"Martin" wrote

David Rance wrote:

Emery Davis wrote:

David Rance wrote:

There was a short discussion here a few weeks ago about the fate of Le
Chameau boots. I happened to pass their factory, now closed down, last
week and took these photos which I thought would be of interest.



Thanks very much David, indeed of interest to us anyway. Very sad.

Those who know French labour politics a little will know that it isn't
just down to a deadbeat director, though no doubt that has played a huge
role here too. The Socialist government is currently trying to pass a
modest revision of labour laws that will (among a few other things) cap
employee indemnities to known values. This is a big issue for employers,
who can easily be ruined in court even for a sacking that has a very
valid reason, and prevents hiring, making many jobs "for life" and
favouring temporary contracts. Needless to say there are big protests,
the high school students are out in force even though the new law would
somewhat ease their ability to get permanent jobs in a climate where the
under 25s are facing 24% unemployment.

Thanks for that, Emery. I wasn't aware of the politicking going on.

Something else I've only just become aware of (I'm off-topic now) and
that is that, on the 5th April, I shall lose the use of my digiboxes
(satellite *and* terrestrial) which I bought just three or four years
ago. Why? Because the French are going over completely to HD broadcasts
and stopping the SD ones. Bah! I only became aware of it yesterday when
a notice appeared on my screen to this effect but without giving a date.
So I looked in Que Choisir (the French equivalent of Which?) to find
that this month's issue tells me all about it! A bit late! If I'd known
last week I could have gone and bought some new boxes!

Haven't the French public made a fuss about this? One couldn't get away
with that in the UK (mainly because the government would be afraid of
losing votes!).

The BBC don't mind messing around with iPlayer Radio. They made existing
Internet radios obsolete with only 3 or 4 months notice.

Can you receive Freesat?

Typical BBC, I like to read and watch the news on the PC but whilst all the
other news carriers use HTML5 the BBC use Flash Player for video and as Win
10 will not allow Apps to use it's Flash Player I and everyone with Win 10
(millions!) can't see any BBC videos.
Does anyone at the BBC think about customers? I suppose the problem is they
don't have to.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK