France and the UK are struggling with excessive national debt and political disaffection. But one is forced to make a virtue of necessity, while the other is tempted into inaction. Charles Dickens would have recognised the irony: the nation that praises freedom is shackled by its debts; the nation that suffers from market constraints could be renewed precisely because of them. The European Economic and Monetary Union protects France from the global financial market, while Britain stands alone. With this protection, the pressure to adapt is much less on France than on the UK, which is likely to prove a serious disadvantage for France. […]