french...nothing much more to add

[kinell]

are they still proudly flying the three white stripes of the french tricolour?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/arti cle-1207719/Desecration-hero-Hands-Churchill-s tatue-Paris-painted-blood-red-protesters-blami ng-death-millions.html

if not for churchill the french would be eating wurst and doing a days work......

[R1Geezer]

It is perhaps an irony that the man they most hate is one of those responsible for creating the conditions where they are allowed to safely hate people!

Lefties have have always hated the people that create the conditions for them, to have the freedom to potest and vilify. It just amuses me that they cannot ever see how stupid they are.

[R1Geezer]

how many Frenchman does it take to defend Paris?
Nobody knows, never been tried!

[Gromit]

The Rense freedom group are a group of nutters. Every country has nutters, including France.

The Mail report says
"there was widespread anger at the attack on the statue, which is next to the Champs Elysees.
A spokesman for Paris City Hall said: 'There are French people who are not great fans of Churchill, but the vast majority honour and respect him and will be disgusted by this cowardly attack.

Which seems to be a unequivocal condemnation of the vandalism.

But let's ignore that, and instead indulge in some silly anti French nonsense.

The French state as a whole can not be blamed for this vandalism, just as us British cannot be blamed for jewish cemeteries being vandalised in this country.

[jake-the-peg]

So what exactly did Churchill do to win the war - apart from make speeches Geezer. You make it sound as if he personally stormed the D-Day beaches

And whilst you're blaming the entire French nation for this you might like to explain how such an ungrateful nation came to errect the statue in the first place - one of the few to any Briton in Paris?

[Gromit]

Chuchill's statue in Paris was funded by public donations.

Many newspapers in France carried for free a full page advertisement seeking donations. 3000 donations were received and the �250,000 cost was met entirely by grateful citizens.

Can you imagine the British doing that for a foreign leader?

[kinell]

they dug deep into their pockets then...

of a population of 40.5 million some three quarters of one percent contributed on average �8.33 each such was the clamour to contribute,

we dont want or expect hollow gratitude from such an insignificant country

[R1Geezer]

Well forgive me for not wanting to start a Churchill discussion jake, it's a long and complex one and my employers are keen that I do some work!

Gromit I take that on board but really no red bl00ded Englishmen would miss a chance for a bit of Froggy bashing as when the boots on the other foot the French would no doubt enjoy bashing the Rosbifs!

[kinell]

i have been too generous in the figures.....it is more like one person in 13,500 who contributed,

my calaculator wont display percentages that small

de gaulles board and lodgings in london for the war may have come to more than that

[ludwig]

Gromit - 'Can you imagine the British doing that for a foreign leader'.

Yes I can actually. Why do you suppose they wouldn't?

[Gromit]

They only needed �250,00 and raised it, so dividing by the total population is a pointless exercise.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/206930.stm

Donations ranged from 20 to 200,000 francs.

In answer to my own earlier question, The statue of Roosvelt in Grovenor Square was funded by public fundraising. I expect if the cost of that was divided by the UK population, that too would be a piffling sum each as well.

[ludwig]

Interestingly, it looks like they had less trouble finding the money for Churchill than they did for this bloke..

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe /de-gaulle-statue-fund-short-of-pound200000-69 9534.html

[ludwig]

..Also, I don't think it was the french that did this..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/740524.stm

You can't condemn a whole country because of a few tw@ts.

[mrs_overall]

I called to see a friend for coffee this morning.....just as she was throwing 2 French tourists out of her B&B.
The B&B has a no smoking/no pets rule. The Frenchies had smuggled in a dog which pooped on the carpet, and they had ciggie burns on the duvet.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

Chuchill's statue in Paris was funded by public donations.

Can you imagine the British doing that for a foreign leader?

Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln, to name just a couple.

I presume we payed for these? Everything is funded by public donations (taxes).

The Government doesn't have any money of its own.

[Gromit]

Thanks for that AOG.

i am enjoying the thought that you helped to pay for the Nelson Mandela Statue.

[Gromit]

Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln, to name just a couple.

I presume we payed for these?

I fact we didn't. The �400,000 Mandela statue was paid for by donations, Lord Attenborough being Trustee of the fund, and The Lincoln statue was given to us as a gift by our cousins across the pond.

[anotheoldgit]

The �400,000 Mandela statue was paid for by donations, Lord Attenborough being Trustee of the fund,

Wow! that's made me feel a load better then.

i am enjoying the thought that you helped to pay for the Nelson Mandela Statue.

But so sorry to spoil your thoughts Gromit.