In Denial

I think it was Robert Graves who wrote that life is too hard to be taken in the raw, or words to that effect. We cannot, as it were, consume life "neat". We need some sort of drug to see us through, be it alcohol, cigarettes, money, love, sex or whatever. I would add that we also find it virtually impossible to get along unless we are, to a greater or lesser degree, in denial (though some would deny this!).

Over here in France we are very much "in denial" at the moment. The lunatic fringe is denying that there is any problem at all and that we can go on as before without, for example, reforming the retirement system at all. Those of a slightly more coherent frame of mind adopt a "yes, but...." attitude. "Yes, things must change, but not like this". In other words, they are in favour of reform as long as it does not adversely affect them.

A bolshie populace, a corporatist public sector and weak governments have combined to ensure that nothing has been done in the past 20 years and that desperate (but no doubt woefully inadequate measures) have now to be taken at the worst possible moment - in the middle of a financial crisis.

Some have drawn a parallel with May 1968 but that is patently absurd. May '68 occurred at a time of prosperity and full employment; it was driven almost entirely by students and young people who were looking for greater freedom, not better economic conditions. To exaggerate only a little, May '68 had much much more in common with the fall of the Berlin Wall than with the present situation.

In short, in those far distant days the tide was coming in. Inequalities and injustice were accepted in good heart because of the rising tide of prosperity. Today, unfortunately, it is running out: a society riddled with injustice, an ageing population, unresolved problems of migration, a standard of living which in fact started to fall over 20 years ago but has been disguised by building up a monumental debt, a country unequal to the task of facing up to the challenge of the emerging economies, a country unable to face up to these realities - a country in denial.