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It has been a week since France has elected its President and much has been said about this and the impact of the new government’s socialist policies locally and in Europe. I’m not going to use my crystal ball to find out which election promises are likely to be kept and not; like many in France, I now wait and see!

“Are Women More Moral Than Men?” was the title of the Sun’s article last April 17. According to this write-up, the study of Prof. Roger Steare (Corporate Philosopher at Cass Business School in London) involving 60,000 volunteers demonstrates that women and the over 30s have a higher moral attitude. This is because women consider the feelings of others (thus, in many instances put their own needs last) while men are self-interested and have an individual approach in decision making.

Morality refers to the principles of right conduct (‘refer’ because it’s not objective) which is independent of the law, and instead are codes set by the society and accepted by individuals for their own behaviour. Some people have lost opportunities and employment due to their immoral or unethical decision or misjudgment of what the society considers right (good) and wrong (bad). In France, for instance, it is believed that if Mr. Dominique Strauss Khan didn’t face legal battles for allegations of sexual misconducts, he would be a strong candidate in this year’s presidential election.

Morality is associated with ethics because the latter is a form of moral philosophy – i.e. what you should do as a boss, friend, parent, child, teacher, citizen or professional person in a given situation. There are cases when what’s ethical is immoral, e.g. slavery in the ancient time and today’s so called ‘donations’ to gain business contracts.

In 2008, I received a letter from the Australian Government telling me to pay AUD$20 for not voting in the 2007 Federal election. I avoided paying it by responding in writing that I now reside in France. Australia is one of about 20 countries (including Belgium, Switzerland, Uruguay and Singapore) where voting is compulsory. The penalty for failing to vote ranges from fine to difficulty in obtaining a public service appointment.

Unlike Down Under, voting in France is voluntary, which is a real draw card in this year's presidential election. The primary election is on April 22 but many French citizens are still undecided to vote and who to vote. There are 10 candidates from political parties that vary from conservatism ('Droite' - Right), socialism ('Gauche' - Left) to communism and issue-based groups, such as environmentalists and anti-capitalists. It's certainly not the lack of diversity in policies and programmes that causes indecisiveness.

The major subjects of political debates are economy, employment, taxes, social welfare, homeland security, immigration, environment and education. There are significant, as well as only slight, differences in what each party promises to do if elected. For instance:

The Socialist Party (PS) of Mr. Hollande would like to employ 12,000 jobs per year in the education sector for 5 years; Impose penalty for companies that retrench workers but give dividends to shareholders; Create public bank of investments; Give right to vote to non-citizens who have been living in France for at least 5 years; Reduce nuclear power plants; Allow homosexual couples to adopt children.

This is about Herman, a recipe given by Céline. It never occured to me that there is such a cake that requires ten days for preparation! What's even more amazing is there are people who happily take ten days to prepare such a cake!!

I thought that it is a sort of “intangible heritage of humanity.” Even if the UNESCO does not declare it, I would endorse my recommendation. It is a cake of friendship from Alsace, France. Is it called the cake of friendship because you need to think of Herman all the time, take care of it for ten days, and then share the Herman dough with your friends? Or maybe, as Herman stays in your kitchen for ten days, it certainly becomes your very good friend! Probably, the former explanation is the right one, as the latter implies that you eat a quarter of your friend in the end. Whatever interpretation can be given, Herman is special. Remember. A key to successful cake baking is respiration: Herman's steady breathing. Also, it needs to stay out of a fridge. I imagine that it is something similar to cheese making in a cave.

Ladies and Gentleman, here is Céline's recipe of THE Herman!

I’m afraid my article on French politics will be for next fortnight because something disconcerting caught my attention last week. March 17-19 was Spring Film Festival and a cinema ticket was only 3.50 Euros all over France (instead of E6.80 for under 12yo and E10.45 adults, respectively), which was a real bargain and an opportunity for families to go out and have fun.

Since I had already seen all OSCARised films, such as The Artist and Iron Lady, I opted for the French film ‘Les Infideles’ (The Players) that stars Jean Dujardin (2011 Best Actor). My film finished at 7:20pm (this was Tuesday) and I was amazed by the number of people, from preschoolers to seniors, queuing. Since rooms of good films got filled up quickly, late comers watched whatever they could because they didn’t want to miss out on this annual promotion.

While waiting to exit, a family of 5 got in and stood beside me discussing what movie to watch. The mother said, “On va regarder ‘Les Infideles’.” My heartbeat doubled and brain cells moved in different direction looking astonishingly at this family. I couldn’t help myself from telling them that it wasn’t for children. The mother asked me why and I had difficulty explaining, in the presence of 12yo and 10yo boys & 9 yo girl, that this film has explicit and highly detailed pictorial depiction of sex and marriage and ‘offensive’ reference to sexual behaviours. Adults may find the scenes of fooling around and sexual jokes amusing, especially the fornication and buttocks of JD, but it should be off-limits for minors. The family, most probably, didn’t watch the film because either they were dissuaded by my comments or refused entry.

Last Saturday, I was finishing an article on French politics when I realized that we didn’t have enough food for the weekend, and because shops are closed on Sunday, I rushed to our local supermarket. I was thrilled because I filled the trolley in less than an hour, but at the checkout my excitement turned into an unpleasant experience. My first bankcard didn’t work and the second one flashed with “code faux”. After trying twice, the cashier informed me in a high-pitched voice that I keyed in the wrong numbers and I couldn’t use it anymore. Slightly embarrassed, I scraped all the cash I had including the Euros hidden in the secret compartment of my wallet intended for emergency use only. She remarked twice that I made a mistake and when I was exiting the premises she uttered in a loud voice, “Regardez, la carte de Monsieur fonctionne”. There was no need for her to let everyone know that unlike mine, the bankcard of the man behind me worked.

I went straight to my bank, which is just across the street, and tried the same code. It worked and there’s no explanation why it failed before. I went back to the shop and told the cashier that I was disappointed with her behaviour. She raised her voice even louder, which caught the attention of the security guard who came and inquired what was happening. As I was explaining, she insisted I entered the wrong code. I told her to calm down as it’s normal for people to press wrong buttons but it’s not acceptable to be rude at customers. She didn’t have a clue what I was talking about, so I repeated “It’s uncivilised to talk in that manner.” The security guard interrupted and said “Je ne crie pas” (I’m not screaming). It was obvious my statement wasn’t for him… The French…!

Four years ago, I visited the Lumière (‘light’ in English) Museum in Lyon, France, which is dedicated to the Lumière brothers == Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas (1862- 1954) and Louis Jean (1864 - 1948). While working for their father (Charles Antoine Lumière, 1840-1911) in his photographic business, they made some improvements to still-photography (especially the dry-plate process) that was a major step towards moving images. ‘The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat’ in 1895 was their earliest film and it’s because of them that today we enjoy movies, TV programs, documentaries and entertainment.

I remember standing vividly in front of the Lumières’ extraordinary inventions, including their first cameras, finding explanations as to why the French, though pioneering in the film industry, haven’t received international accolade (i.e. annual Academy Awards) and came out with two: language (English is more widely spoken and understood) and culture (generally, the Americans are more commercially-daring).

Therefore, in 2008 when Marion Cotillard won the Academy (popularly known as the OSCAR) Best Actress Award for her performance as Edith Piaf in ‘La Vie en Rose’ (Life in Rose) and recently Jean Dujardin for Best Actor and Michel Hazanavicius for Best Director Awards in ‘The Artist,’ I was certainly thrilled.

My 60-year-old Aussie friend has been promising to communicate with me by email for 2 years. Her 20-year-old daughter left home after setting up her Gmail account and no one is around to help her in ‘this seemingly difficult endeavor’ (as she describes it). Last year, she managed to respond to my email twice during the weekend visit of her daughter. Whereas, another Aussie friend (who’s about ten years older than her) emails regularly and doesn’t miss an occasion to send me an electronic card (birthday, Christmas, Easter and Happy Australia Day).

Though the over 59yo men and women are quite diverse, generally, their knowledge is seemingly perceived as obsolete whilst youth is associated with progress and technological know-how. Old and young people have different interest, clothing taste and communication style at any one moment in time, which is described as intergenerational gap.

Generations are grouped by events (e.g. 9/11) and exceptional people (e.g. Steve Jobs) during each period: Baby boomers (1946 – 1964), General Xers (1965 – 1975), Generation Yers (1976 – 1980s), Millennials, Nexters and Me & I Generation (1980s – 1990s up to 2000), Generation Z (after 2000 – also known as Generation Multitasking/Skilling and WWW). The 2008 recession and current economic/financial crises have resulted to and continue to cause youth unemployment and poverty, which has significant consequences. One of these is that young people opt or are forced to live with their parents or relatives– a situation that can have positive impact on intergenerational gap.

Today, at our local supermarket a youth was disappointed that his restpectfulness didn't yield a positive result. He thought the elderly didn’t sympathise with and understand him; "likewise, the latter expressed irritability that the former dared to ask to jump the queue. Was it intergenerational gap? There are differences between younger and older people due to rapid cultural and technological changes that affect values, behaviours and choice of communication style, food, music, clothes, etc.

Intergenerational gap impacts on personal, social and professional spheres: children – parents/grandparents, employee – employers/bosses, teachers/professors – students, service/good providers – clients/customers, etc. It can cause problems at home, misunderstanding at work, failure at school, etc. This gap is even wider when it involves immigrant and refugee families. For example, stereotypes of coloured-skin youth in a predominantly white neighborhood may lead to insecurity and fear among elderly, particularly when the media and entertainment subjectively condemn these young people for crime and deviance. Similarly, policing strategy that includes identifying young people at risk and their environments can have negative labelling effects. Older generation law enforcement officers may target loud young people – labelled as “nuisance” – hanging out in poor areas populated by immigrants.