The British are among the most indebted people in the world. At the end of 2015, they personally owed almost £1.5trn, and the Office for Budgetary Responsibility forecast puts household debt in 2019 at 182% of disposable income – more than twice as much as in France. This is mostly driven by mortgage debt, but also by the heavy use of consumer credit.

… Britain has a risk-taking culture. In France, we are risk-adverse and debt is considered a social disease. Even if you want to borrow yourself to death, as in Britain, you can’t – the law doesn’t allow it. Monthly repayments, to pay off a mortgage for instance, cannot exceed 30% of your income. In other words, in France the legislators make sure you have enough left every month to buy your daily dose of reblochon and go to the movies.

So while the French are left to enjoy life’s many modest pleasures, courtesy of legislators who look after them like mother hens, the British live more dangerously, and by doing so sustain the country’s infrastructure. In other words, while we save, you spend; while we rent, you buy, sell and buy again. And make the British economy roar. As they say, no pain, no gain.”