Bruno Le Maire, disguised as an electrician, is not in favour of freezing electricity tariffs, "too costly for public finances." He will be discussing the matter with Emmanuel Macron and the Prime Minister to decide on the rate of increase to be applied.

   Users (disguised as consumers) are not in favour of an increase in electricity, "too costly for domestic finances." They have discussed it with themselves and decided that an increase is unnecessary, given that its production cost is the lowest in Europe (and even the world, in competition with China) despite the vagaries of weather and war of late.

   At his press conference, which I did not watch last night, and which I will mention only one subject which, according to the official commentators (generally dubious about his self-satisfaction), was only mentioned incidentally as being good news, the price of energy in France returning to the norm (what norm? ), slightly lower than that of our neighbours (when the opposite is true, as with fuel, alcohol or tobacco, for example, the comparison is no longer relevant). He is leaving it up to his new Prime Minister to announce the extent of this.

   But as the said increase is the consequence of a contribution used to finance public service charges (which means everything and nothing), I think the whole thing is a no-brainer. A tax is created. Then you abolish it for a while. Then you reinstate it, arguing that you've lost revenue. Now, the creation of this tax was pointless, as it was offset by the additional VAT (see graph above) on the product, since the selling price of the supply alone has risen by around 30% over the last two years (note that VAT is also due on the contribution mentioned above, i.e. a tax on the tax). It is therefore easy to introduce taxes on anything and everything (as was the case with taxes on doors and windows from 1789 to 1926) and then exclaim that the loss of revenue would be too great if they were abolished.

   Here's an anecdote from the other day. As I was walking the dog along the little road leading up to my house, I met a neighbour with whom we chatted for a few minutes. After the usual banalities, as a car came along at speed and I called to my dog, who was wandering around on the tarmac so that he wouldn't be maimed by the driver, who was grazing us without slowing down, my neighbour became indignant and shouted, saying quite rightly that the man in question wasn't driving an electric car with a raging roar from the engine. One of his friends had bought one, which was as quiet as can be, but he'd sold it in a hurry when he saw his meter spinning during recharging. No wonder! Especially now that everything is electric, from the hairdryer to the computer, from the juicer to the washing machine, from the food processor to the hob. And the list goes on!

   And I'm not even mentioning heating or hot water, which some people turn off out of fear of an impossible bill rather than out of any concern to save energy (that nonsense repeated by fools heated in their company housing, according to which "the cheapest and least polluting energy is the one you don't use"!) It's like words: the least stupid are the ones you don't say. From there to being silent... There's a threshold below which consuming less is no longer possible. I think that many of our fellow citizens have already reached that point. At a time when prices are soaring and incomes (salaries, emoluments and pensions) stagnate are going through the roof, the first warning shot will unfortunately soon be fired. It will be as catastrophic as a yellow waistcoat riot, without being bloody. In June the Europeans will see the election of a majority of fascists and populists in Europe, before 2027 in France where a Marine Le Pen, a worshipper of Putin (whom she has met, but he likes to meet anyone as long as he, or she, agrees with him) and Trump (who did not deign to see her when she craneed her neck at the bottom of Trump Tower) energised by the ambient discontent has a strong chance of being elected the first woman President of the French Republic. A nightmare.

   Because immigration is more of a pretext than a reality (the RN vote is essentially important where nothing ever happens, in rural areas, far from the metropolises, far from immigrants), the concern being everyday life. People can't take it any more.

   If that's what they want, let this government carry on as it is, satisfied with his incompetence.