Banning the burka in France

By Boadicea
Only one MP in the French lower house voted against the new proposition to ban the face-covering garment worn by Muslim women. The law will not be adopted until the upper house has voted but it looks like the ban will come into effect without any real opposition. It should be added that the law will also apply to certain hoods and balaclavas used by bankrobbers and other lawbreakers.
I am frequently told by British visitors to the Somme that they applaud the French government's courage in pushing this law through the assemblée générale. They bemoan Britain's overly multicultural acceptance of all cultural differences; most notably those that betray a lack of respect and freedom for women.
On the other hand, a female friend of mine who is a South African working in Saudi Arabia, told me that she thought the French move "dangerous and provocative". It is understandable that westerners living in Islamic countries do not want to see friction and intolerance being used as weapons in more terrorist campaigns.

I personally do have strong opinions about this subject, as I am sure you do. I am British but I have lived in the Middle East, and I will soon be returning to live there once more. When I was living in Cairo I had no issue with the Egyptian custom of wearing a full length robe that left the face (but not the hair) free. I understood the prudish desire to keep things covered. I did however appreciate being able to look women in the eyes.
What used to disturb me greatly was when the plane came in from Saudi Arabia and women would walk into the arrival lounge covered in a black sheet, wearing gloves, socks and shoes so that no flesh was visible at all.

Roughly ten years later when I went back to Greater Manchester to work you can imagine my profound shock at standing in Bolton town square one day and counting about 15 women thus attired - in the space of about 20 minutes. They were not all together. Some were in pairs, some were with their children or husbands. While I fully understand their wish to cover up and not expose vast amounts of flesh (like some of the girls who were sharing the same pavement) I could not accept this vision in my home country.

I came to the conclusion that I didn't like looking at acres of fat belly flesh with piercings just as much as I didn't like not being able to see a woman's face as she walked by me on the pavement. There are two extremes: one is gratuitous nudity that is exploited by pornography that harms all women; the other is a sinister blacking out of a person's facial features. I opppose both and say one is as dangerous as the other.

For information you may be interested to know that the chador is Persian (Iranian) and leaves the face free (rather like Nora Batty's headscarf); the niqab covers everything but leaves the eyes free (rather like a royal mail post box) and the burqa is the Afghan covering with a mesh design in front of the eyes to stop poor women from walking into things.

Choosing the right bank

Paula FLANAGAN writes:

Our Association has been banking with the HSBC in France for over two years and have been astonished by the incredibly arbitrary way they apply banking charges. One month we are asked to fork out 25 Euros, the next 11 Euros and currently, because of my nagging, we pay 6,50 Euros or thereabouts. I have been told that this is due to the activity generated by the account but we sometimes lost 25 Euros in a month where nothing happened at all!

I only recently discovered that HSBC stands for Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation. I actually thought it stood for Highly Suspicious Banking Charges. And yet, all is not lost. I have been back to the bank to complain about the charges and the HSBC has finally stopped being too international in its outlook and has created a service for French Associations: Assodirect, which will lighten our mood by not charging us for existing.

I hear you say: Just change banks. I agree, we maybe should. However, I am going to give the Assodirect service a try and see how it fares.

Nevertheless, the advice I would give an expat settling in France is not to join the HSBC. A French bank won't bleed you with hefty bank charges. No wonder the HSBC is one of the few banks to come through le credit crunch smiling.

Don't abuse the poppy!

It is interesting to note that Belgium is the only country whose national flower is the poppy. France abandoned the idea of a national flower a long time ago and we are familiar with the UK choices as they figure on the respective rugby shirts of England, Wales, Scotland and also the Republic of Ireland.

It is indeed very fitting that the Belgians have taken possession of the poppy, however this may well have been a recent acquisition (- if anybody knows the exact date of the adoption of the poppy as their national symbol I would be interested to know). After all, John McCrae made the poppy synonymous with the western front in Belgium when he wrote the poem In Flanders' Fields in 1915 (which has in fact been very incorrectly translated into French and printed on postcards that you can buy in The Flanders' Fields Museum in Ypres).

The poppy became the remembrance flower as a result of the Canadian doctor's poem; the wearing of the symbol being proposed by Moina Micheal, an American citizen. Her poem We shall keep the faith was her touching answer to McCrae's words and it is worth reading the two poems together to understand the emotional response given by Ms Michael.

The western front winds its way down from Belgium through northern France to the Somme battlefields, as you undoubtedly know. Here in Picardy a local borough of different communes (towns and villages) gave itself the name: Le Pays du Coquelicot in 2004. This was roughly translated by myself as The Poppy Country for the Somme Marathon website and the name has stuck. At the time I found this a fitting tribute to the men who fought and fell in the Somme in and around Albert (the main town in The Poppy Country). Now, six years on, I find myself cringeing with distaste at the commercial activity that has grown up around this name. The local inhabitants of The Poppy Country suddenly woke up to the fact that tourism was a possible money-spinner they could exploit (a mere ninety years after The Battle of the Somme). We saw more and more gites and B&Bs spring up in people's back gardens or in the second house they inherited from grandma. These were inevitably named after poppies or coquelicots to the point where it became repetitive and embarrassing. Then the local businesses jumped on the bandwagon; this trend in Albert has given us such delights as : poppy windows, a poppy launderette, a poppy flag team, a poppy driving school and a youth hostel named.......... yes you guessed: Les Poppies. No doubt, as one British tourist recently observed: we will soon be invited to gaze upon "The Poppy Basilica" in Albert. To add insult to injury, these names are accompanied by possessive apostrophes showering them like confetti, and as a result I have to control my desire to take out my jumbo red indelible marker and correct their sloppy grammar.

I finally felt the urge to write this article when I came across a selection of poppy products in one of the local DIY stores in Albert, popular with people building gites and B & Bs for battlefield tourists. The products that caught my eye were for the bathroom: a poppy toilet seat, a poppy toilet roll holder and a poppy loo brush. Now, if you are sensitive to the significance of the poppy, and I suspect you are if you are visiting the Somme, you may share my distaste for these items. I can well imagine that some poor British or Australian tourist will find him- or herself having to sit on a plastic wreath of poppies in order to perform daily ablutions. (I am fearfully waiting for them to start selling poppy toilet paper). Our tourist will then tiptoe down to a dining table covered with a poppy tablecloth, after having drawn back poppy curtains. Breakfast will be served on poppy plates and tea will be drunk out of poppy mugs.

Having said that, there are some very worthy gite and B&B owners, many of them British, who are wholly deserving of trade. They devote a lot of time and energy to Remembrance and go about it earnestly. Some of these are links on this blog.

A new pipe band was recently set up in Albert. The local French political figures urged the Pipe Major to call it........... go on, have another guess........... yep............. "The Poppy Pipe Band". Clearly big fans of alliteration! Luckily, concerns were listened to and it became The Gleannancre Pipe Band, remembering the toll of the Battle of the Ancre, as well as the Battle of the Somme.

The local political figures and business people see the anglophone tourist as a cash cow who will solve the financial worries of local companies and inject wealth into the area. They want to control this and reap the benefits on their terms.

If this flies in the face of respect and solemnity - so what.

I have always said that living in the Somme region comes with a heavy moral price. One must strive to be worthy of the blood sacrifice made on this soil. Many people are worthy, but many are not; and their behaviour can be quite selfish and shocking. I often wonder how the soldiers would feel if they could rise up and look around them at the greed and back-stabbing that is sadly so rife here. They would say their efforts were all in vain, and they would have a point.

I therefore wish to inform the discerning battlefield tourist of this reality. Beware of the crocodile tears that betray an empty consideration for the Fallen, and mask a greedy eye fixed on your wallet.

By Boadicea

EU pie: costly ingredients and a very bitter taste

Over the last 13 years I have corresponded with the European Commission in Brussels, the British government in London, and the British DFES in Yorkshire, and also the French Educational authorities in Paris and Amiens. In thirteen years I have made no headway whatsoever in my attempts to fulfil the European dream of integration and free movement across EU borders.

As a fully qualified British schoolteacher, able to speak and teach three languages, with 6 years at university under my belt, I would have expected to see the professional openings for people like myself become more frequent and more accessible across Europe, as the EU gets bigger and the possibilities for exchange are supposed to be multiplying with Erasmus programmes etc.......

However, I have been extremely disappointed to discover that this dream is in fact a one way street: traffic flows in one direction only - towards Dover!

The English system stands alone (and I stress the word English because, as I will point out later, Scotland has sealed its border and locked its foreigner-proof doors in a very similar, and shameful, way to France & Belgium). England is awash with foreign teachers, doctors, nurses, architects, all benefiting from a welcoming policy of official recognition of qualifications with the opportunity to apply for a job in the candidate's chosen sector. This permits a non-English person the right to earn a living and prove his or her worth in a professional context, thereby allowing him or her the right to self respect and a decent standard of living. This is something that English people can be proud of. However, when this practice is not put into place by the countries whose citizens come to England to take advantage of what Tony Blair called "our good nature" and our boundless capacity for tolerance, there has to be some reflection, and above all, some action.

In France I have been subjected to an insiduous policy of non-recognition and debasement since 1992 when I first tried to work here. As I attempt to understand why my son's language teachers have no formal teacher training and are unable to speak English to me, why their teaching methods are out-dated and unsuited to the needs of a global society in 2010, and why I am treated as an uneducated, unqualified person and told to return to academia and retrain; the French authorities send me staccato replies that dodge the issue in a most patronising way.

The EU Commission has done nothing at all to impress me since 1997 when I began to consult them via my Euro MP Gary Titley. Indeed, over the years, they have become far less friendly and understanding, as I up the pressure and complain about their refusal to act and their inability to comprehend the injustices of the way the French operate when it comes to recognising professional qualifications obtained outside France. (In short - they don't ............never short on arrogance, the French government, whether on the right or the left).

This policy, that successive French governments put into practice, is a covert form of racism. The EU allows them this luxury by quoting loopholes x y and z. In fact, I am convinced that France is in the EU for the following reasons only :

• Mr De Gaulle had a hand in setting up the EEC and making France one of its central pillars


• It gives them a feeling of being a sort of superpower in a European context


• They love the huge subsidies they get, especially for the farmers (who are extremely numerous and a very powerful voting lobby in France)


• They like to pretend to be all embracing of other cultures (blue EU flags everywhere), while scorning non-French qualifications behind closed doors and barring the route to non-French citizens

The latest letter I received from Commissioner Charlie McCreevy's office tells me to retrain and sit a competition to be able to enter the teaching profession. Well!!! Would you ask a vet to go back to veterinary school? Would you ask an EU commissioner to go back to grassroots politics and go knocking on doors on residential housing estates.......... I think not. They would be most affronted and extremely loathe to give up all the nice cash they are earning. However, I, according to the EU rulebook, am supposed to do just that.

As I realise that I will never make any headway in France (nor Belgium for that matter where I tried to get a job, only to discover that they operate the same anachronistic system as the French) I looked to a move to Scotland, as my husband had a chance of spending a couple of years there with his job. I was quite optimistic and full of hope when I wrote to the Scottish GTC (General Teaching Council). Cor lumme! I nearly had heart failure when I started to receive their feedback. The acceptance policy is both ageist and racist, as far I as can see. Applicants who are not twenty-somethings who have gone through the Scottish system will struggle to put all the relevant paperwork together. You need a Degree transcript (what the hell is that?), a list of your university credits (we didn't have them in the 80s!) proof of how many days / months you spent in Spain / France / Germany if you did a language degree (how do you prove 10+ years' residence when our passports are no longer stamped, and no residence permit is required because of the Schengen agreement?). I phoned the GTCS and was spoken to very sharply by a young lady who belittled me the way the French do. I have just received a letter explaining that, at the age of 44, having thrice been Head of Dept., among other things; I would have to do a probationary year in Scotland!!! What nonsense is this? (Gordon Brown - are you listening?)

I showed the GTCS letter to my Franco-Belgian husband (who is ashamed of his respective countries' political decisions cited above) and he concurred with me that Scotland can keep its ill thought-out, discriminatory tactics .......... yet another country to avoid. What is the world coming to?

I am so disillusioned I have joined UKIP. Why should we pay for the upkeep of an EU that allows jingoism and bigotry to be official policy in most member states? The EU costs 40 million Euros a day to run - to keep Brussels staff : bureaucrats and translators plus the EU ambassadors in posh residences all over the world and the MEPs with their expenses bills - now there's another can of worms. Having worked for 5 years on the African continent, I can assure you that such a considerable amount of money could be far better spent.

By Paula Flanagan

WFA Report on The Christmas Truce Carol Service & Buffet

SATURDAY DECEMBER 19TH 2009
Rod and Margaret Younger of the Norwich and Waveney WFA Branch were very fortunate to be able to attend this third tri-lingual Christmas Truce Carol Service in Pozieres, organized by Paula Flanagan-Kesteloot of the Battlefield Language Academy.

The sunny Saturday morning was followed by a very cold night in the heart of the Somme battlefields where so many young men gave their lives. Road conditions were treacherous and because the snow “lay deep and crisp and even” the delicious refreshments which followed the service were served over the road at The Tommy, instead of in Contalmaison's village hall.

The newly refurbished TOMMY is well worth a visit when in this area as it contains a fantastic collection of photographs The congregation were invited to contribute to this feast by bringing some traditional Christmas food from their own countries.

After experiencing atrocious driving conditions on the way to our destination, we were happy to put on our walking boots and see the area on foot which in the snow gave us a completely different perspective of the battlefield.

This possibly unique service consisted of carols, readings and a dance performance accompanied by pipers, a drummer boy, percussionists, guitarists, a violinist and keyboard players . Performers of all ages were thoroughly involved. Where able, the congregation enthusiastically sang a selection of traditional and more modern carols from France, Great Britain and Germany. Translations of the texts were read and included where necessary. A talented young drummer played before we sang “Little Drummer Boy” in English, French and German. This well-known and popular carol was dedicated to 16 year old Thomas Moore a drummer boy, who lies in nearby Lonsdale cemetery.

The dance group” Dissidance” from Albert gave a performance with “peace” as the theme.

There was however a very serious side to the event as we remembered also the soldiers who have been killed in very recent, ongoing conflicts.
Among the varied readings one paid tribute to Harry Patch of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry who died on July 25th 2009.
Thanks were offered by the mayor of Pozieres, Bernard Delattre, who told us that restoration work was still being undertaken on Pozieres Church, and by Patricia Leroy, mayor of Contalmaison.
The retiring collection was for the Pozieres Church restoration fund.
We heard also this moving story, which illustrates the ties between the region and Australia . The story is of a small ivory crucifix which was removed from the rubble of this small church at Pozieres almost a century ago by a young Catholic Australian private ,Walter Henry Belbin, who was to carry this cross with him throughout the war. He survived and returned home. His daughter-in-law, Betty, said he was very attached to this treasure which he cherished. The Digger died almost three decades ago and his only son Neil, aged 87, was determined to return the cross to the rebuilt church. He was helped by the Victorian MP Bruce Wilson who traced the priest and the mayor and helped to organize the handover.
On a more lighthearted note we did sing Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, Jingle Bells and Auld Lang Syne in French and English.
This moving and enjoyable event was televised for the local regional news. When interviewed Paula stressed that not only did this service hark back to the past but was very relevant to what was happening today and to the very great sense of loss that was still being felt in Britain as young men lost their lives or were seriously wounded whilst serving their country.
A huge amount of work went into organizing the service and Paula hopes that more British people will attend in the future. She plans to organize this again next year on the Saturday before Christmas.
AUTHORS: Rod and Margaret Younger.

http://pfk-battlefieldacademy.skyrock.com/
www.pfk-languages.com

The new Scottish Bar at THE TOMMY

Dominique Zanardi has worked really hard over the last few months. He has converted the area around his bar and turned it into a cosy and modern pub lounge area. He went all the way to Scotland to purchase a carpet decorated with the black watch tartan and has used wooden panelling to add a warm touch to the walls and ceiling. Dominique was delighted with the opportunities given by two events that allowed him to inaugurate the Scottish bar and, in particular, the wooden stage area designed for live music.

Firstly, he held a Scottish St Andrew's Night thanks to the organisation and participation of Jean Luc Saint and Nicolas Choquet (The Jocks), together with other musicians, notably Jean-Luc's son Thomas, Mireille, Eliel and Miccaïah (the latter two being members of The Gleannancre Pipe Band). The atmosphere was lively and the participants were definitely in the right mood for a good time, while listening to pipes and drums.

Secondly, Dominique willingly accommodated The Christmas Truce crowd after their Carol Service in the church in Pozières. The Truce buffet always follows the Carol Service and this year the participants were delighted to come in from the cold and eat delicious snacks made by French, German and British people. They were equally delighted to be treated to a free concert given by a British trio who haven't yet found a name for themselves. (They can't agree on one!)

The trio is made up of John Anderson, Victor Piuk and Derrick Llewellyn. They played a range of Clapton and Beatles numbers, all that after playing their little hearts out in the church in Pozières. This year they rose to the challenge of playing and singing Greg Lake's I believe in Father Christmas. The congregation was really positive about this year's Truce and sang along to most of the tunes that they knew or had heard of.

The church in Pozières had been given a facelift thanks to the Mayor Bernard Delattre and his team of volunteers who worked really hard, despite snowy conditions, to make the church interior more attractive. This also provided a white backdrop above the altar for the video projections that conveyed The Battlefield Language Academy's Christmas Truce message of peace and tolerance.

By Paula Flanagan

Gearing up for the Truce.... singing... dancing and making music.

The Christmas Truce preparations are coming on nicely thanks to the efforts of a relatively small group of highly motivated French & British people.

We are very lucky to be able to count on the following for their worthy contribution:

1. On guitar / mandolin we have the amazing trio of Derrick Llewellyn, Victor Piuk and the newcomer John Anderson who can do nice twiddly bits between verses. Without their input the Truce Carol Service would not go ahead. They accompany us on those great tunes such as John Lennon's Happy Xmas War is over, Greg Lake's I believe in Father Christmas and the popular Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer in French & English. This year we will sing three moving anti-war songs in English, French and German and we will be relying on our guitarists once more for their musical talents.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to our faithful pipers and drummer: Miccaïah Kesteloot and Pascal Lebeau. Their participation sets the skin tingling when they begin the notes to Little Drummer Boy, I'm Dreaming of Home and Auld Lang Syne.

2. We have a tight-knit group of singers who rise to the linguistic challenge of singing in four languages, even if they aren't always completely sure of what they are saying. The group is mainly made up of women and we would like to see a few more men getting involved ... but carol singing and such doesn't seem to be an acceptable pastime to most Frenchmen. I put it all down to what you do in school. I reckon that attending a religious assembly every morning at Grammar School did me no harm at all. I still love singing hymns, even if I have a pretty rotten voice, and I always recall our November assembly to commemorate Remembrance Day. Our Headmaster (Mr squeaky shoes Gibson) would recite the ode (exhortation) which was carved into his wooden lectern and he would remind us of the names on the roll of honour on the wall above our heads. I think that there is a cultural void in France because of the school system which has removed all traditional / cultural rituals from the schoolday.

3. We have been joined once again by a dynamic and very enthusiastic team from Dissidance which is a dance studio in the town of Albert. The President and founder of Dissidance Anne Ferrière is one of the dancers who loves the idea of dancing in church and being inspired by different themes in different languages. This year they have developed a series of movements that grew out of the German anti-war song Das weiche Wasser bricht den Stein. Their choreographer Tayeb Benamara had 24 hours to dream up a dance during a flying visit (just like last year) and he has succeeded once again.

So we continue to gear up for our annual Truce. We enjoy what we are doing and hope that others will venture out into the cold on December 19th to share a moment of festivity with us.

The Carol Service starts at 6.30pm in the church in Pozières. Before going into church you are invited to leave your dish of something (savoury or sweet) plus a carton or bottle of juice in the village hall in Contalmaison, as that is where we will be heading after leaving the church for the traditional Truce buffet.