Brain drain

Yesterday, was an interesting article in The Times telling us what we have all feared for years.

Yes, that's right, the Germans are more intelligent than us. But, at least we're smarter than the French...

What struck me is that the paper in question felt the need to point out this fact. To come eight in a list of 23, doesn't seem that bad to me.

And in any case, why did they choose these two particualar countries to highlight. The Dutch are on the same level as the Germans, and they could just as easily chosen Spain or Turkey, both of which are further down the list.

But then who cares about them.

Funny how you can have particular hang ups about particular country. I am reminded of a conversation I had with a Frenchman a couple of weeks ago. Neither of us could explain it, and the only conclusion we could come to was that between us there is a "relation speciale".

Oh, and while I'm at it, did everyone catch the story about Jacques Chirac, who stormed out of a meeting because one of his countrymen spoke in the language of Shakespeare because it is "the language of business".

Maybe Monsieur Chirac would be interested to learn that French is still flourishing in the UK. There can't be many parliaments in the world which use a foreign language to approve legislation. "La Reyne le veult"

Go figure.