... country and western has become so big in France that the country’s bureaucrats have decided to bring the craze under state control.(HT: Cato@Liberty)
The French administration has moved to create an official country dancing diploma as part of a drive to regulate the fad. Authorised instructors who have been on publicly funded training courses will be put in charge of line dancing lessons and balls.
... In a peculiarly Gallic approach to the phenomenon, French civil servants say line dancing should be submitted to the same rules as sports such as football and rugby. This means imposing training courses for line dancing teachers and a state-approved diploma for anyone who wants to give lessons or run clubs.
Amateur instructors will have to take 200 hours of training under the new rules. Professionals will get 600 hours, including such subjects as line dancing techniques, “the mechanics of the human body” and the English (or at least Texan) language. They will also learn how to teach line dancing to the elderly.
The cost of the courses, about €2,000 (£1,570) for the professionals and €500 for the amateurs, will be largely met by taxpayers. Mr Chauveau said the regulations highlighted the French state’s obsessive desire to organise all public activity.
Tuesday 3 June 2008
Only in France
This really has to be regulation gone mad. Even for the French it is hard to believe. But this story from the Times tells us that apparently France wants to regulate and subsidize ... country dancing. Yes, country dancing!
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2 comments:
Only in France? I don't know, give Labour another three years and they could work some of this magic.
I'm surprised this sort of thing continues under Sarkozy. I doubt he'd condone it.
Ok, only in France .... so far.
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