Curufinwe

( agree with you Michael ... As for health insurance in Europe, most of the countries have the following system: every citizen pays for his/her insurance according to his/her wages. For instance, I earn €1,100 a month, I pay €60 per month for my insurance ... my aunt who earns €10,000 a month must pay a lot more ... and my brother who doesn't work since he is still at school pays nothing. Then, the whole money is used as France's health insurance. Very few people have private health insurance in here. Actually, I think only expats have private insurance here ... State funded health is the best we have here ... and I guess nearly in Europe since every year we have a bunch (a geat deal actually) of foreigners from the EU (mainly from the UK) who come to benefit our health system. We all pay for our doctor or medecines, but we are always paid back ... unless we abuse the system. It works pretty well. The system relies on solidarity. However, the WTO and enormous health companies want to turn health (and education among others) into a simple service, as much as banking or transportation ... and the EU countries may fall into that trap ... wait and see ... but honestly, I really hope the system will remain the same overall. It works, everybody is happy with it. Some may say it has a great deficit, which is actually untrue .. the governement is using a lot of health money to fund other stuff, like roads, police, etc ... and that is why eventually, the balance shows -12 billion Euros ...

( True that the forums have less interest. For instance, I used to post quite much on TLA forums, but since there are no more news, even little ones, it becomes less attractive ... and same for other users. Besides, apart from HoI, the other forums are more spamming than posting ... I don't really know what could be done to make the forums more active ... but what is the best? an active spamming forum or a quality lesser active one?

( I think Uppy's middle post somewhere HAS been deleted indeed. But come on man, Erik is himself American!!!! Couldn't I criticize the French being myself French? Had I written that, I agree you could have argued, but you can't blame him for saying so!

( I was amazed at the Czech's lack of Fair Play ... there were so cheating! pulling shirts, falling for nothing! Go Netherlands! Still one match to go! you can make it!

( Thank you Erik for answering since it was night time in here. I did not say bad things about Americans ... and I wouldn't because I really like that country and its inhabitants ... Several friends of mine are American. Then, we should start joking with Belgians from now on

( Uppy, you misunderstood what I said ... What I was saying was ... if in 20 years time, you have no money to pay for your health and your insurance, you will be happy that the state pays for it ... And besides, you are focusing on a detail in the post ... have you checked out what I told you?

( Well, what a thread my favorite is indeed this one : (

( Uppy, I have already replied that st**id statement above ... If it weren't for the French in the War of Independence, North Americans would be speaking British English and would still be 13. And moreover, you would certainly be speaking French ... since, let me remind you, the French sold Louisiana (virtually all the land West of the 13 colonies) to the US in 1803 for nothing ... And besides, I don't see what's the problem in speaking German. So please Uppy, if you state something in your post, give it some proofs at least.

( I say chais pas instead of je ne sais pas or ptêt for peut-être and so on ... in the South where I live, we fully say chuis with the diphtong ui. However, in the North (near Lille and near Belgium) they say chu, quite similarly as in Quebec ... These phonetics issues are so interesting ... nearly as interesting as British/American phonetics

( Excuse me Uppy, but it happens some people are interested in History... Things have to be remembered otherwise, you end up with students who are not taught evolution or worse ... genocides ...

( Yes ... The Americans landed in Utah beach and Omaha beach ... respectively 23,250 and 34,000. So that makes 57,250 soldiers. The British landed in Gold, Juno and Sword ... respectively 25,000, 24,000 and 28,845. So that makes 77,845 soldiers. Source ... http://www.secondeguerre.net/debarquement.htm or I have books in English, American or French ... and they nearly say all the same (sometimes instead of 24000, it is 24124 or soemthing like that ...) Does that satisfy you?

( it is funny because we never use French fries or frites françaises in France ... it is generally acknowledged in here that fries are a Belgian invention I wonder how come it became French when it crossed the Atlantic ...

( I love Cheezy'z avatar ... I used to like chichigrande's, with the cartoon ... but eventually, my favorite is still mine ...

( Welcome here sp4rk3 ... enjoy spamming ... huh sorry ... posting

( I don't see the link between talking to an American and the Normandy landing (in which let me remind you there were more British troops than American troops ...). Anyway ... let me also remind you that if it weren't for France, you wouldn't be American today ... Lafayette ... does it remind you of anything? So, please do not relate things that cannot be related ...

( This is my post number 1300 !

( Hey, you watch 7th Heaven? That's my wife's favourite series She loves it ... she watches it all the time. has never missed one I have to tape them when we go on holiday or when we are out ...

( Tonight's 2 great games ... England-Switzerland ... I want the Swiss to beat the English! Go Schweiz !!!! And France-Croatia ... I am quite scared of that Croatian team. They've got excellent players ... wait and see as they say in England!

( -Student - Project Leader at HSBC (London) - Educational Adviser (in a school) - French tutor for English people - gardener (during summer holidays) - English teacher (in a high school) (current job)

( it can be 3-4 hours a day or 10 minutes .... it depends on what's on. However, more and more, I exclusively watch DVDs ...

( Well, I was disappointed yesterday by their game ...

( same here ... working for the state offers a certain security in your job, but low wages ... and career plans more difficult to get.

( next time, you will read it all

( Funny I like Zizou too I like Henry and Trezeguet too !!!!!!

( Indeed ... one's goal is to find happiness for one's family and oneself. However, about state workers getting more bona than private workers ... not in France I guess ... everyone is on the same level.