Lady Thatcher's Funeral

As I wrote last week, thousands of words will be written and spoken on this subject.  I have raised it solely because I was pleased to see that the Viscount Carrington was present.

I mentioned him in a post here in 2008; (I am sorry that half the text in the original has disappeared; blame it on HTML. The second gentleman in this article was a French banker who though entirely innocent, resigned immediately following the appalling acts of certain of his staff). 

Lord Carrington was for me, the epitome of the disinterested aristocrat, a type which  thanks to disastrous experiments with taxation, democracy and socialism, now is more or less extinct.   Look on, Mandelson, Blair & co. and weep.

Sic transit gloria I say.

Afterthought:  I noticed that Mrs Blair has finally found some manners and managed to wear a hat.

Until the next time

Quel Choc! (Part Deux)

A new report today from the BBC states that M. Depardieu is to give up his French passport, following his move over the border to Belgium.

The star of Asterix & Obelix is very upset by comments from M. Jean-Marc Ayrault, the prime minister.

From the BBC report:

The prime minister had suggested that Depardieu's move to the town of Nechin, just over the border from the French city of Lille, was unpatriotic at a time of cutbacks.

"I find this quite shabby. All that just to avoid paying tax," he said on France 2 TV channel. "Paying a tax is an act of solidarity, a patriotic act."

M. Depardieu says that so far in his career, he has paid €145,000,000 in taxes.

Given that vast sum, I am inclined to sympathise with him!

Until the next time.

Quel Choc! (Pour les francais et des francophones)

No shock really: actor Gerard Depardieu is selling the hotel in Paris that he bought in 1994 for 25 million francs (£2.5 millions) - he's asking €50 million (£40,600,000) for what is a delightful property.  See the Le Monde article for a description and pictures.

Given that there is now, in the person of M. Francois Hollande a socialist president who has already raised the maximum rate of income tax to 75% and also increased the scandalous wealth taxes that have burdened the French for so long, it is hardly surprising that M. Depardieu has decided to become a tax exile: he has moved to Belgium.

Apparently M. Depardieu seeks the calme of his new place of residence; whilst this may be true, I fear that it is just window-dressing, as the French are very sensitive about rich Frenchmen 'deserting' La patrie.  I well remember the fuss when Johnny Halliday cleared out - to Gstaad in Switzerland - obviously for tax reasons.

The fact is that for years taxes have been very high in France; given the country's stagnant economy, large public debt and increasing unemployment, together with its enormous bureaucracy and expensive social model, I believe that a different approach is required - but of course the trades unions there will never wear it.  Perhaps nemesis beckons?

A la prochaine