From a news story about the French election:

[Frylock]

This is from an AP story at Yahoo news here.

@the story

Sarkozy, a pro-American conservative and an immigrant’s son, defeated Socialist Segolene Royal by 53.06 percent to 46.94 percent with an 84 percent voter turnout, according to final results released early Monday.

The win gave Sarkozy a strong mandate for his vision of France’s future: He wants to free up labor markets, calls France’s 35-hour work week “absurd” and plans tougher measures on crime and immigration.

So… the conservative wins by a narrow margin, and thereby has a “strong mandate.”

Sound familiar? :smack:

-FrL-

Also the writer of the story ought to be ashamed of herself for making claims about who’s got what mandate in the first place. A news story is not the appropriate place for such claims. :mad:

[Nava]

“A narrow margin”? It’s not absolute majority, but bigger than, say, the socialists have in Spain. And it’s a magnificent voter turnout - when was the last time the US had 16% abstention?

Spain hasn’t had that much voter turnout for years. If it’s raining we blame it on the rain because, you know, with weather like this who wants to leave the house; and if it’s sunny well, with weather like this who wants to go to some dark building and stand in line, you want to go have a picnic

Also, anybody who thinks Royal is not a conservative because she’s a Socialist needs a very cold shower and some coffee. She makes Thatcher look like a whirl of whipped cream.

[Rigamarole]

Hijack but… France has a 35-hour work week? Is their structure for overtime similar to ours?

[Nava]

Don’t try to compare the French work-week system with the US one at all, it’s pears and, uh, scallops.

To give you another comparison point, in Spain contracts indicate both your “regular work hours” (office, rotating shifts, weekend shifts…) and your yearly hours. And the only place where I’ve worked without a contract is the US.