Not for we Britons the mass demonstrations that have just halted the French government in its tracks when it tried to diminish the job security of young workers. In keeping with the long revolutionary tradition that France marks every year on 14 July, the French young took to the streets, pulled in various other parts of the community in solidarity and eventually obliged its government to yield.
Perhaps the riots in the housing estates of last year were too close for comfort. No government likes to hear the sound of breaking glass.
Put aside whether the proposed move to greater labour market flexibility would actually have been a more sensible way of getting French young people into work. Consider instead why British youth are generally so politically quiescent, or apathetic, as some might say. Perhaps the greater levels of employment in the UK - albeit too often in menial, low-paid work - are a contributory factor.
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