Janine di Giovanni reports that the French exodus continues:

The most brilliant minds of France are escaping to London, Brussels, and New York rather than stultify at home. Walk down a street in South Kensington – the new Sixth Arrondissement of London – and try not to hear French spoken. The French lycee there has a long waiting list for French children whose families have emigrated.

I grimly listen to my French friends on this topic.

From a senior United Nations official who is now based in Africa: “The best thinkers in France have left the country. What is now left is mediocrity.”

From a chief legal counsel at a major French company: “France is dying a slow death. Socialism is killing it. It’s like a rich old family being unable to give up the servants. Think Downton Abbey.”

From 2007 to 2010, the number of households that left France was around 26,000 per year. According to Philippe Marini, French Senator and president of the Senate’s Finance Commission, that number increased to 35,000 in 2011. How many households left the country in 2012? It will be interesting to see when those figures become available this spring.

(HT: Richard Reinsch)