UPPER CLASS EUROPEAN LEADERS.

UPPER CLASS EUROPEAN LEADERS. The article by Elaine Sciolino (see today’s other post) has some wonderful observations on how startling it is for the French to have the change to Sarkozy from “the much older and more formal Chiracs, with their discretion, impeccable manners, old-fashioned style and easy slow motion.” Sciolino says that that the Sarkozys are criticized in the same terms that people had used for former Italian head of state Silvio Berlusconi.: “showy, vulgar, acquisitive, more nouveaux riche than old money.” The same attitudes show up in England. Margaret Thatcher was criticized because she bought her clothes off the rack—and sometimes at Marks and Spencer.