Not until they decide which King to curry? Either the State, or the Partner?

Nothing worse than a confusion of leadership.

Maybe, then again those Anglo-Saxons who have lived in southern France for many years are very aware that one should never ever criticise a Frenchman at his place of work (cf. my builders/architect/plumber/electrician).............lovely people socially but utterly beyond criticism - I really really hope that isn't a truely national stereotype - actually I know it isn't but it's there in some folks somewhere.

As for the success of the likes EdF/SNCF - chapeau - no honestly, it's very clever. EdF are screwing the UK bill payer because they can't do the same at home because of legislation and regulation relating to utility bill increases in France. Oh, I do get the impression some Brits in the business community simply don't give a stuff about national pride or strategic interest whereas the French do - some Brits would sell their grandmother to the best bidder, the French would keep her at home and gratefully the tax offset :E.

It is off topic and yes you do digress, and yes, I've had this argument here before. This isn't about property prices in France - though they're stubbornly high :sad: .

This is about a task, any task, not being done to a previously agreed manner. In my example the builder says he's ultimately not doing it that way, because "I'm the expert , I will do what I want to do, irrespective of your input".'.. I really hope it this local trait that "I will do it my way and no criticism will be entertained " isn't a national characteristic that carries across to AF - and I really (honestly) hope you can convince me that that isn't the case and that the vast majority of AF pilots are open to criticism and questioning ........

As for my comments about Edf...je suis d'accord (See, living living here has taught me something;). Personally I do think the way French business is structured could teach the UK/Europe a thing or two about how to work the EU, but at the end of the day the Daily Mail and UKIP don't notice....

Agreed 100%

Bonne annee:ok:

@ B738driver
 

So Glad that you have finally "seen the light"........facts indeed.

I'll wish you all the best for '13 because we will not be communicating again.

Very brief..
The French system (culture) is (a society) based on elitism .. and not on merit
This can sometimes give strange results .. IMHO

jc

Interesting, that's exactly the POV of my English speaking but French educated kids.....hopefully the strange results are good ones.:ooh:

Culture
 

I agree with most posters here about the culture problem. I'm surprised no one mentionned the incident involving an AF A320 in Muhamed V airport at Casablanca, when cleared for a visual approach for 35L, the plane landed on 35R, and this incident could have been serious. The briefing mentioned an ILS approach but the captain who was not the PF decided 4000ft AGL to perform a visual approach without any briefing while being PnF. Both did not detect (nor the ATC) the error until a RAM pilot, taxiing for 35L adknowledged the crew about the mistake. What is more alarming in this incident, and there the cultural part takes all its sense, is that the captain did not wanted to report the incident, did not protect the CVR or warn authorities. When incident was finally reported and the crew interviewed, captain stated that for him it was not worth mentionning it, if the RAM pilot did not told ATC, they would have parked without no one noticing, and the whole situation was not that critical.
Here you can spot AF captain thinking process.