Extra handwashing and cleaning costs money – but not in France
From midnight tonight, the French government is suspending all utility bills for at least thirty days:
• Gas
• Electricity
• Water
• Rent
In addition, rent and taxes are also suspended.
Don’t expect this to feature too highly on the UK news channels, for fear of making the corporate-backed Tories look bad.
No more charges for at least 30 days for the French.
In England, wash your hands & sing God Save The Queen.
Update 17/3/20: the French government has rolled back its promise today, to restrict it to businesses.
“Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire clarified this morning, specifying during a telephone interview to the press that the rent freeze “only concerns businesses“, while the non-payment of electricity bills applies to “micro-entrepreneurs, small and very small businesses“. The terms of these facilities must be specified in the coming days.”
[Translated from French]
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No doubt funded by the profits from EDF’s elec & gas to us. Tory govts flogged our assets off. Meanwhile Richard Branson demands £7+ billion from public funds, sends his employees home for the public to subsidise his parasitic operation and grins like Blair. Why don’t these “brilliant” entrepreneurs not turn to each other for bailouts❓ Why do govts lavish welfare on multi billionaire tax exiles❓❓ Where is the magic money forests❓❓❓ Why are these tax exiles such scrounging rats???
Skwawkbox. Have you a source for this to quote?
here , it was in part of Macrons speech to the nation tonight ( English translation )
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-france-locked-down-coronavirus-21703663
also note the enforcement fines for transgressing the lock down rules .
Thx for that.
Marty …not everything is fake news especially on here ?I have my main residence in France.Whats your point comrade?
Becausxe when I pass it on to other, more skeptical people, I need to prove that I’m not making it up myself and they can see for themselves.where it comes from. I fully trust SkB.
Or happy birthday twice….
France shames is, so yes this news won’t feature across the media. We don’t like seeing others do well when we’re doing so badly ourselves.
It’s been obvious from day one that for people to self-isolate their financial security needs to be protected.
Businesses fear bankruptcy and that’s because creditors and investors always expect – demand – to come out unscathed.
Ditch the idea that that’s fair and the solution becomes obvious – this time the ‘banks’ – the 1% – write off OUR debts. That includes the debts of the soon-to-be mothballed SME’s most of us work for.
Fuck off RH with your “whatabout the pension funds?” – they’re no more sacrosanct than any other tool of the elites to keep us in line and capitalism dominant.
meanwhile in the UK
Boris Johnson #coronavirusuk press conferences:
Press conference 1: isolate for 14 days
Press conference 2: isolate for 7 days
Press conference 3: isolate for 14 days
Yep, they’re totally on top of this, not a bunch of clowns, not at all.
Can almost hear the song , you put your right leg in , your right leg out , in ,out ,in ,out , shake it all about , maybe that’s exactly what’s going inside Johnson the clowns head right now .
Well done France but it’s still too little too late.
Immediate guarantees of reversion to pre-pandemic financial positions for everyone and immediate quarantine for all except essential workers – which only includes food, healthcare, essential deliveries & power etc – and testing, testing testing is how you end pandemics in the shortest time.
And you do it on a global basis immediately on identification of a virus with the capabilities of this one – if there’s a false positive the loss is minuscule compared to a false negative.
It’s so obvious I’m embarrassed to state it.
It’s even good Toryism – the longer it goes on the greater the cost, stupid.
Because they got away with it for soooooo many years, and they feel entitled to continue getting away with it.
If only ….
BREAKING: The entire UK strategy for fighting #coronavirus was based on false analysis. Scientists advising the Gov’t now say the UK only realised “in the last few days” that its Coronavirus strategy would “likely result In hundreds of thousands of deaths”
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/coronavirus-uk-strategy-deaths
How utterly coincidental that they should realise this when Jeremy Corbyn asked for their scientific evidence, that they were being guided by, be released. Rumbled …..DeathbyBoris
Meanwhile China are helping with their experience and technology to any country that asks.Not Britain of coursr?
It’s why he’s being called Pol Pot Boris (the cap fits).
Excellent gesture
France What an awful shame Boris and UK government won’t follow your example.
Slightly cynical,and I am pleased.but little Napoleon is using the virus to save his neck in a country that has his measure and hate him.Varadakar in Ireland is in the same position.Whilst in Britania the torys see a net gain by using the virus as a free gift to get rid and save money.Just another of austerity measures.
My thoughts also Joe , he thinks/hopes he has just saved his presidency .One hopes the French people are not as stupidly and easily fooled as the average Brit.
‘Freelancers’, in the ‘gig economy’……….millions of low paid workers lost their jobs yesterday. A ‘Socialist’ remedy for an UBER problem necessary to provide an income for those who may lose everything….we need to provide a basic income for everyone. It is not just the virus that will kill.
Them bloody french, turning commie…
Meanwhile, back in blighty – they’ve cancelled the Grand National meeting. Aren’t the clever, folks? C’mon, credit where due….
Even if they DID follow suit and give us a utility bill holiday (Stop laughing) You KNOW what’d happoen within 5 minutes..
…Feckin lights’d go out because there isn’t the capability to produce enough electricity.
And WHO did we turn to to build our latest white elephant…Sorry nuclear reactor?
That’s right – them bleedin’ Chinese commie barstewards – the same ones what infected everyone in the first bleedin’ place
…AND it’s etting built at massively inflated energy unit price to john q billpayer; all of it going to EDF – The FRENCH STATE-OWNED power company.
Essentially we’re subsidising their freebie!!
Oh! The irony!
Is this exemption for citizens (residents & international students) or only for corporate?
As SB predicted the media coverage of this ground breaking policy was largely totally absent.