This evening myself and Mrs P. went for a meal with two members of the Town Twinning Committee from Sandwell’s twin town Le Blanc Mesnil. Shortly after the first bonjour my linguistic skills ran out, but Mrs P. and two local tame trots, Lynn and Godfey and our hosts, Clare and Dave Hallam, knew sufficient French to get us through. Anyway, the upshot is I’ve pledged to try and spend some time raising the profile of the Council’s twinning arrangements with Le Blanc Mesnil. Personally I would like to encourage better links between UK and French trade unionists as opposed to more arrangements between bigwigs in business on both sides of the Channel. However, our guests, Serge Jorry and Monique Chabanois thought the internal politics of French trade unionism may be a barrier to that.


Me, Monique, Serge and mine host, David Hallam