Medicare: French card may offer billions in savings on administrative costs

Seeded on Wed Jan 4, 2012 10:48 AM EST (Paris Weblog)

Excessive administrative costs consume 14% of health care spending in the USA. Roughly $360 billion PER YEAR. Inefficient billing is a major cause. France's experience with the Carte Vitale may offer a way forward.

doctors, health, medicare, health-care, waste, spending, budget-deficit, billing, overhead

The scourge of French education: absent teachers

Seeded on Thu Feb 10, 2011 3:48 AM EST (Le Figaro, Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog)

One year of school lost. Why? Because, in French public schools, when a teacher is absent, he or she is generally not replaced. The result: no class. Students, of course lose out on lessons. But that is not all. Absent teachers mean less adults in the school.

france, children, schools, learning, education, teachers, luc-chatel, french-education, education-nationale

French TV news says US helped oust Ben Ali

Seeded on Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:31 AM EST (laurelzuckerman.com)

According to the French TF1 news network, the head of the Tunisian army, who pushed Ben Ali to flee, had been in constant communication with the Americans just before REFUSING Ben Ali's order to fire on demonstrators.

tunisia, democracy, world-news, sarkozy, french-politics, ben-ali, arab-despots, french-foreign-policy

Eat worms or control population? Which do you prefer?

Seeded on Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:30 PM EST (laurelzuckerman.com)

Its easy to joke about researchers who advise us to eat insects instead of steaks to make room for billions more. Where has the debate on population control gone?

women, environment, birth-control, ecology, overpopulation, food-supply, starvation

Guns in France?

Seeded on Tue Jan 11, 2011 5:19 AM EST (laurelzuckerman.com)

Firearms exist in France. Who has them? How many? And what do they do with them?

travel, france, guns, crime, firearms, french-life

Worst Christmas gift for children: don't buy a micro pig!

Seeded on Sun Dec 5, 2010 10:31 PM EST (laurelzuckerman.com)

hey grow. Spread disease. Take up all the garden. And won't look nearly as good on you as they do on Paris Hilton. Why you should NOT give in to the fashionable urge to purchase a MICRO COCHON (or"choubidou") for X-mas.

children, christmas, pets, home-garden, bad-gifts, stupid-fashion

Ireland should renege on guarantees for the creditors of private banks - Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

Seeded on Fri Nov 26, 2010 5:33 AM EST (laurelzuckerman.com)

The Irish should kick out the government that did this, charge them with crimes, and invalidate their actions. And the creditors of the profligate Irish banks --not the Irish, French or German taxpayers--should bear the costs.

business, ireland, europe, democracy, euro, default, financial-crisis

200 prize in Paris short story contest - The Connexion

Seeded on Mon Nov 22, 2010 5:03 AM EST (connexionfrance.com)

A GROUP of English-speaking authors in Paris has launched a short story competition, offering a €200 top prize for the best piece of fiction relating to the capital.

paris, arts, writing-contests, expat-writers, short-story-contests

The Death of French Culture - Donald Morrison on why France's influence declines

Seeded on Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:41 PM EST (laurelzuckerman.com)

Don Morrison's cover article in Time magazine exploring the decline of French cultural power caused an uproar among French intellectuals. In this interview, Morrison explores his new book, The Death of French Culture. Questions by Laurel Zuckerman, of Paris Writers News.

travel, books, france, power, globalization, french-language, french-culture

EU Agricultural Subsidies : 1 BN to France but little for farmers

Seeded on Sat Nov 13, 2010 2:12 AM EST (french-property.com)

France receives around €11 billion each year from the EU in agricultural support, but very little of it actually goes to those who do the farming.

business, france, europe, food, subsidies, cap, agriculure

The strike diary of a French schoolgirl - Europe, World News - Independent.ie

Seeded on Mon Oct 25, 2010 12:52 AM EDT (Independent.ie - Frontpage RSS Feed)

What's cutting classes, blocking schools and breaking things got to do with pension reform? A French high school student observes events at her school and wonders.

france, pensions, strikes, schools, education, french-strikes

Paris Short Story Contest: Flyer to Print and Post !

Seeded on Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:10 AM EDT (laurelzuckerman.typepad.fr)

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: PARIS SHORT STORY CONTEST Deadline: November 30.

books, paris, writing, arts, stories, creative-writing, workshops, mfa, bookstores, fiction-contest

Peter Gumbel et une lycéenne parlent de On Achève Bien Les Ecoliers

Seeded on Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:46 AM EDT (laurelzuckerman.com)

L'essai On achève bien les écoliers, sorti début septembre et immédiatement passé sur la liste des best-sellers, cherche le pourquoi d'un système éducatif dont les résultats aux examens internationaux ne correspondent en rien au temps et aux efforts investis dedans. …

france, education, cole, ducation, lyc-e, peter-gumbel

200 euro prize for best short story about Paris

Seeded on Sat Oct 9, 2010 12:19 AM EDT (connexionfrance.com)

A GROUP of English-speaking authors in Paris has launched a short story competition, offering a €200 top prize for the best piece of fiction relating to the capital.

travel, paris, prize, contest, writing, stories, writers, fiction, submissions

French justice: old man still in jail for shooting robbers INSIDE his home

Seeded on Thu Oct 7, 2010 2:28 AM EDT (laurelzuckerman.com)

On August 5, 2010, seventy-three year old René Galinier awoke from his nap to find two thieves rummaging through his things. He called the Emergency Services, got his shotgun and shot them.

travel, france, justice, guns, crime, self-defense, gypsies

Should private companies take over libraries?

Seeded on Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:22 AM EDT (The New York Times)

Troubling article from the New York Times about a private company that now runs municipal libraries in four states, becoming the fifth biggest library in the country? What does it mean when a for profit company takes over?

books, learning, education, culture, democracy, reading, library

French classroom humiliation methods challenged in new book by British journalist

Seeded on Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:17 AM EDT (laurelzuckerman.com)

Peter Gumbel explores the culture of failure, of humiliation, and of harsh--even cruel--practices which perpetuate and accentuate inequalities in France.

france, learning, education, teaching, teacher-training

More - yawn - strikes in France - Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

Seeded on Fri Sep 24, 2010 4:08 AM EDT (laurelzuckerman.com)

France loses more days to strikes than any other country in Europe, but is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

travel, france, pensions, strikes, monty-python, humor, retirement

French educators talk about trying to teach gypsies in France

Seeded on Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:23 AM EDT (cahiers-pedagogiques.com)

The battle between France and Europe over gypsies is fueled by hypocrisy of a level rarely reached in public.

france, education, integration, gypsies

Roma, on Move, Test Europe's Open Borders - NYTimes.com

Seeded on Fri Sep 17, 2010 3:26 AM EDT (The New York Times)

Good article on what's causing tensions with Roma in Europe and particularly in France.

eu, france, teachers, world-news, roma, gypsies

ROMA: EU threat to sanction France provokes angry questions. What happened to billions Europe spent for Roma integration? - Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

Seeded on Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:12 AM EDT (laurelzuckerman.com)

European Commissioner Viviane Reding's threat to impose sanctions on France may have backfired. Instead of apologies, the European Commissioner is receiving questions:

france, europe, romania, budget, world-news, rom, roma, gypsies, discriminination

French politicians call on government to force McDonald's competitor to offer non-Halal meat

Seeded on Wed Sep 8, 2010 5:41 AM EDT (laurelzuckerman.com)

QUICK, a for-profit fast food chain in France, noticed an opportunity. France has six million Muslims that will spend $5.7 billion dollars this year on Halal food--that's twice the organic market

business, france, muslim, discrimination, mcdonalds, fast-food, islam, quick, integration, halal

Submit your story about Paris ! 200 euro prize plus publication for top 12 stories

Seeded on Thu Sep 2, 2010 9:36 AM EDT (writingcontests.wordpress.com)

Writers get your pens! Paris Writers News is launching its first contest for the Best and Most Delightful Stories about Paris. Twelve stories will be selected for publication in a collection of short stories about Paris. Love, hate, expectation, desire, dreams, discovery and d …

paris, arts, creative-writing, writing-contests, short-story-contest, french-living

Paris insider Terrance Gelenter talks about fate, Jewishness, French women and living the good life in Paris

Seeded on Wed Sep 1, 2010 8:23 AM EDT (laurelzuckerman.com)

Paris Writers News talks with expat insider Terrance Gelenter, author of From Bagels to Brioches, a memoir about going from a small Christian mining town to Jewish Brooklyn to cosmopolitan Paris.

travel, books, food, paris, jewish, humor, bagels, new-books, literary-events, expat-living

A modest proposal for lifting a terrible burden from the finances and morale of the French people

Seeded on Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:45 AM EDT (laurelzuckerman.typepad.fr)

French children invest ten years in studying English yet have the worst results in Europe. How much does it cost to produce one bilingual French person? Is outsourcing an option? The author of SORBONNE CONFIDENTIAL offers a modest proposal for France's language ills.

business, france, trade, english, outsourcing, humor, export, lanugages, foreign-traide

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