Ed West Ed West

France – worker’s paradise or Steynian Dystopia?

Un autre jour glorieux dans la lutte contre réalité économique.

France’s major employers’ federation and two unions have signed an agreement whereby employees not subject to the country’s 35-hour labour restrictions will not be asked to read emails or answer phone calls outside of work hours.

Part of me rather admires this attitude, being rather fond of the culture of idling that has been replaced by the ghastly ‘hardworking families’ cult of the hyperactive elite. Lots of people only work as hard as they do because of exorbitant housing costs, and there’s no doubt that digital overload is not good for the mind.

But France is already strangled by a bureaucracy that is driving its most talented across the English Channel.

Liam Mullone made the point in a devastating article a couple of weeks back writing that:

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