[J.C.]

A fascinating election with an incredible 85% turn out. France is about to go through the changes that Margaret Thatcher made to this country 20 years ago, and its going to get very tough. The similarities are striking. First the new president is going to alter the 3 day working week so he will have to take on the unions just as Thatcher did. At the same time as getting people to work longer hours he has also got to create new jobs for the huge unemployed sector and these two plans are not compatible at the same time.
The biggest challenge of all will be dealing with the immigrant sector of the population who not only rioted last year for several weeks but also hate the new president who referred to them as `scum`. I believe this is the only way forward but he is going to face a riot at some point that will be far more substantial than Thatcher's mess with the Miners. I have just turned on the news and seen that small riots have already started !! but the main outbreak will happen after a few months when the young unemployed immigrants will have a go. One guy interviewed today said its going to be like war, and no one in Europe wants that for France. I wish the new man well , France is a beautiful country even though they haven't been too keen on us recently, Tho I suspect that was just Chirac. As for the huge turnout I have a strange feeling that this was more motivated by a hatred of the candidates , another reason for things getting a little tricky. Allez les Bleus and Vivre La France, is that about right Sunshine.So come on then who did you vote for????