TTIP Etc

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

A current news item has really alarmed me. It seems the EU and the USA are about to sign a trade agreement, or may already have done so, with some extraordinary implications. International trade agreements are, on the whole, a good thing I think; they tend to increase trade and jobs. However this particular one apparently includes a clause, current in USA law, that allows corporations to sue governments if governments take measures that adversely affect the profits of the corporations. Moreover, any consequent legal actions and their results, fines, modifications of law, etc, are in camera: not revealed to the public. I find that monstrous not only in itself but also in that it gives rights to American Corporations that we subjects of the Queen don't have; we can't sue the Crown, which includes the major government departments. I don't imagine that will worry our current Prime Minister but it sure worries the hell out of me and so it should do for every UK citizen (and the citizens of every other EU country come to that). If ever there was a case of big power groups putting one over the man in the street surely this must take the biscuit.

Autumn

Our autumn, which arrived early in mid-August, has definitely set in now. It's not just the much cooler mornings and evenings, although the days are still generally very warm, but the appearance of mushrooms such as chanterelles on market stalls and the gradual disappearance of summer fruit. I'm making sure I get the last of the melons and white peaches while they are still around before I have to fall back on the winter diet of oranges, apples and pears. Grapes are now in the shops and the muscat grapes are admittedly delicious and will be with us for a month or so.

Despite the cooler weather, watering plants has still been necessary, if not as frequently and intensively as before. I've completed more small stone walls in the back garden to keep the soil more on a level and have planted more irises and cyclamen in the roadside across from my kitchen window. I've also some more clearing up to do before winter sets in but that is about it as far as gardening is concerned.

More Provencal Marketing

One of the local cinemas, in Buis, has been refurbished over the summer and although already up and running has its official opening next week. The next month's programme has some potentially interesting films and it is a month's programme and, what's more, published and available at the same time as the films. The other nearby cinemas seem to be sticking to publishing a three-week programme, for no obvious reason. It's a small point but a month of offerings seems somehow much more natural and easy to follow than three-week periods that begin and end all over the place.

I actually find it amazing and encouraging that a former flea-pit cinema in a place such as Buis, with little over double the popuation of Mollans, can have a refurbishment. It's all part of the French dedication to culture and determination to keep cinemas open in rural areas as an avenue for culture. I think that is admirable even if the subsidy must have been enormous. And publishing the programme on time and for a month is also a leap in the right direction. It seems to have been traditional here that the programme should not be published and disseminated before the programme starts. Subsidies in this direction are great but a little advance marketing wouldn't come amiss and might even reduce the amount of subsidy needed.

On that note, I went to the Post Office because friend Jo had told me that the village had made a DVD of the recent celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the Dauphin fountain and it was available there. She also warned me that it wasn't on display and I'd have to ask for it. This I duly did, having noticed that there wasn't any poster either advertising the DVD's existence. I was then told that payment had to be by cheque. I had credit card, debit card nd cash at the ready but no cheque book with me; so no sale. It's what passes for promoting the product around here.