A winter of discontent

France grapples with good economics versus good politics

There is hatred in the air in the city of love as millions pour into key locations of Paris to protest falling living standards and “monetised slavery”. Indeed, Paris is not alone. Protesters forming the so-called Yellow Vests movement have made a spectacle across key French cities such as Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux and Toulouse. This is the fourth weekend of such protests, many of which turned quite violent and involved widespread rioting, loot and thuggery in prominent locations. Indeed, many protests have also been peaceful but close to 90,000 security forces were deployed across the country to control the