As you will see, the Vive la Différence series of articles first appeared in The Connexion. I had been contributing features there for some time and they had mostly been of a serious and often political kind. I wanted in addition to do something a little less heavy and thought the paper itself could do with something to provoke smiles as well as thought.  Happily Sarah Smith, the editor, decided to give it a try and, as I write, the series is still going on. 

My involvement and that of my family with France go back over four decades, first in holidays, then with a second home here and finally settling here nearly 11 years ago.  Over that period there has been ample time to observe French life and the changes it has undergone  -  just as life in Britain is very different now from what it was in the '60s.  My idea was to discuss the similarities and differences between the two ways of life, in a light-hearted way: not with a view to knocking either of them but to enjoy having the best of both worlds.  By the way, the very apt title for the series was not mine, but my wife Julia's.