Only in France

There was a bit of a commotion outside the office today. When I went to look, it turned out it was an office over the other side of the Avenue George V that is on strike, and the noise was the usual picket with megaphones and so on. This is France after all, so there was nothing unusual about that.

Except for one tiny thing. The office over the road is La Croix Rouge Française.

So what, exactly, is the point of them going on strike? Don’t get me wrong – I think the ability to withdraw labour is one of the markers of a civilised society. But surely if you’re working for the red cross you’re not just in it for what you can get – and isn’t there something happening in Asia at the moment that means it’s actually quite important that the Red Cross is working properly at the moment?