Word: betrand
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...Betrand Dicale of the conservative daily Le Figaro - whose pages generally laud Sarkozy and his rightist government - urged readers to ignore all the non-musical discussion surrounding Bruni and her CD while declaring it "a perfect success." Dicale praised the quality of Bruni's "dense and fragile voice," the same voice that disapproving critics have faulted as hoarse and weak. That was more or less how the leftist weekly Nouvel Observateur characterized the entire CD, saying it inspired "vague boredom" in listeners with songs about, "love stories that aren't our business." "Where does this irrepressibly banal sentiment come from...
...Another round of turmoil broke out Thursday as government officials sought to explain how the 35-hour week would remain the legal reference despite draft legislation that would effectively allow companies to make their own rules on overtime. The draft being prepared by Employment Minister Xavier Betrand ignores existing agreements on between unions and French business organizations on overtime and its remuneration, leaving it to individual employers to define working hours - a move the unions decry as making employees vulnerable to bullying by their bosses...
...Despite that assurance, the 35-hour week is viewed as so damaging to businesses - and so offensive to conservative attitudes to work - that the right remains bent on finding ways of gutting the entitlement even as they promise to preserve it. A prime example came Thursday, as Betrand sought to explain why his draft legislation would not mean the end of the 35-hour week as a legal reference. "Our logic is to say 'Does the 35 hours week work for certain companies? Then you can keep it'," Betrand said. "Does the 35-hour week block others? Then...
...actions. The result was a victorious surge by France's left-of-center parties, led by the previously floundering Socialists. Leftist wrenched 40 cities from conservative incumbents, including 30 with 20,000 or more inhabitants; rightists nabbed just six from outgoing leftist administrations. In Paris, incumbent Socialist mayor Betrand Delanoë added eight points to his razor-thin margin of victory in 2001 - not only winning an outright majority of the city council, but also positioning himself as a favorite in an expected showdown with former presidential candidate Ségolène Royal for the party's leadership later...
Maybe it’s an ingrained cultural attitude à la Max Weber’s “Protestant Ethic,” or maybe social pressures are demanding we maintain an ever-escalating lifestyle. Betrand Russell once commented that “one of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” Perhaps we’re all just going crazy...