Britain risks becoming like France

For years, one of the favourite pastimes of Britain's bien-pensant establishment has been to laud France, often at the expense of this country. In their telling, France is seen as progressive and smart, the apex of European culture and the master of infrastructure, while these islands are condemned as parochial. But the scenes from France in recent weeks have surely put paid to that fantasy. France's decline is obvious and largely of its own making. Socialist economics has led to stagnant growth, punishing taxes and a state that consumes well over half of national output. A profligate pensions system, with...