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A. Pedant

 
An update for the manifesto

It isn’t very often that one finds much of interest in The Daily Telegraph - it’s lines are often boringly predictable and not very well written. However, I am pleased to find an idea, albeit expressed in rather sneering terms, that will have to go straight into my manifesto. Here‘s how the news section reports it:

In a country renowned for its long lunches and 35-hour working week, establishing the legal right to a siesta might not appear an overriding priority.

But yesterday, in an apparent attempt to bolster the nation's morale, France's health minister Xavier Bertrand suggested that a short afternoon nap might become government policy. The country already has the reputation as the laziest in Europe, with its workers enjoying an average 35 days holiday a year compared to 20 in Britain.

There’s another paragraph after this, in the same vein; here’s the link. Remember, that was ‘News’; now this is 'Opinion' (and I quote the whole piece):

Do the French never work? Not only do they put in a maximum of 35 hours a week, but now they are considering bringing back the siesta, or la sièste as they call it.

The French economy may be struggling, their productivity falling, their global competitiveness non-existent, yet still they seem to believe they are entitled to toil for fewer and fewer hours.

Not that we have anything against the postprandial nap. Forty winks in the afternoon certainly never harmed Churchill's ability to govern our country, nor did Reagan's regular naps hinder his presidency. However, while it would seem sensible for hard-working people to take a break, the French, who barely need to stir from their beds to fulfil their full office hours, must have another reason. Perhaps there are more alluring reasons for returning to the bedroom than just "to sleep perchance to dream"?

Here’s the link, in case you don’t believe me. Which is News and which Opinion, eh?

I’m not sure that I can go along with the Churchill analogy. It's likely the whiskey had something to do with it; and anything Reagan did was probably because Nancy’s astrologer told him to.

As for the suggestion that the French retire to bed for other reasons, this ancient codger cannot pass comment. Nevertheless, the afternoon snooze is thoroughly invigorating and I heartily recommend it; it will be in my next manifesto, in suitable terms. And if it undermines the Telegraph’s normal exhortations (to others, of course) to work harder, ’So what?’
posted by josh at 9:49 am