My kids are on their half term break, so we decided to take advantage of a great deal we found and are staying in Mijas, near Malaga in Spain. While the weather is autumnal in France and the UK, here it is warm and sunny. If it's this warm at the tail end of October, I'm not sure I'd be happy here in the summer! The skies are clear blue, the temperatures in the mid twenties. It's true that this it won't be like the tropics, but I notice that there's no air conditioning in our apartment. It could get very hot in the summer without that. The resort warns us that electricity is expensive here - and is going to be an additional cost when we check out.
We drove here. This made the trip more interesting - because we could see France and Spain as we proceeded south. I arranged this a while ago before the industrial action hit France. Pension reform has caused considerable tension. The French had - and will still have - one of the best deals nationally certainly in Europe, and I suspect in the world. Pension rights start at the moment around age sixty. This is going to rise to 62 over the next few years. I think it'll finally kick in by 2018. By then I think UK state pension rights won't be available to people under 68. A UK state pension is a minimal income, whereas the French state pension is income related, indexed and based on contributing for 37.5 years (this will rise to 40, then a lot later to 42 years). Only people working in very senior positions add a private fund to the state provision because it is enough to live well on. The state system is unfunded, that means it's paid from the general tax revenue. As the French live longer, like everyone else, there are gradually more and more people drawing pensions and fewer and fewer contributing. Add to this medical benefits etc which retirees enjoy and it becomes clear that the system is unsustainable. In the UK the state provides a minimal pension and the best course (although optional) is to either join an employers scheme or a private scheme to build a fund. Only UK government employees have state funded schemes that provide a decent living in the UK. The government has made it clear they are not sustainable, and they only cover a percentage of the working population. The French scheme involves everyone. This means it costs more, but also changes will effect everyone. Hence the industrial action. The public reaction to pension reform in the UK has been: why should our taxes pay for their pensions? welcome to the real world, etc. If the public sector unions in the UK take action, the results will be mixed. The effect limited. France is a very different situation.
It's been curious to watch: demonstrations in the streets, involving school children as well as the unions, blockades at refineries and fuel depots. Filling stations have run out of product, especially around Paris. In the mean time, the laws extending the working life of everyone have made their way through Parliament. I'm not sure I would be happy about my children demonstrating like this. While the unions have emphasised the role of "students", minor children have had no school while their teachers were on strike and it's hard to believe they really understand or appreciate the issues. I wouldn't have done at fifteen. The government have deplored the exploitation of children and my instinct is to agree with that. Of course civil direct action has played a greater role in French politics than in the UK, so perhaps they need to start before they get to university.
Today (27th Oct) there is a crucial final vote in the French parliament. The reports I read from Spain indicate the steam has run out of the protests, because most people acknowledge that reform is essential, even if they don't like the route the government has chosen. A form of Nimbyism, perhaps.
I know pension reform has been a factor in Spain as well, since Spain has had to take drastic action to sort our public finances. There were protests, but they did not go on as long as in France.
Anyway, I'll get on with my holiday away from the stress and hope there'll be diesel in the service stations when I get to France! Maybe I'll write a little more about our travels when I get back, too!
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