What's your average person? An North African migrant, a union leader, a teacher turned politician or maybe a manager in a French government controlled corporation?
maybe he meant any non commonwealth citizen ?? Joke asides, and not supporting the frog central banker, London never shows up in the top 10 (nor 20 ?) city in the world of any quality of life study, whereas Paris does , so in this sense no matter wether you are lower or middle or upper class, in the public or private sector, Paris should fare better - and I suspect France should win over UK in the same manner.
To be more precise, a North African migrant perceiving unemployment benefits 3 times, a union leader who can't work anymore because he has a 30% handicap on the left hand, a teacher who-spent-2-months-per-year-on-strike turned politician and a guy who really likes his job because since work finish at 5 pm , at 3:30pm he is at home....
...opening the 2nd bottle of red wine for the day as he prepares a cheese platter while lamenting to his wife he only had a two hour lunch break.
The only reason for Britain to be downgraded is because of the banking system's exposure to French banks. Of course Greece, Italy and France are far more exotic places to live, but the UK economy is a lot more resilient overall, in part because of the huge influx of immigrants in recent years, that diversity really helps out. And this is a discussion about the economy, right? Not which place is the more desirable one to live in. In terms of possible UK overreliance on financial services, well...the finance sector is around 10% of GDP, not insane IMHO. How high is EU-subsidized farming as a % of the French GDP? I seem to recall it used to be 20% of the economy, not sure where it is today... I would like to see the UK develop closer economic ties with their traditional trading partners in the Commonwealth. Part of the problem with EU membership is that it massively restricts trade with non-EU nations.
...or lamenting about the "rich" which earn "more than they deserve" and don't want to "pay their fair share"...
Yeah, that would be good, but it's, unfortunately, not likely to happen... The only reason the old Commonwealth ties are still around (more or less) is the personal qualities of Queen Elizabeth and the respect everyone has for her. Sadly, what little remains of the old Commonwealth is likely to go with her.
Don't want to spoil the party but what does the UK produce that the commonwealth contries can't get cheaper (China) or better (Germany) somewhere else...
A few things, I guess... Education is one. Aircraft engines also, maybe. The other big thing, according to the HMRC stats, is pharma.