Francophilia
Last Saturday night at a party that would have been a barbecue but for the weather, I was chatting with a friend's French flatmate and his girlfriend, in from Paris for the weekend. They were delightful, and would have been so even had they not assured me that I was should consider working in France and ignore my concerns about not having a technical/business vocabulary. It's always nice to be told your accent is charming and your language skills solid, but even better to exchange strategies of life plans and insights into cultures and tips on antiques and farmers markets and books.

Anyway, I really, deeply like the French. It's wack that many French companies set a limit on how high a position it's possible to achieve based on where you got your degree and in what, and there are other aspects of the culture that are odd to me, but I like how they live and I like their sense of propriety. Obviously this is an outsider's perspective, but from here it looks good. The guidelines at the end of this excellent article on bribing your way into New York restaurants (via Marginal Revolution) strike me as being French-ish, as well:

"Dress properly, act dignified, be polite, smile. And spend a little extra for good service— it will pay you back in droves."

All that preamble to say I enjoyed reading Jean-David Levitte and his taking the media to task about accusations against France and Oil For Food programme. Fighting statistic-laden accusations with other statistics seems like a losing battle to me, but I haven't read up on it enough.
- posted by Christina @ 2:43 pm