I am sitting on the Eurostar train service en route to Paris for a few days of meetings. Normally, a visit to the French capital in springtime is guaranteed to lift the spirits but I have been reading some worrying statistics about the Gallic state of mind. Apparently, the French are feeling gloomy.

In a recent Gallup poll only 15% of French people thought 2011 was going to be better than 2010, way behind Iraq (44%) and Afghanistan (45%). The Nigerians came out top of course on 80%. [Read more…]