work and help repay the abyss of debt that the government has landed us with for the next X number of decades.

I wonder how long it will be before the French wine industry hear about this report, and how they'll deal with the fallout. They've been basking in the heart protection aspect for the last few years, but that won't be enough to compensate for the increase in cancers that comes from drinking even only tiny amounts of alcohol. Prepare for an uproar!