I’d not noticed the dutch farmer protests. I’ve not been to Holland for years and while I read many European news sites, this one had passed me by. So I thought it would be about pay, inflation or cost of living - that being the aspects of the UK crisis at the moment. But no, its about an ambitious / harsh (insert your preferred word) emissions targets and use of nitrates targets for the agricultural sector. So what’s that got to do with the issues facing the UK that has caused so many strikes? Seems to me that it warrants a separate thread as it does not evidence similar strikes that the UK has in other countries.
Good to see we are a world leader still, even if it is in financial attrition.
“If I had to leave the economy alone, hoping that it would get better by itself I would be absolutely pessimistic,” Joachim said. “The light in the darkness I see everywhere in Europe, is to see all these workers striking.”
This article is about the pressure of cost of living on young people in some countries in the EU. It is not about strikes across the EU. It ends with a quote from one person who makes an unsubstantiated claim about ‘all these workers striking’. Which is strange, given he is from Toulouse down the road from me, as I’ve not noticed ‘all these strikes’. I think if you want to find evidence for ‘all these strikes’ across Europe then you’re going have to do better. Of course, on reflection, this young chap was maybe referring to all these strikes going on in the UK.
I read it as that’s what he thinks will be coming and as the French are notorious for striking, I wouldn’t be at all surprised.
The Europeans strike so much more efficiently, don’t they!
Many countries have always had problems. But we were doing ok. What’s changed?
So now you are saying that there is also a crisis in Europe because you remember there has been strikes in the past in one country. I suspect you need a more robust argument to convince people that the UK crisis is not worse than the problems faced elsewhere.
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You can only deal with what is in front of you!
This article gives a good perspective on why the UK is particularly in crisis. The UK has uniquely spent the last 12 years driving down investment in public service and squeezing public sector pay. No wonder so many see striking as the only option.
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Nope I didn’t trawl the net at all …one Google brought up lots of strikes and demonstrations all across Europe…I just googled again now and there are new ones…people on the streets of Brussels demonstrating against the rise in prices and threatened strikes in just about every country.
I’m not suggesting we are perfect in the UK…but neither is anywhere else…our situation isn’t helped by the tabloid press that sensationalise everything in an attempt to increase newspaper sales…other countries don’t seem to have that as much…for instance the French rioting on the streets of Paris because they didn’t win the world Cup…if that had happened here it would have been world news for weeks …fuelled by our own media.
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Multiple strikes by key services were only one aspect of the crisis I mentioned in the OP. The entire infrastructure of the country is disintegrating. We have a situation where multiple conflicting requests go out from government departments in kneejerk responses and local authorities and other agencies are asked to action these. There has been a patchwork approach to designing services and loose ends are not being tied leading to duplication, confusion, wasted resources and a lack of outcomes. Multiple departments doing the same thing twice or maybe 3 times, but no follow up or resolution. The strikes we have are a symptom of the underlying problems. These key workers are being treated appallingly. There’s a lack of effective leadership and on the hoof policies.
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I think we need to separate out protests from industrial action & strikes. Many European countries have a long history of ‘manifestation’ - taking to the streets and waving banners, or even setting up protest camps. These are different from ‘greves’ of industrial action and removing oneself from the work place. One raises awareness, one stops services. Kind of different substance and results in a much different impact.
The crisis in the UK is clear from strikes, people downing tools and walking out. It is not evidenced by protests. I read or look at many European media outlets and there simply is not the scale of strikes as in the UK - even if there have been a few protests and marches. So this attempt to claim “oh, its just as bad elsewhere” is simply false.
As I highlighted from the Guardian article:
“If I had to leave the economy alone, hoping that it would get better by itself I would be absolutely pessimistic,” Joachim said. “The light in the darkness I see everywhere in Europe, is to see all these workers striking.”
And there was also this from the Guardian article:
The French government has capped energy price increases at 4% (though this will change to 15% in January), but for those young people already struggling to make ends meet, such as apprentices whose wage is lower than the national minimum, even the 4% price increase is a challenge.
Matteo Leroux, 22 is an apprentice in electrical engineering. He earns €900 a month and lives alone in an apartment in Marseille that costs €400 a month. Like Joachim, he has stopped buying meat and has swapped it out for tuna, but his biggest problem this winter is the cold. “The problem with my apartment is that there is no insulation. Sometimes I want to put the heating on, but I can’t because the energy bills cost too much. So, I bought a gas heater, but because the block is very old, the insulation isn’t there and the windows aren’t glazed, it’s often still cold”.
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We can all agree that the cost of living and particularly the cost of energy is creating problems everywhere. No dispute on that…apart from the scale of the issue. France applying a total of a 19% rise for electricity - how does that compare with what the UK is experiencing? Not even close to the same levels.
Now back to your claim that the UK is not the only country experiencing a crisis across many things: costs, strikes and cuts in services. Clearly not true as even this article shows its not nearly the same in France. Which country have you in mind that is suffering to the same extent?
PS did I mention that on my new tariff my electricity costs should come down by about 15% this winter. Doesn’t feel like a crisis for everyone in Europe.
Poor chap. He goes on to talk about how the poor insulation in his flat makes heating it hard. Then I thought - 400 euro, or £340 a month? Is that expensive? So I did a search - Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow to see what £340/m would get you.
Manchester - nothing. A single room was £390/m.
Cardiff - nothing. A single room was £450/m.
Glasgow - nothing. A single flat was available for £475/m
Perhaps Marseille has suddenly switched from being largely a dodgy city of immigrants and drug dealers to be swishy, by the sea, trendy like Brighton. And so abnormally expensive for France.
Brighton - nothing at all.
Or maybe we should be comparing Marseille to some dodgy city by the sea, like Dundee (I make the comparison with love, Dundee).
Dundee - success at last, a grotty one bed flat for only £6/m more than this Joachim is paying. And my guess is it will be colder than anywhere in Marseille.
So can we add cost of accommodation to the issues creating the UK’s crisis?
We can also include the immigration crisis all those people endangering their lives to escape from France to get to the UK.
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Well said OGF. 
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You try so hard to make the present situation in the UK to be the result of leaving the EU Strath, but you know that it isn’t. It is caused by this and other world governments who haven’t got our best interests at heart, and I honestly believe the crisis we are seeing now is intentional.
so it’s no longer the EU that’s evil but all governments?
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