Baroin Claims The French Are Better Than The English: Really? (Pictures)
In an, *ahem*, uncharacteristic moment of French machismo, France's finance minister, Francois Baroin has said that being French is better than being English, at least in the financial department.
"It's true that the economic situation in Great Britain is very worrying and that we prefer being French rather than British on the economic front at the moment.
"We don't want to be given any lessons and we don't give any," he was reported as saying on Europe 1 radio.
No doubt his words will irritate Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, whose bulldog British politics saw a controversial veto of the Eurozone treaty as a move to safeguard "national interest."
However Baroin's claims won't come as a surprise on this side of the Channel, with weary albions accustomed to the French claiming they are better than the British.
In fact, one thing that the French do do better is snobbery.
Christopher Hitchens rather generously referred to it as "Gallic self-regard" but most Brits would use stronger language. Self depreciation and the Englishman go together like roast beef and yorkshire puddings but its a case of chalk and cheese for the Frenchman.
And not to knock cheddar, but French fromage is altogether a different beast from English cheese .
Creamy, smooth, and pungent with flavour, the slick slide of a cheese knife into a oozing camembert is a magnificent moment.
Washed down with a boisterous bordeaux, it can't be denied that France gives immeasurable pleasure to the palette.
It's not only wine and cheese in which French give Brits the run around either. France puts Britain to shame in that other hedonistic felicity: sex.
The French have better sex lives than the English, both in frequency and quality if surveys are to be believed. French lovers do it 137 times a year whilst lacklustre Brits manage to thrum up a bit of action between the sheets only 119 times. French kiss anyone?
After all that sex, booze and cheese, it almost seems to follow that a delicious carbohydrate would be necessary to soak up the endorphins. Which explains why French baguettes far outstrip anything that humble high street bakers Greggs has to offer.
So what are the top ten things that the French do better than the English? Huffington Post UK takes a peek (and don't worry it's not all good)
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Huffington Post UK Felicity Morse First Posted: 16/12/11 17:11 GMT Updated: 16/12/11 17:19 GMT