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Week 44, 2005
THE BEST SELLERS (recent popular articles):
1) CNN: Paris on a budget [Paris pas cher.]
2) NBC Miami: Group warns Florida tourists they could be shot [Les touristes en Floride doivent être mis en garde sur le fait qu'on y peut désormais vous flinguer sans motif.]
3) The New York Times/Paul Krugman: French family values [Un commentateur économiste des plus lus aux E-U prend la défense du savoir-vivre français.]

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THE REGULARS: Summary
4) Le texte plus abordable de la semaine/Scholastic: Civil Rights Leader Dies [Mort de Rosa Parks, celle qui refusa de céder sa place dans un bus à un blanc.
5) The Puzzler: Train overshoot [Un casse-tête.]
6) CNN/Business Traveller: Lost in the language of signs [Les panneaux signalétiques sont parfois marrants.
7) AUDIO/On the Media: Dropping the ball [Emission radio avec transcription, cette fois-ci sur un journaliste a dénoncé une faute d'une golfeuse professionnelle alors qu'il était en reportage sur un tournoi.]

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1) CNN: Paris on a budget [Paris pas cher.]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/09/20/bargains.in.paris.ap/index.html
Paris on a budget: Romance and culture without spending a fortune

PARIS, France (AP) -- The perfect Paris picnic comes cheap: a crusty baguette ($1), a thick slab of Camembert ($2.50), a modest Bordeaux ($5). Take it to the sprawling park at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, spread a blanket and dine with a view that is priceless.

Paris has more than its share of high-end luxury, but plenty of this city's famed culture and romance can come free -- or at minimal cost. There are all kinds of tricks to enjoying Paris without busting your budget. The opera has cheap seats, museums offer reductions, churches hold free classical concerts, walking up the Eiffel Tower is cheaper than riding the elevator -- and a good way to work off all the croissants and mousses au chocolat. Plenty of fun can be had for under $20, even in the capital of haute couture and high-end cuisine.

Start perhaps with a stroll. Wander through the meticulously manicured Luxembourg Gardens or the elegant Place des Vosges, Paris' oldest square on the edge of the boutique-and-gallery-packed Marais district.

A pair of comfortable shoes is key in this utterly walkable city so full of parks and monuments, stunning architecture and charming cobblestone lanes that ducking underground to the Metro means skipping sights. That said, public transport is excellent and cheap. A single subway or bus ride costs $1.75, while a book of 10 tickets -- a "carnet" -- is a saving at $13. There is a full-day pass -- the Carte Mobilis -- for $6.70; and a weekly pass -- Carte Hebdomadaire -- that costs $20.

Serious sightseers should consider the "Museum and Monument Card," sold at museums and major Metro stations. It allows unlimited access to 70 of the city's attractions and lets cardholders skip lines. A one-day card is $22. Another cost saver is the Paris City Passport, newly minted this year by Paris' Tourism Office. The $6.20 booklet is filled with $370 in coupons for savings off admission to museums, Seine River boat cruises, city bus tours, cabarets and night clubs. It is sold at tourism offices, select train stations or onlineexternal link.

To view the City of Light from above, it's tough to beat the Eiffel Tower. Skip the top level -- the lines are long and it costs $13.30 to get there. The second platform is plenty high at 380 feet; it can be reached by elevator for $9.30 or on foot -- up 704 steps -- for $4.70. Otherwise, for a spectacular and free Paris panorama, head to the steps of the great white Sacre Coeur basilica in Montmartre.

After walking up a good appetite, the question arises of where to eat. For a splurge, pick up a Michelin guide and follow the stars -- but do it during the day. Michelin-starred lunch menus often run half the price of dinner. Reservations are a must, often well in advance. Otherwise, buy a baguette sandwich for lunch at any boulangerie or a crepe from a streetside stand. Supermarkets sell wine and cheese for one-stop picnic shopping.

For dinner, go ethnic. Some of Paris' tastiest and most affordable food comes from its former colonies: great couscous from North Africa, hearty noodle soups from Vietnam, specialties of Senegal. Best bets are the immigrant melting pots of Belleville in northeastern Paris or the city's main Chinatown in the southeastern 13th arrondissement around Metro station Porte d'Ivry.

For French fare, just pick a neighborhood -- the Latin Quarter, Montmartre, St. Germain des Pres, the Marais, Bastille -- and read the menus in windows. Brasseries are cheaper than bistros and offer French classics at reasonable prices with a variety of wines by the glass. Fine wines are best bought in shops -- not restaurants where markups can be enormous.

For an outdoor aperitif, do as the French do. Take a bottle with paper cups and head to the Pont des Arts, the wooden-and-iron footbridge connecting the riverbanks between the Latin Quarter and the Louvre. In the city of romance, it remains a favorite of canoodling couples and Parisians who never tire of gazing at sunset over the Seine.

For an elegant evening out, mingle with the tuxedo-and-gown crowd at the ballet or opera -- where these days any attire is fine. The Bastille Opera just opened a 62-person standing-room area for a mere $6.20 a head. Sales start 45 minutes before the curtain goes up, so arrive early and brace for lines. Otherwise, nosebleed seats with limited visibility start at $11. The glorious Garnier Opera, with its recently renovated grand Baroque foyer, is Paris' main ballet venue and offers velvet seats in upper booths for as low as $8.70.

Pick up a Pariscope magazine for 50 cents at any kiosk for weekly listings of concerts, films, plays and exhibits. Note the music section, which gives a daily rundown of classical concerts in churches and cathedrals, many for free, especially on weekends. It also gives museum addresses, hours and admission fees.

Museums offer a variety of discounts, with most major ones free for children under 18. At the Louvre, which unveiled its new, roomier gallery for the Mona Lisa earlier this year, admission is $10.50. But ticket prices drop to $7.70 on Wednesday and Friday nights after 6 p.m. when the museum stays open late. Entry to the Musee d'Orsay, home to Paris' great Impressionist collection, costs $9.30 but drops to $6.80 on Sundays and everyday after 4:15 p.m. (or 8 p.m. on Thursdays) -- two hours before closing time.

For art en pleine air [sic] head to the Rodin Museum, where the real bargain is the $1.25 entry fee to the gardens. Tucked amid the linden trees are some of Rodin's greatest works -- large bronze casts of The Thinker, The Gates of Hell, The Burghers of Calais. Bring a picnic lunch and stay awhile. The museum itself charges $6.20.

Eagerly awaited this fall is the return of a Paris architectural jewel, the Grand Palais. Its grand central hall reopens after a 12-year structural overhaul that restored the building's glass-and-steel cupola, a glittering landmark in the Paris skyline. The work cost $124 million but visitors get to view it for free until October 1. After that, the Grand Palais resumes its function as a cultural center for festivals, exhibits and fashion shows

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2) NBC Miami: Group warns Florida tourists they could be shot [Les touristes en Floride doivent être mis en garde sur le fait qu'on y peut désormais vous flinguer sans motif.]

http://www.nbc5.com/travelgetaways/5053722/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=1167317&dppid=65172
Group Warns Florida Tourists They Could Be Shot

POSTED: 5:52 am CDT October 4, 2005

MIAMI -- Florida has a new law that gives legal protection to someone who shoots somebody else as long as the shooter feels threatened or is attacked. Florida's "stand your ground" law, which took effect Saturday, says citizens no longer are obligated to retreat from an attack if they're somewhere they have a legal right to be, such as a public street. Shooters also get immunity from prosecution so long as the person shot is not a police officer.

One gun control activist said there is no other state in the nation and no other civilized nation on Earth that has a law like this. And one visitor to Miami said "it's a little scary" learning about the new Florida gun law.

A gun control group is handing out leaflets at Miami International Airport, making sure tourists are aware of a new law that gives greater legal protections to people who shoot or use other deadly force. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence tells visitors, "do not argue unnecessarily with local people." It says, "If someone appears to be angry with you, maintain to the best of your ability a positive attitude, and do not shout or make threatening gestures." Brady Campaign spokesman Peter Hamm says Florida's new "stand your ground" law could cause the most aggressive people in society to overreact.

Gov. Jeb Bush has denounced the Brady Campaign as "pure, unadulterated politics."

But the tourism industry is taking the campaign seriously. Visit Florida said Florida is "very safe" and that the Brady Campaign is "one group's political agenda." Supporters of the law, pushed by the National Rifle Association, say it will make Florida safer.

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http://www.iht.com/protected/articles/2005/07/29/opinion/edkrug.php

Paul Krugman: French family values
Paul Krugman The New York Times
SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2005

PRINCETON, New Jersey Americans tend to believe that we do everything better than anyone else. That belief makes it hard for us to learn from others. For example, I've found that many people refuse to believe that Europe has anything to teach us about health care policy. After all, they say, how can Europeans be good at health care, when their economies are such failures?

Now, there's no reason a country can't have both an excellent health care system and a troubled economy (or vice versa). But are European economies really doing that badly?

The answer is no. Americans are doing a lot of strutting these days, but a head-to-head comparison between the economies of the United States and Europe - France, in particular - shows that the big difference is in priorities, not performance. We're talking about two highly productive societies that have made a different tradeoff between work and family time. And there's a lot to be said for the French choice.

First things first: Given all the bad-mouthing the French receive, you may be surprised that I describe their society as "productive." Yet according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, productivity in France - gross domestic product per hour worked - is actually a bit higher than in the United States. True, France's GDP per person is well below U.S. levels. But that's because French workers spend more time with their families.

OK, I'm oversimplifying a bit. There are several reasons why the French put in fewer hours of work per capita than we do. One is that some of the French would like to work, but can't: France's unemployment rate, which tends to run about 4 percentage points higher than the U.S. rate, is a real problem. Another is that many French citizens retire early. But the main story is that full-time French workers work shorter weeks and take more vacations than full-time American workers.

The point is that to the extent the French have less income than we do, it's mainly a matter of choice. And to see the consequences of that choice, let's ask how the situation of a typical middle-class family in France compares with that of its American counterpart.

The French family, without question, has lower disposable income. This translates into lower personal consumption: a smaller car, a smaller house, less eating out.

But there are compensations for this lower level of consumption. Because French schools are good across the country, the French family doesn't have to worry as much about getting its children into a good school district. Nor does the French family, with guaranteed access to excellent health care, have to worry about losing health insurance or being driven into bankruptcy by medical bills.

Perhaps even more important, however, the members of that French family are compensated for their lower income with much more time together. Fully employed French workers average about seven weeks of paid vacation a year. In America, that figure is less than four.

So which society has made the better choice? I've been looking at a new study of international differences in working hours by Alberto Alesina and Edward Glaeser of Harvard University and Bruce Sacerdote of Dartmouth College. The study's main point is that differences in government regulations, rather than culture (or taxes), explain why Europeans work less than Americans.

But the study also suggests that in this case, government regulations actually allow people to make a desirable tradeoff - modestly lower income in return for more time with friends and family - the kind of deal an individual would find hard to negotiate. The authors write: "It is hard to obtain more vacation for yourself from your employer and even harder, if you do, to coordinate with all your friends to get the same deal and go on vacation together."

And they even offer some statistical evidence that working fewer hours makes Europeans happier, despite the loss of potential income. It's not a definitive result, and as they note, the whole subject is "politically charged." But let me make an observation: Some of that political charge seems to have the wrong sign.

American conservatives despise European welfare states like France. Yet many of them stress the importance of "family values." And whatever else you may say about French economic policies, they seem extremely supportive of the family as an institution. Senator Rick Santorum, are you reading this?

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4) Le texte plus abordable de la semaine/Scholastic: Civil Rights Leader Dies [Mort de Rosa Parks, celle qui refusa de céder sa place dans un bus à un blanc.]
http://teacher.scholastic.com/

Civil Rights Leader Dies
By Ezra Billinkoff

Rosa Parks, who inspired a generation to fight for civil rights, died on Monday at age 92. Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, nearly 50 years ago. She was arrested and fined for breaking the law.

In response to her arrest, black men and women in Montgomery boycotted, or refused to use, the city buses. They demanded an end to segregation, or laws that denied equal rights to black people. A young pastor at the local church named Martin Luther King Jr. led the boycott. Because of the protesters' refusal to ride the buses, the bus system nearly went out of business.

Many believe that Parks's bold decision triggered the civil rights movement, a struggle to grant Americans the same rights, regardless of their color. "She sat down in order that we might stand up," said civil rights leader Jesse Jackson yesterday. "Her imprisonment opened the doors for our long journey to freedom."

Parks's action showed how one person could make a big impact. She inspired others, including Martin Luther King Jr., to use nonviolence and civil disobedience as a way to protest problems in society.

After Montgomery

The Montgomery bus boycott lasted 381 days. Throughout those months, churches and homes in the black community were attacked. Despite threats to their lives, the community continued to refuse to ride the buses. In November 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation on buses. After the court order arrived in Montgomery, blacks began riding the buses again, sitting wherever they pleased.

Following the boycott, Parks moved with her family to Detroit, Michigan. A newly elected member of the House of Representatives named John Conyers Jr. hired her as a staff assistant. She remained there until 1988, when she retired.

"There are very few people who can say their actions and conduct changed the face of the nation," said Conyers. "And Rosa Parks is one of those individuals."

On December 1, Montgomery will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Parks's stubbornness. Thousands of children from the area will participate in the Montgomery Children's Walk, beginning in the spot where Parks was arrested and ending at the state capitol.

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6) CNN/Business Traveller: Lost in the language of signs [Les panneaux signalétiques sont parfois marrants.]
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/08/08/working.hours/index.html

Lost in the language of signs

By Barry Neild for CNN
Thursday, October 27, 2005 Posted: 1453 GMT (2253 HKT)

LONDON, England (CNN) -- No matter if you've packed a map, read your guidebook or listened to your language tapes, sooner or later every traveler looks to signposts for help. But rather than point you on the right path, some may lead you deeper into the woods -- albeit with a smile on your face.

Most international travelers have stumbled across bizarrely written signs, instruction manuals or menus as they try to make sense of foreign cultures. Whether an eye-wateringly bad translation or a poorly thought out choice of words, the results are often accidentally hilarious. Now one author has collected 160 examples of misdirection and misunderstanding in a new book, "Signspotting," published by Lonely Planet travel guides, which highlights how mangled English has become a cult obsession among amused globetrotters.

"It is a level of unintentional humor that transcends education," says U.S. author Doug Lansky, who has a filing cabinet stuffed with more than 10,000 pictures of surreal, spurious -- and occasionally saucy -- signposts. Lansky, now based in Stockholm, Sweden, began collecting the snaps during 10 years on the road writing a travel column. He now receives scores of submissions from the Web site Signspottingexternal link.
Promised Land: Closed "It probably says as much about my photography skills as the humor of the signs, but when I got home, they were the only pictures my friends wanted to see," he told CNN. "I was always a big fan of Gary Larsen's cartoons," he said, referring to the U.S. artist behind the famous "Far Side" comic strips. "Then I realized there are complete morons all over the planet putting up signs funnier than Gary Larsen could come up with."

The cover of Lansky's book features prime examples of baffling signposts including the painful warning: "foot wearing prohibited," the rather gloomy "promised land -- closed," and the contradictory: "evacuation route -- no through road". But his favorites tend to be more absurd -- or macabre. "I like the more morbid ones, such as 'Funeral home -- open house fun day.' I'd like to know who sits around thinking: 'Hey, I've got a free day on Saturday, let's go to a funeral home'? "Others are about juxtaposition, like an advertisement for a taxidermy and cheese store. Who came up with that business model? What was going through their heads?"

Although a large number of strange signs are found in non-English speaking countries, Lansky says the worst offenders don't have language skills to hide behind. "America is pretty bad -- go figure. China has got quite a few; sadly it's the places that try the hardest who do the worst because they are putting themselves out there more. "But the more people who visit these places, the more their English improves and the signs get better -- but America doesn't have any excuse."

Says Lansky, the broad appeal of silly signposts has generated a fanatical following. "They are something that everyone sees, and they can have a chuckle to themselves. Some people will also go to great lengths to get them. One person dodged gunfire on the Pakistani border to get a picture of a bullet hole-riddled sign." For travelers who are still bamboozled, Lansky's advice is to laugh in the face of absurdity. "Don't try to understand it, just enjoy it. It is a little treat to savor. These are not the sorts of things you can go looking for, these things find you -- and when they do, have a camera ready!"

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7) AUDIO/On the Media: Dropping the ball [Emission radio avec transcription, cette fois-ci sur un journaliste a dénoncé une faute d'une golfeuse professionnelle alors qu'il était en reportage sur un tournoi.]
http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_102105_ball.html

"DROPPING THE BALL"

October 21, 2005

BROOKE GLADSTONE: This is On the Media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

BOB GARFIELD: And I'm Bob Garfield. Last weekend, in her first tournament as a golf professional, 16 year old sensation Michelle Wie finished fourth in the Samsung World Championship, that is, until someone notified a tournament official that in Saturday's third day of competition, Wie may have broken a rule of golf. The official determined that in dropping a ball to replace one in an unplayable lie, Wie did indeed let it fall closer to the green than the unplayable shot. For that infraction, she should have given herself a two stroke penalty. But because she signed her scorecard without assessing that penalty, she was disqualified. Such episodes happen from time to time in professional golf. The twist here is that the person who notified tournament officials about the infraction was a reporter covering the tournament, Sports Illustrated's Michael Bamberger. His editor, Jim Herre, says the situation arose out of golf's unique approach to enforcing its rules.

JIM HERRE:In the rules of golf, everyone is an official. It's up to the players themselves and everyone who's watching the competition to referee it. The rules officials are reactive. They're there to advise, not to watch the players.

BOB GARFIELD: As far as you know, is this the first time that a journalist has been a [LAUGHS] excuse the expression snitch?

JIM HERRE: Yes, I believe it is.

BOB GARFIELD:Okay. Now, in golf everybody is the referee. But as a matter of just sort of journalistic principles, except in life or death situations, the reporter allows the rest of the people to be the referees and tries to stay above the fray. Is golf reporting such a different beast that the ordinary journalistic principle doesn't apply?

JIM HERRE:Golf is such a different game that the rules that are applied to other sports do not apply to golf. I think that's the great debate about this, whether a journalist can act like a spectator could act or like a television viewer could act. And I would argue under the spirit of the rules, yes. And we're very comfortable with the decision that we made. We felt it was the only thing we could do.

BOB GARFIELD: You're comfortable with your decision and yet if you could, you know, turn back time, how would this have all played out?

JIM HERRE:Wouldn't that be lovely? [LAUGHS] In hindsight, what we could have done on Saturday is alert a rules official, while Michelle was still on the course, and then what they would have done is review the incident on the seventh hole before she signed her scorecard. Now, if we had done that, if we would have alerted the officials immediately, she would have been given a two stroke penalty and not be disqualified. However, our dilemma at the time was, is that we weren't sure. We hadn't looked at any tapes. We hadn't scientifically measured the drop. We hadn't asked Michelle Wie about the drop, or anyone. And we felt at that time it was inappropriate to act like police. We weren't there to police the event. We thought we saw something but we weren't certain. It was only the next day, after doing due diligence, that we became -

BOB GARFIELD: Police.

JIM HERRE: Because we

BOB GARFIELD: Blew the whistle.

JIM HERRE: We blew the whistle. That's right.

BOB GARFIELD: You have taken a whole mess of grief from your journalistic colleagues. Is it that your colleagues don't sufficiently understand the rules and the spirit of the game of golf? Or is that you guys don't sufficiently understand the rules and spirit of journalism?

JIM HERRE:Journalists should not be part of the story. That's the, the mantra is it not? We know that. I've been in this business for 31 years. Frankly, I find your question insulting.

BOB GARFIELD:No insult intended. I've got to tell you, the reason we're doing this is not because we sat there in our meeting on Monday and said, man, this guy crossed the line, he's totally wrong, it's obvious; the reporter never intrudes on the story. Because of the rules of golf, what I liked about the story and the reason I was pushing for it was because it was sort of an irresistible force against an immovable object. From a certain perspective, he did exactly the right thing, and from a certain perspective he did exactly the wrong thing. And I'm trying to decide, you know, where the ultimate truth lies.

JIM HERRE:Well, I think you have a good handle on it. It is a dilemma. Now, what if we would have written, without going to tour officials, here's what we saw, we saw Michelle Wie take an improper drop on Saturday? Say it came to light on Tuesday or Wednesday when our magazine is published, how would you feel about us after reading that story? And wouldn't you ask well, why didn't you say something about the time? That's what everyone in golf would have said.

BOB GARFIELD: All right, Jim. Thank you for talking to us.

JIM HERRE: Okay, Bob.

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8) Times of London: Puzzle of the penguin trek parable [Le réalisateur de la "Marche de l'Empereur" réagit à ceux qui l'exploitent pour leurs motifs politiques.]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1837607,00.html

Puzzle of the penguin trek parable
By Jack Malvern, Arts Reporter

IT WOULD seem extraordinary that a film about penguins trekking 70 miles through sub-zero temperatures and 120mph winds could be seized upon by the American religious right as a parable about monogamy and creationism. But that was exactly what happened when March of the Penguins became the surprise hit at the American box office this year.

Yesterday, days before the film’s British premiere at The Times bfi London Film Festival next week, the director hit back at the commentators he believes have wilfully misread his film. “If you want an example of monogamy, penguins are not a good choice,” Luc Jacquet told The Times. “The divorce rate in emperor penguins is 80 to 90 per cent each year,” he said. “After they see the chick is OK, most of them divorce. They change every year.”

In fact the rate is substantially worse than the American divorce rate, which is about 50 per cent.

Commentators in the United States, where the documentary film has taken more than $75 million (£42 million), claimed that the penguins are symbols for everything from monogamy to the right to life. Michael Medved, a conservative film critic and radio host, concluded that the story of the emperor penguins’ journey “most passionately affirms traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice and child rearing”.

Another commentator, Andrew Coffin, wrote in the Christian publication World magazine that the complexity of the penguins’ lives was evidence of “intelligent design”, a theory developed for those who believe that life is too complex to have come about through random selection.

“It’s sad that acknowledgment of a creator is absent in the examination of such strange and wonderful animals,” he wrote. “But it is a gap easily filled by family discussion after the film.”

Mr Jacquet, who has never made a film for the cinema before, is concerned that his documentary has been hijacked. “It does annoy me to a certain degree,” he said. “For me there is no doubt about evolution. I am a scientist. The intelligent design theory is a step back to the thinking of 300 years ago. My film is not supposed to be interpreted in this way. Some scientists I know find the film interesting because it can be a good argument against intelligent design. People should not jump on these bandwagons.”

Two-hundred years to the day after France's defeat at Trafalgar many Brits still view their cross-channel neighbours with suspicion and antipathy. The French however, think we should just get over it.

France is the UK's top tourist destination, with 12 million British visitors each year, while the UK is the second most popular spot for French tourists with over three million visits a year.

The air route from Paris to London is the busiest in the world, carrying some 3.3 million passengers a year... then there's the Channel Tunnel.

Such statistics might fool a person into thinking the British and the French actually like each other. But even though it is over 100 years since the Entente Cordiale was signed, pledging Britain and France to a lasting political friendship, relations on many fronts are decidedly frosty.

But the main problem seems to lie here. Stereotyped by the Brits as garlic-loving, snail-eating, skirt-chasing, shoulder-shrugging "Frogs", the French don't really care what the British think. Not without their own stereotypes and prejudices, "Les Rosbifs" are not important to the average French person.

Nobody is pretending that this is full blown racism, rather the inheritance of 'acceptable' attitudes of suspicion and isolationism
Richard Kaye, organiser Entente Cordiale exhibition
"Most of the French feel neither burning animosity nor deep affection towards the British," says Christian Roudaut, author of a book on Anglo-French relations, L'Entente Glaciale. "I'm sure the British would say this represents precisely the sort of arrogance for which the French are notorious in the UK.

"But the level of abuse over here is amazing. I can't believe what is said and appears in the national press in Britain. If you interchanged the word French for black you would be branded a complete racist."

And the age-old French stereotypes appear to show no signs of disappearing in the UK. Seventy-two percent of Britons questioned in a recent survey believed the French warranted their negative stereotype, while only 19% of French believe the Brits deserved their "Rosbifs" tag.

But where does Britain's anti-French feeling stem from?

While Franco-British enmity stretches back centuries, many of the xenophobic stereotypes of the French in today's society stem from the post-war period, according to Professor David Walker, from the University of Sheffield.

Take the notion that the French don't wash. This might have stemmed from the hardships France endured after World War II. Recovery was slower and accommodation often lacked basic sanitation.

"The contrast between the two domestic environments must have been startling for the British visitor of the 1950s and early 1960s," says Mr Walker. "It is not hard to see how the myth of the 'dirty French' was disparagingly communicated back to the Albion."

But the two countries' similarities are as much part of the problem, according to some.

"The French are a kind of sibling, cast in the same mould as us, but showing how the same genes can express themselves in alternative ways," says Dr Wendy Michallat, an expert in popular French culture.

"Given this common background, the English, in spite of themselves, tend to give way to what Freud called 'the narcissism of minor differences'. We make a great deal of what distinguishes us from the French, for fear of seeing our prized identity lose its uniqueness by being revealed as just another set of shared human traits."

But the British have a more complicated relationship with the French than just straight forward xenophobia, says M Roudaut. While French folk might not appeal to the British, the way they live their lives does.

I don't mean to be rude but the French people living in the UK are not here for the weather or food
Christian Roudaut
Last year's French census revealed the number of Britons living across the Channel had increased by almost half in the past five years, to 100,000. That's not counting the 47,000 who have second homes in France, according to the Office of National Statistics.

The flow in the opposite direction is even more pronounced. There are an estimated 270,000 French people registered as living in Britain, according to the French Embassy. The real figure is higher as not all French register when they come over.

"You come to us to retire and we come to you for work," says M Roudaut. "I don't mean to be rude but the French people living in the UK are not here for the weather or food. There are many things I love about Britain - like the sense of humour of the people and their politeness - but for most French people here it is an economic decision, not a lifestyle one."

In an attempt to improve Anglo-French relations the organisers of an upcoming exhibition of French and British art are producing a pledge book to combat negative stereotyping of the French.

All British visitors to the Entente Cordiale show in London will be encouraged to sign, as will French visitors when the show transfers to France next year.

The idea is being driven by Richard Kaye, who was alarmed by the attitudes survey mentioned earlier, which was commissioned for the exhibition.

"Nobody is pretending that this is full blown racism, but rather the inheritance on the part of the younger generation of 'acceptable' attitudes of suspicion and cultural isolationism towards France and the French," says Mr Kaye.

"This intolerance is simply not constructive. By encouraging visitors to the exhibition to pledge to reverse this worrying trend, we are taking a step in the right direction."
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Roll on the rapprochement. Add your comments on this story, using the form below.

I can't believe how many people I have known over the years believe in the stereotypes. I am now a student studying languages, but when I was at school there were large numbers of students refusing to go on exchanges abroad because they didn't want a "Frog" or a "Kraut" staying in their home. At the time I doubt many of them had ever met people their age from France and Germany, let alone had the opportunity to form their own opinions on them!
Steve, Southampton, England

Your article refers to the British attitude towards the French. However, I think that you will find that people in Scotland do not share the English hostility towards the French. In fact people in Scotland will often refer to the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France. I think this is an English view and is incorrect to say it is a British view
Thane Lawrie, Aberdeen

I know I jokingly engage in a bit of xenophobia every now and then, but I don't really believe in it. This article does concern me and it's statistics like these that are baffling. Seventy-two percent! That's shocking... where was this survey done? Well I'm not in that seventy-two percent. The French are just people like the British, they just live over a tiny bit of water and speak a different language (not even exclusively, they make more of an effort to speak English than we do in speaking French). To be honest I'm ashamed of the people who answered that the French deserved their negative stereotype. It's not helpful, it's closed-minded and immature.
David Brown, Cardiff, Wales

Get over it never!! We have a unique opportunity to show the world how 'brothers' can scrap and yet remain friends. Britain and France have fought for over a thousand years, we still retain our cultural differences and we respect each other. Sibling rivalry is good thing, its healthy and helps us both to steer the world in the right direction. If we can agree and get on, so can the rest of the world. It's well known that the French and English people like each other and enjoy the company. Its just the French and English gov't that never get on.
Niel Hillawi, Gosport

25% of the French voters regularly vote for far-right parties and we are worrying about British xenophobia. British people support French agriculture through the Common Agricultural Policy, so why should we not retire to rural France?
Anon, London

I'm surprised by the findings that only the British are guilty of maintaining this friction. One of the stock French insults is "Son of an Englishman". I think both 'sides' are guilty, and both sides enjoy the rivalry, but when it comes to any real decision (work, lifestyle, friendship) the rivalry is put aside as a joke and only real issues are considered.
Ben, Bath, UK

In my experience the negative British view of the French is held and promoted out of genuine ignorance of France and it's people, and often by Britons who have never even crossed the channel. For those a little more informed there are many positives to be confirmed about France and le vie Francaise - I have never come across a Briton with a negative view of a French holiday, for example. Perhaps a little sang froid would assist UK understanding of our neighbours!
David Grebby, Kidderminster, UK

As a Brit living in Paris (I have been emailing Terry Wogan as his "alternative Paris correspondent") for a year I can say that the French stereotypes are definitely not correct. French people do wash, and they are friendly people. Although there are still some things like slow administration, lots of paperwork to fill out and cheap wine that are true. I completely agree with the economic reasons for people to leave France to work in the UK. I am leaving Paris in a few weeks to start a new job back in the UK and my wages as a research scientist are increasing dramatically (about 30% more)! This is only because the wages in the UK are fair and they depend on age and experience. While my time in Paris has been enjoyable as it is a fantastic city I'm looking forward to moving to the UK so I at least have money to spend and I'll be able to get a decent curry.
John Eldridge, Paris, France.

Late in the article, you the game away when she writes of "Anglo- French relations". The enmity that exists is between ENGLAND and France. The rest of the UK is not part of it.
John Kent, Edinburgh

I like the French and France but we aren't the ones who have to get over it and move on. In my view the French have a longheld antipathy towards the UK and global Anglo-Saxon influence. The French Government has to stop seeing everything as a contest between the French and the Anglo-Saxons. By the same token we Brits need to realise that France does not owe the current generation anything.
J McNeill, Glasgow

While I agree that most of the notions of French stereotypes are outdated and unnecessary, Anglo French relations are hardly encouraged by the French President Jacques Chirac being quoted as saying "One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad,". We may have differences of opinions, but that is just downright rude!
D White, Stafford UK

I should hope any sensible person doesn't take this too seriously. There is the same sort of stuff between Scotland and England, but it happens on a more basic 'tabloid' level.
Graham Foss, Aberdeen, Scotland

Curiously I've noticed more anti-French comments now I live in London, than when I lived up north. I can't explain it. Personally I like and admire the French. I think the English and French can be seen as siblings who fall out over silly little things, and sulk. But when things really matter we grow up and work together.
Daniel Smith, London, UK

While it is wrong to condone any animosity between our two nationalities, it is as bad to pretend that we are the same. Britain and France are culturally as different as they are geographically. These differences should be recognised and celebrated to promote each country's strengths, rather than ignored in fear of offending someone.
Peter Holton, Reading

Is it not normal for neighbouring countries across the world to have a dislike for each other. The only difference is that the UK is not connected by land.
Chris, UK

Many of us have French friends and family, and know that this sort of whipping-up of old stereotypes is mostly contrived by the media (err BBC?) and is rather sad. But for what it's worth, most young people in France I talk to are completely fed up with the political leadership in Paris and the state of the French economy - and often cite the UK as a model of a more modern, and better, Europe!
Mark, London

Until I moved south from Scotland a few years ago, I didn't even realise this was such an issue. I never noticed such ill feeling towards the French back then. This is definitely an English phenomenon, not a British one, and the same goes for your attitude towards Germany. The French are right, get over it!
Stephen, Plymouth

As a Frenchman who's been living in UK for 8 years, I will very soon leave your country following the intolerance of British people. British are not true European and Dr Michallat is wrong to say 'The French are a kind of sibling, cast in the same mould as British'; we are not the same. British ONLY look after their own interest and blame everybody in Europe for the work inefficiency, the red tape in administrations, the strikes, the 2 hour lunch, the way European drive, the justice systems, the fact that nobody speaks properly English etc...Look at yourselves first and sort out your hooligans, binge drinking problems, highest teenage pregnancies rate in Europe, etc...
,

I think the term 'Brits' should be replaced by 'English' in this article. Scots do not have any animosity towards the French, stemming from the Auld Alliance. I'd be interested to know if Professor David Walker had done any research north of the border. I'm sure any Scottish person would agree that they are made very welcome in France once they have clarified their nationality!
Fiona, Edinburgh, Scotland

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10) The Style Invitational: Poetry [Quand la poésie refuse obstinamment de rimer...]

http://www.washingtonpost.com

In her kitchen, where we fell in love,
I decided to make the first move.
So I then made a pass
While admiring her as
She was leaning there over her stove.

(Katherine Hooper, Jacksonville)

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11) Slate/Moneybox: Watching a $4 billion company fall apart in a week [Quand l'actif le plus important d'une entreprise est sa réputation... un problème pour le secteur de la finance.]

http://slate.msn.com/id/2128196/21st-Century Bank Run
Watching a $4 billion company fall apart in a week.
By Daniel Gross
Posted Monday, Oct. 17, 2005, at 2:52 PM PT

If you want to know what a modern bank run looks like, consider the case of the giant commodity trading firm Refco. It went public in mid-August, but in the course of the past week it has gone from $4 billion stock-market darling to carcass. The proximate cause of the meltdown was the surprise disclosure on Monday, Oct. 10, that an entity controlled by CEO Phillip Bennett had owed $430 million to the company. A week later, trading of the stock has been halted and vultures are picking over Refco the way hyenas gnaw on the remains of wildebeest.

Refco was no boiler-room operation. It's been around and successful for a long time. (Scandal connoisseurs will recall that Refco was Hillary Clinton's commodities broker.) And it had been getting more and more respectable. First, Thomas H. Lee, the highly respected private equity investor, agreed to take a big stake in Refco in the summer of 2004. Then gold-plated underwriters Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston brought it public two months ago.

Refco was a model 21st-century business—a highly digitized, high-tech services company that traded complicated financial instruments on behalf of customers all over the globe. But its meltdown shows that its real assets were not its New Economy algorithms and brainpower. Rather, this extremely modern company depended ultimately on the kind of assets that built American capitalism in the 19th century: trust, integrity, and the personal reputation of executives.

Nothing material changed in Refco's financial situation when it announced that Bennett had secretly owed money to the company, or when it provided more details the next day about how Bennett had hid the debt. If anything, the company's situation improved, since Bennett paid the money back and quit the same day. The company also took further proactive action, hiring Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to help clean things up. Refco was solvent. It had tons of cash on hand. Nobody was worried that it wouldn't be able to pay its rent, salaries, or utility bills.

But it was already too late. Refco was in the business of facilitating trades that are conducted essentially through a digital handshake. The actual exchange of cash—the settlement—takes place within a few hours or a few days. Any company operating in this environment relies on liquidity—the ability to access vast stores of credit instantaneously and cheaply—and on the willingness of other institutions to act as counterparties, to wait a day or two before receiving payment.

Once the trouble was announced, Refco's customers wondered whether it was wise to do business with a company whose internal controls were so weak that it didn't know its own CEO was hiding a nine-figure debt. So, the demise was swift. (Here's the nasty five-day chart.) Within two days of the announcement of the discovered debt, Refco had to shut its nonregulated capital-markets subsidiary because it lost liquidity. In other words, people no longer trusted Refco to make good on trades. Customers began to yank funds, clients started to steer business elsewhere, and employees began furiously to look around for new gigs.

In abandoning Refco so rapidly, the market proved that creditworthiness is not an absolute attribute that can be proved by showing you have a certain amount of cash on hand, or that your equity-to-debt ratio is above a certain level. Rather, it's relative. Companies may boast excellent credit ratings from agencies like Standard & Poor's. But ultimately, creditworthiness is in the eye of the beholder. It's something that people say you have, based on personal experience, reputation, and marketplace behavior.

And that's how Refco found itself transported back 150 years. Dun & Bradstreet has been in the business of providing credit ratings since the 19th century. Its predecessor companies, including R.G. Dun & Co., employed correspondents in every major city and town who would send word to headquarters about the reliability of various businesspeople. Much of it was gossip, which is part of what makes Harvard's collection of R.G. Dun & Co.'s massive leather ledgers such great reading. The correspondents may not have had access to merchants' balance sheets, but they did know whether, say, a dry goods merchant in Albany, N.Y., had stiffed a supplier on a $10 bill, or which glass manufacturer in Brooklyn could be trusted for $1,000 of credit.

But Refco's downfall isn't simply an occasion for a history lesson, or an object lesson for people who make their living in the commodity pits. The entire global economy runs on the lubricant of easy credit extended among companies. And much of that credit depends on trust and reputation. An auto-parts company that gives its customers 30 days to pay it and has 30 days to pay its suppliers can function quite well. But if a few suppliers become worried that the company might have difficulty paying its bills, and demand to be paid in 10 days, that company could go bankrupt in a matter of days. These days, you don't have to be a bank—or even a liquidity-dependent finance firm—to suffer a run on the bank.

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http://reuters.co.uk
TOKYO (Reuters) - The popularity of a certain type of French cheese has soared in Japan after a leading ruling party politician called it "hard and dry" last month.

The incident took place in early August when Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister, met with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in a last-ditch effort to persuade him not to dissolve parliament and call snap elections.

Following the evening meeting at Koizumi's official residence, Mori told reporters that Koizumi had given him only beer and simple snacks while they talked, disregarding long-standing Japanese customs of political hospitality that mandated a more lavish welcome.

"He gave me foreign beer and some dried out cheese, so hard you couldn't bite into it," an obviously miffed Mori said in widely televised remarks, displaying a crumpled beer can and thin slice of orange-brown cheese.

Cheese cognoscenti, however, recognised Mimolette, a firm French cheese whose flavour increases as it ages and hardens. Aficionados say that the harder it gets, the tastier it is, with older cheeses commanding a higher price.

Now the scorned cheese is enjoying brisk sales at Japanese gourmet food and department stores, with sales three times as strong as usual. Some more aged varieties have even sold out.

"Sales of Mimolette have really taken off," said a spokeswoman at a downtown Tokyo branch of Takashimaya, a major department store. "We did not expect this at all."

Mori's visit to Koizumi turned out to be in vain. Koizumi called snap elections several days later, and there were rumours that relations between the two long-time political allies had markedly chilled.

The demands of the election campaign, however, have forced the two to mend fences, Kyodo news agency reported.

Koizumi has even promised to treat Mori to dinner and a full selection of cheeses at an expensive restaurant, it added.