France is going to be shut down 22nd June

I have looked at the cestlagreve website/app and there is nothing on there for the 22nd June. National strikes are never on Saturday from my experience of fifteen years of living in France. There may be a gilets jaunes protest, but they have lost most of their support so I doubt it will amount to much. Sounds like a load of rubbish to me.

Peter Mayle, in his book A Year in Provence made a big joke about trying to get workmen in and waiting years to get jobs done. This is the direct result of the stultifying business system that Dinahmo describes above.

All taxes, social security payments have to be paid up front before the start of the tax year and are not, as I understand it, refundable, so every workman makes sure that he has a really long order book, preferably a year long order book before making these payments.

So when we book the mason to do some outside maintenance for us, we know that a year will elapse between agreeing the work and the price and him actually being able to do it.

Our local^gilets jaunes^ in Normandy, are very jolly and cheerful. They have parked a holiday caravan on the roundabout by the supermarket, they have a brazier and a pile of pallets as fuel and have made themselves very comfortable, and cause no problems at all.

Since pallets are the standard fuel for the ubiquitous brazier, present wherever the gilets jaunes are, I would imagine there will be a pallet shortage in France this year. A good market opportunity for British manufacturers and suppliers of pallets over the next year

I've just looked at the video from Secret Sources and it would be interesting to know the expertise of her source. I can't say I like her delivery very much. Rather portentous.

When the gilet jaune demos started, French friends just told us not to go to the supermarkets on the relevant days. I live in SW France and generally the action taken by the demonstrators is to block roundabouts some of the autoroutes. As far as I'm aware there was little violence or damage to property, unlike in Paris where the demonstrators were infiltrated by extremists.

A few years ago there were several rail strikes but these were all publicised in advance so that it was usually possible to avoid them.

IMO France does need a bit of a wake up call. There is too much bureaucracy. In the UK if a person decides that they want to start a business they can generally do so without immediately notifying the authorities. This means that they can do market research and test the waters to see if their idea is viable. If you want to do the same in France you have register with the authorities before you can do anything as you cannot advertise without having a siret number. As a result there are a lot of people working on the black.

I posted my earlier message before I'd listened to the video, so just heard it.
It could be fake news, but more likely just exaggeration, dramatising.
French people are more used to shut-downs than we are.
One example was the blockade of diesel and petrol producers when they put prices up. Our local petrol station ran out, there were long queues elsewhere, then we just gave up and waited. Not for long, they started up again.
One year we were without electricity for 10 days when the lines blew down in a storm.
It's true about electricity and gas prices rising there, but they are here too.
I think the worst was a 'manifestation' of the local farmers against a very unfair EU ruling, which blocked the main route to Toulouse for weeks.

I think France is a beautiful country.
I will be there on the 22nd but 'if' it's only for a day it's not a problem for us.

Yes it could well be fake news. I agree.

I had to laugh at her cloak & dagger presentation like she was in the Resistance and breaking cover to pass on info from her 'contact'

That is my feeling.

This could be Fake News then?

I note she doesn't actually live in France, she lives in Denmark, so she has no real hand on the pulse of France. I have also just googled the shut down, which is meant to be Saturday week and there are only 2 mentions of it. One from Mumsnet referencing this site and something called ^Basedamy*, which I think is the web site for this lady. Absolutely no other mention.

If France is having a national closing down on the 22nd June then by now an awful lot of people will be involved with planning it, thousands of them and the idea that thousands of people could be planning something that is to happen in 10 days time and involve the whole nation and not one of those involved, whether by accident or design, has said anything to anybody who has leaked it to the press defies belief.

I am going to France on Monday, coming back on Saturday, which is the 22nd - and that puzzles me. Why close the country down on a Saturday? Half the country will be shut down anyway as it is the weekend. The French always plan their demonstrations to get the maximum effect and closing down on a Saturday will certainly reduce the effect of the close down.

I have scanned my local paper in France and also a couple of the nationals and there isn't a peep about any unrest.

I may be proved wrong (it won't be the first time) but I think this lady, with her doomladen prognostifications, is talking complete and utter tosh and I am not rebooking my ferry ticket.

France is a beautiful country, it has it all, lakes, mountains, beaches, historic and very attractive towns and villages. It is 4 times the size of the UK with the same population, which means a lot more open space and in the main, empty roads, a joy to drive there.
Fabulous village restaurants which cook fresh meals every day often 3 or 4 courses including wine if lucky, all for the princely sum of around 11 or 12 euros.
I could go on....

I love France and have had good holidays there and what's more I've always got on with its people too.
I even enjoyed Disneyland with my GD a few years back.

I live in France and don't find it backward at all gonegirl some rural areas are very quiet and don't have 24 hour amenities but backward no.
Macron is not popular but some changes he was trying to bring about are much needed.
The gilets jaunes took things too far and were being used by the far right and left. I do admire French people for standing up for what they perceive is right but in general they are quite resistant to change.

I like it that the French rise up en masse.

They don't roll over and die as Brits tend to do. We accept our lot.

Now of course,w hen people in the UK vote for any party rather than Labour or the Conservatives, we see populism in action. A protest.

I believe in protest. Without protest the less affluent would be disregarded.

More right-wing populist crap

Well, if there is right wing populist crap, *Riverwalk, *there is left wing populist crap as well.

We need to be clear about populism, which is sweeping the globe. It is a rejection of the elite and those who think they know better and impose their (often liberal, left wing) views on others.

Definition - Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasise the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against "the elite"

Please note how left wingers are OK with an elite and see themselves as "elite". Isn't it strange, a few decades ago, left wingers would be fighting for the rights of the working man/woman to object to those who think they know what is best for them. I thought most rebellions and revolutions were about the downtrodden saying 'enough is enough'?

And the left would be there championing their cause.

Now, if the people dare rise up and say "I have had enough of this (political) crap" - they tend to be written off by left wingers as right wing fascists. It's sneaky.

Please look at how the left are doing the manipulating again because they do not like it that a massive proportion of the UK population are calling out the two party system, fed up with it and rejecting what is on offer. A

And rightly so in my opinion.

I'd say the opposite of populism is to PUT UP AND SHUT UP - something the liberal elite would like for the rabble who dare protest.

That folks, is "populism" and (much of) the left hate it and denigrate those who are rising up.

Long live populism, I say.

I agree Dinahmo - we lived there for 16 very happy years.
It's ok if you're retired like we were, but for workers it's very hard. IMO Macron's main thing is taking on the Unions, who are still very powerful in France . Other presidents have tried and failed.
One example of how tough it is there financially - if you fail to pay your mortgage, or pay other debts, the bank swoops in and takes over your home. It happened to someone we knew. Or they close your account and refuse renewal. No temporary forgiveness.
Their equivalent of our national insurance deductions is much higher than ours.

Well yes. Ours is too.

It is very much like our own in many areas but with fewer people. Right now it's extremely green because we've had so much rain.

I find the French countryside very much like our own, but not so green. And the whole country seems slightly backward. But it's quite nice to step back in time.

You gonna pay for me to go Dinahmo ? I'm up for it

Those of you who haven't been to France are missing out on a beautiful country with which we have many historic links - some good and some bad. Why not give it a try?

Same here Granny23 . I have never been to France in my life.

It's this present troublesome generation that the majority of countries now see with their violent protests. Look at Hong Kong ?
France and indeed ours is no different when it comes to violence and unrest.
It's groups of militant airheads that don't know any different and their only way of expressing themselves is through violence and disruption.
These neanderthals are all in touch via the internet passing on their protests on how best to disrupt the country where they are. Their feeble excuse for free-speech and democracy.

MiniMoon

Thank you I should have checked her out before posting.

Large demonstrations will quite likely disrupt much of the country, the French are good at that but Macron was elected by all of the population not just the demonstrators who have many different grievances. If he is replaced it will be by another with similar policies.
A 6% rise in electricity was mentioned, fuel prices have gone up and the consumer pays just like in the UK. Our own activists have threatened to shut down Heathrow and other nuisances but they only represent a small minority of the population.