UK should learn lessons from other countries, starting with France – Stephen Jardine

Could France help the UK to quit its junk food habit?

What have the French done for us? Apart from the obvious things like Champagne, croissants, the parachute, Brigitte Bardot, braille, Thierry Henry and the hairdryer, just what has our nearest continental neighbour ever given us? The honest truth is probably not enough.

While social media was full of images of France on fire, a visit to the rural south of the country earlier this month delivered a very different experience. There was the usual predictable stuff, the sun was shining and the shops and street markets were overflowing with seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables. That helps explain why life expectancy is better in France and obesity rates are lower than the UK.

But they also seem to have got some other things right. I drove into a car park where a camera recorded my number plate on entry. On leaving, I put my registration number into the machine, paid what was due and then the barrier lifted. No tickets, no parking wardens, just a simple use of technology.

The streets were spotless due to Draconian littering fines and a system of recycling so rigorous, it made you think twice before buying anything involving packaging. Alongside all that, properly segregated cycling lanes were everywhere and every small town had a bike hire scheme, something Edinburgh found too difficult.

Of course, nowhere has all the answers, urban France is still a tinderbox due to institutional racism and decades of underinvestment in peripheral estates. I also encountered the utterly bonkers system where cars joining a main road from a side street get priority, which still persists in the more far-flung parts of France. I saw horse steak on a menu which has always been and still is utterly revolting. On top of all that, I walked through a park where people were playing the Vanessa Paradis song ‘Joe Le Taxi’ which is frankly unacceptable anywhere.

The point is, we should all learn much more from each other. This is peak holiday season and one of the joys of travelling is the insight it gives you into other ways of life. However, governments are notoriously bad at learning lessons from overseas politicians.

In a recent podcast, former prisons minister Rory Stewart admitted one of the most frustrating things about his job was not having the time or space to see how other countries tackled offending. By the time you become a minister able to effect change, you are already sucked into a maelstrom of meetings that leave no time to learn lessons from others.

Part of it comes down to accepting we don’t have all the answers. The British Council spends tens of millions promoting Britishness around the world every year. Perhaps we need to be 'on receive’ as well as send? Aside from the vague sense that everything is better in Scandinavia, when was the last time you heard a politician actively talking up an idea from abroad as something we could adopt here at home?

Brexit has perhaps made that harder but it’s also provided an opportunity to look everywhere and anywhere for better ways to do things. Since France is closest, let’s start there. They should stop eating horsemeat and we should stop eating so much junk. You see, learning good things from other people doesn’t need to be hard.