Full transcript: Yannick Naud on London Real
0:44 Enjoy bour and welcome to London Real. My name is Brian Rose. Joining me, as usual, is Mr Nick Gabriel, and joining us in the studio today is uh, Miss Yannick Naud. Hi, and um, he’s actually running for a historic office, which is uh, a member of the French Parliament that’s going to be representing all, um, French citizens in northern Europe. Exactly.
1:13 Is that right? Yes, and so it’s the top 10 countries in northern Europe. Right? Exactly. Yeah, all the Baltic countries, Nordic countries, UK and Ireland.
1:21 I’m jealous, you get to travel to Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania. I didn’t go yet, but I’m going to Copenhagen and to Malmö. It’s a bit less sexy, but tomorrow, wow, tomorrow. Okay, that’s very cool. I was think, I was thinking of the Ides of March.
1:34 I don’t know if you saw that movie? I thought, watching it, I just wanted to be his campaign manager. Maybe you know, it might be good to see you behind the scenes, um, you know. But before we get into what you’re running for and who you’re representing, because I know there’s a large number of French citizens in London, but um, I just wanted to hit you with the general question I think of, and I think our viewers have kind of hit us with, and, and maybe even Nick feels this way.
1:53 Um, you know, when we think of politicians, a lot of people come to think, why should I bother voting? I know, I, I speak with a lot of people when with the last election, when it was David Cameron, you know, versus uh, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg, and, and a lot of people I know didn’t bother voting. Um, and uh, I just wonder what you would say to people that have a general malaise on one side about voting, and then on the other side we’ve got people fighting for their lives and places like, you know, Libya and Syria and Egypt for the right to vote.
2:19 Um, did you vote, Nick, in the general election? I actually make a point of not voting for anything. Okay, cool. We want to get into that too. Um, what do you say to that?
2:28 I, I think you, um, if you like someone, you have to be able to vote for this, for, for the existing candidate. I think what is important is to recognise the white vote, which is in fact could be a protest vote, so you go vote but you vote for no one, and in most of jurisdictions, most of countries, blank vote is a Neil vote and doesn’t count. I think it should be registered as a way to say that none of the candidates represent my view, and that will, uh, that will have an impact.
2:57 Um, having said that, I mean, if you don’t vote, you run the risk that the country will be managed by people that will make mistakes, and all in all, people fight for many years for this, Dem, for democratic vote, and you, you need to, by expressing your opinion, you you contribute to your, to your country, and if you, if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain, basically. But if you have voted, uh, you can express your opinion. What do you think about that?
3:28 Well, you mentioned earlier that, uh, the inherent danger is, um, people who would, people would be running the country that might make mistakes. But do you not think that it’s an inherent part of the human experience, that in any job or any endeavour you’re bound to make mistakes? Yes, of course, but you need to, as a, you know, you, you try to get the best people, uh, to do the best job, uh. However you select those people could be different. If it’s a company, or if it’s a government, but the, the goal should be to put the best people in charge for the best job, and, uh, it’s one way to make sure that people running the country, I mean, there’s big budgets, there’s a lot of it will have an impact on the life of a lot of people.
4:08 You want to have the best person doing it. Do you not think that best is a very, um, subjective term? I mean, your, per your, um, best candidate might be someone else’s worst candidate. Of course, that’s why it’s important to, uh, to have a vote for people to express who is best for them, and the best, you know, there’s no, there’s no best, absolute best. Everyone will have a slightly different opinion.
4:28 You’re new to PO, and it’s funny, because you’re not like an insider. When I watch a movie like the Ides, you look at all the dirty side of politics, and you look at these guys that, that maybe start off ideally, like, um, Ryan Gosling’s character. He believes in this guy, which is George Clooney, and then after a while these politicians morph into just getting reelected, and it becomes almost like a business to them. Now you, you’re new to this game, so how do you feel?
4:50 I mean, do you, as part of you, hesitant to get into this potentially dirty business in politics? Well, I was coming from capital markets, where I used to trade and everything, and I was thinking, you know, I was quite thick-skinned, because, you know, if you work in capital markets, you, it’s tough, it’s tough every day. You have to, you know, for your client, you have to make money. Everything. In fact, as you said, I’m pretty new to politics, but this is what I saw so far.
5:17 It’s, I mean, it’s not shocking, but it’s, it’s much more ruthless than what we actually have in finance. It’s much, um, fierce, and it’s, you know, it’s not like legal or not legal. What you can do, what you can’t do, what is ethical or not. Like, everything is, goes, everything goes. You know, there’s, there’s an MMA fighter named Chris Lidle who just retired from the UFC, and he just started, he’s running for Senate in Michigan.
5:37 He said the same thing. He said it’s just ruthless. There’s no rules. There’s rumours, there’s lies, and there’s no, there’s, you can’t do anything about that, right? You know, um, can you bring that mic up just a little bit?
5:50 Uh, there’s an expression, if you play in the mud, you’re going to get dirty. And, um, did you ever watch it? I know you’ve watched that show, The Wire. Yeah, love it. You know that guy, who’s, he was running for mayor, right?
6:01 Yeah, he was running for mayor, Carcetti, and he started out as this young idealist, and he really wanted to make a difference, and in the end the system broke him. And, um, you know, Yannick, you seem like a cool guy. I don’t know you, I don’t, I don’t even know what your aspirations are, except for what I watch, your CNBC appearance. Um, but if I were a betting man, I’d say that in 20 years’ time, you, like all other politicians, will have been corrupted by the nature of the game.
6:27 How would you answer that? Well, I, there’s one thing for sure, it’s I’m not going into politics to make money. I mean, there’s no, there’s no money to be made. I think doing local politics at the MP level. Why are you doing it?
6:40 I’m doing it because, uh, in the last few years I’ve been asked by a lot of media to comment on policy, and I’ve been doing it on TV, on radio, in the paper, and at one time I was a bit tired, and I wanted to move from being an analyst and stop saying, you know, they should do this, they should do that, that’s wrong, and instead trying to be, you know, trying to be an actor of the change, and there’s not so many ways to do it except trying to do it yourself. And since there’s no I mean, it’s a new seat, it’s a new election, there’s no incumbent candidate. I think it’s the best place to start.
7:16 Can you talk a bit more about what’s going on? Because I had never heard of this, but you’re basically, it’s, it’s a new, you said it’s 11 new seats that’s been created in Parliament to represent French citizens abroad. Exactly, for the first time, on the third and 17th of June, uh, French people living abroad, all over the world, as long as they registered in the electoral list, will be able to elect 11 MPs, uh, for all over the world. So there, there’s an MP for northern Europe, that’s what I try to win.
7:44 There’s an MP for North America, Canada and states, and there’s an MP for east Europe, and you know, and so on. And therefore those MPs will have exactly the same rights, like MPs elected in a domestic France, uh, they will have to go to Paris to vote, to vote laws and to suggest new laws. And the difference is the constituency is outside France. Right? I, I love this concept.
8:13 I mean, I understand where you’re coming from, because I vote for, I vote for a presidential election every day, and I send my vote off overseas, and it goes in the mail, and I mean, honestly, I, there’s rumours that some of those votes don’t even get counted, and I’m always like, okay, I’m one out of 200 million Americans voting, and does it really matter sometimes? But then also I think, okay, I’ve got someone representing me there. They potentially, their job is to represent my interest, say, potentially overseas, and if not, I can re-elect someone else.
8:37 So I don’t have this option. Like, there’s 435 members of Congress and like 102 members of Senate and a president. So I can elect President, but I can’t represent someone in a parliamentary capacity to go out there and try to fight for my, whatever, my rights as an overseas citizen. I get dually taxed. I pay US federal taxes, or the higher of UK or US, and um, yeah, part of me wishes that I’d have representation.
9:00 Part of me also wonders if it would make a difference. Um, is that kind of where you’re coming from? It’s my, uh, personal opinion that, uh, especially in a place like the US, um, the government is bought and paid for by corporations. I mean, okay, well, what about a place like, you like, Egypt, where it is like the Army runs the government, and people are like dying to try to get this democracy. Do you think they’re mised?
9:21 That’s a very good question. I mean, because they fight, that these people are dying, supposedly, for this right, for democracy, and then we in the West, a lot of us take it for granted. Is it better to have some representation or some accountability? Than one. It’s, I, I guess, Brian, it’s, um, it’s an imperfect system in an imperfect world.
9:38 You know, democracy is probably like the least bad of a bad bunch. Yeah. Um, I guess that’s probably my view on the whole thing. Maybe capitalism is the least bad of a way to set up a society, to a certain extent. Um, yeah, but there’s one thing to be said.
9:52 I mean, no system is better. I think, for example, Nordic countries’ parliamentary democracy works very well. I think one thing in states, which is odd compared to a lot of other countries, there’s no cap in the amount of money you can spend on your campaign. But this year, too, with the super PACs. You mean?
10:09 I mean, you can, you know, the campaign. I mean, in a, for example, in my campaign, I can spend 50,000 EUR, and it’s capped. If I spend more than that, I’m out of the, uh, even if you get individual donations, like in small amounts. Yes, even. Yeah, so, uh, in States, you know, in the presidential race, I mean, the spending, uh, they spend enormous amounts of money.
10:31 So maybe, and because they spend so much money, they need to receive a lot of money from individuals or other people, and it makes them more susceptible to influence. I would think. Yeah. I mean, Obama got elected. I think one of his big things, you know, was getting lots of small amounts of money from a lot of people, and he, like, used the Facebook, and he did a really good job, got lots of $100 donations from students and kids and the change platform.
10:53 And, but he got to Washington, and obviously he was the change guy, and he had a really hard time, because I think he showed up at Washington, and there’s this whole lobbying effort, there’s this whole bureaucracy. I think you’re right, money corporations control a lot of these senators, and he had a hard time trying to enact change. Um, at least he’s doing some. I mean, you know, what, at the end of the day, I, I complain about politics and stuff, but I mean, they are, um, you know, it’s practice, it’s action, that they’re doing something right.
11:19 Um, which I, I, I respect and admire. I think, I guess, the more transparency it gets. I mean, 20 years ago, 50 years ago, I mean, we had Watergate happening 50 years ago, where it was like a president was paying to spy on another C party. I mean, maybe that happens today, but it was really blatant, so maybe we’re getting a little better each year. I don’t know.
11:37 We had some comments on Facebook, like, and I’m curious what your thoughts are. Are we going to get to a point one day where, I mean, Joe Rogan, which is a guy who inspired our podcast, always says at some point the internet will decide, because everyone will vote on issues, and maybe we won’t re-elect someone like Yannick to go to France. Maybe we’ll be able to vote on every law, you know, just ourselves, go on and click. Um, and then some people say that could be hacked.
11:59 But uh, what do you think about that? First of all, I mean, for the first time in France, this specific election, which is the 11 MPs abroad, it will be the first time that it will be possible to vote, uh, by internet in France. It’s different in every country, but the first time, it’s the first test. They will do it for the first time. They haven’t done that in the States, I know.
12:19 And the way it will work, you will, you will, uh, a bit like when you try to do a bank transfer, you will vote online, and they will send you a text on your phone, and you will put the code, uh, as a password or as a whatever security thing, and by doing that, they think that the system will be safe enough for you to vote. Basically they copy the system from, you know, online banking system. Um, so it’s a very, it’s very difficult to know how many people will vote, uh, out of the, uh, I can see in my constituency, uh, 60% of people, they gave their, uh, email address.
12:54 Okay, and therefore 60% of people they should, should be able, as long as they have a mobile, some of them don’t have mobile, but I would say 50, 50% of people should be able to vote by internet. That will be very interesting to know. In fact, you know, they have this right to vote by internet. What will be the percentage? I think Brian’s question, if I’m not mistaken, he’s saying, what, what if we, um, just bypass the whole concept or notion of representation, and every now and then the government just says, okay, we’re thinking of, uh, changing this law, log on to this website and, uh, make your decision.
13:26 I mean, do you foresee that in the future? Do you think that could ever happen, cuz then guys like you would be out of a job? Yeah, the, the point is, um, right now when you elect someone, he has five-year or four-year terms in state to do what he thinks is necessary for the country to get better. Okay, and having five years’ leeway is more, it’s probably more possible at the beginning to do the, you know, to do the tough decision, maybe not popular decision, but that will be good for the country in the next few years’ time.
13:57 Uh, you can’t, you know, as a company, you can’t manage a company looking at vision. You know, you need no quarter-by-quarter vision. You need to have a long-term vision, and if you were, if you were voting for every single law, every, you know, every Sunday, for example, first of all, I mean, at least a good thing, you will be less watching TV, probably doing something else, but you know, there will be a lot of short-term decisions, and in fact it will be worse than, you know, a lot of time they complain that politicians are just looking at the poll, and depending if the poll are against or in favour of something, they will vote the same way just to stay popular.
14:31 If you were in a system where people were voting, con, I mean, constantly, you will have a lot of short-term decisions, so I’m not sure it will be better. I think what is true is, it’s like, sometimes you have to make a referendum. You have to ask people to vote on this, very, very, very specific subject. Okay, and, uh, and internet will, uh, will make it, uh, easier, uh, because you know, instead of going on Sunday, or here in UK during weekday, and vote physically, it will be, it can be much quicker, and a lot not a lot of people.
15:03 A lot of people are living in the countryside. It’s not easy to, to, to move to vote. So if you want more people to vote, you have to give them the choice to vote online as well. I think it’s exciting that it’s, it’s online, it’s going to be possible, and I mean, you can argue that everything can be hacked, but um, you know, at some point voting machines can be hacked, and we know Russians electing, are Russian elections are stuffed. I mean, they had a region in Chia that had 105% voter turnout, and they, they were people like, okay, what’s going on here?
15:27 And they were just, you know, shipping people from station to station to vote. You know, but and I also think that, I mean, like Obama, he’s in a position with all this knowledge that we, he has that we don’t have, and he has a long-term perspective, and I think there’s a point where if you go to poll people in Iceland or in Greece right now, they’re like, no more austerity, no more this, we want this, this, this. And I think sometimes the public could probably think a bit too much short term at some point.
15:50 Right, yeah. I think they, I mean, I think like every organisation, it’s good for people to take long-term decisions instead, and they might be right, might be wrong, but they have, they need to have enough time to take a sometime tough decision that will pay up in a few years’ time. I mean, if we look at companies now, we realise that, for example, in Germany a lot of companies are taking, you know, they’re not looking at quarter-to-quarter results, and therefore now in 2012 they have much bigger market share than UK or a French or American company that are obsessed by the quarterly result.
16:22 That’s, um, an interesting, uh, or very smart friend of mine once, um, said to me, the, the reason, reason that China’s ascendancy has been so rapid is because they aren’t stifled by the democratic, the short democratic cycle. They can plan in 50-year chunks. China is an interesting place. Um, and I mean, I guess a lot of the world’s most powerful and influential people, um, if you look at, we spoke about on a previous show, like, uh, one of your friends, he was sending his kid to a school, and he had made that choice based on the friends that his kid would, um, make at that school, so he’d grow up to have certain business partners and networking, um, contacts.
17:03 So I guess there’s an argument for that, right? Communism, there was something in The Economist, and you probably seen the ads The Economist does in the tube, which is interesting. It’ll say prostitution should be legal, and then next it will say prostitution should be illegal, and it says, okay, it gives these women a place to work if they want to, and then illegal, and has arguments for and against. It had something on communism in China, saying the West says it’s not popular, no one gets to vote, but on the other flip side they manage a lot of long-term policy decisions for a country.
17:29 That if you had the people vote popularly, it could turn into, you know, potentially civil war with all the economic differences. What do you think about, when you look at progress? I mean, I, I spent six years in Japan, and I mean, a lot of the growth in Japan was done where, in fact, when the regime was not very democratic, whatever it was, it was, you know, it was occupied by States for a while after the war, or after, and after that it was not truly a democratic process.
17:56 Same for South Korea, for many years. Singapore, Singapore is still not democratic. I think obviously, uh, what we have to achieve is democratic states everywhere, because everyone should be able to, uh, to change the, the country is, but that, that statement, everyone should be able to change the country. I mean, there are certain individuals, like for example, one of the reasons I don’t vote is because I don’t have a very strong understanding of politics.
18:24 Like, I don’t think my vote should carry as much weight to someone like Brian, who sits and reads Strat 4, and, um, he’s educated, and, and I don’t know that that’s true. I mean, if you look at, but still affects you at the end of the day. I might have my own interests, you know what I mean? Look, the average, the average, uh, not the average guy, but, um, a lot of people, um, go and have McDonald’s every day for lunch, right? And they make such a, uh, poor decision regarding their own nutrition.
18:52 Do I want their decisions regarding, um, I don’t know, public policy? Do I? There was a book written in the 1800s called The Tyranny of the Majority, I think, in the States, and I think it talks about what you’re talking about. Your point is, I mean, in some countries, like in Switzerland, you have to vote. Really?
19:09 Yeah. Okay. And you, if you not vote, I mean, they can, they can find you, and you know, you have to, everyone has to vote. I think it’s a bit extreme, and if you don’t want to vote, you should be allowed not to vote, obviously, and I think, uh, you have to allow the protest vote, which is, you know, you go to the polling station and you said, all those guys, I don’t like all those guys, I will have a blank vote, just for you to show that you know, no one represents you.
19:34 I think it’s necessary. Okay, do you think a blank vote would just show people of the kind of, uh, disinterest or malaise that’s out there? There’s a lot. I mean, there’s a lot of, uh, research, a lot of research have been done on that. I mean, so far it’s disregarded.
19:48 I think, uh, if you were showing on the election day that, you know, this person got a certain percentage, this person got a certain percentage, and in fact the blank vote is a, is a very higher percentage than any other candidate, that will mean something, that will mean that you know, the existing candidates are not really representing, um, the, the voice of the population. After that, there’s some, some, some politicians want to go a step further and put in the law something saying that if the blank vote is above a certain percentage, then you have to redo the vote, or something like this. It’s probably a bit extreme, but I, I think the first step would be to recognise the blank vote.
20:27 Would you vote blank, uh, if I was forced to? Um, but otherwise it’s kind of the whole point. Why would I bother? So why would I bother to vote blank? Kind of thing.
20:36 Let me ask you a question, Brian, please. Um, knowing what you know from, uh, The Wire, and, uh, did you see The Wire? By the way, you familiar with it? Okay, there was some politician that was, um, he was voted, he was elected in Denmark, I think, that said part of his treaties was everyone in the country should watch The Wire. Interesting, that was part of his political party.
20:55 Yeah, anyways, go ahead. It was a, a five-season series in the States. I know, I didn’t see all of it. Great show. Way watch, Baltimore Police versus the criminal factor, versus some politicians in there, and stuff.
21:07 But what was your question, dude? Um, so understanding what you, what you do about politics, and the nature of it, and the fact that invariably a large proportion of people involved in it turn out to be, as you said, ruthless or corrupt, or, um, is that different than any other industry? That’s what I wonder. I don’t know, is it? I mean, we see price fixing that Apple did with their e-books recently, and we see, you know, the, the oil spill in the Gulf, and I just wondered if it’s different.
21:33 I don’t know if it is. I don’t know, but my question to you was, um, and I want an honest answer, and it’s, I guess it’s going to be, it’s going to be tainted by the fact that Yannick is sitting right here. Why, I should do, do you think that an honest man can make it in politics? Interesting question. Um, an honest man, okay.
21:53 I guess that’s a man who refuses to backstab, and, um, refuses to play that, that game of sub-subus, and, uh, I, I will answer this question on the 4th of June. What the vote, I have, I have another question. Is that after you’re elected, Yannick? It’s the first round. The second round is 17.
22:11 So I mean, I will have an idea on the 4th, and maybe on the 18th I’ll tell you exactly the answer. Um, I mean, well, I guess I, at first, I’d say, what is honest? One man’s politics is another man’s backstabbing. I mean, you know, you’re in your own business. I mean, you’ve run things all the time.
22:25 Would people say some of your decisions are cutthroat or backstabbing? At some point, you know, I learned to compromise. I learned the hard way. I’m reading a book at the moment, right? Um, called The Count of Monte Cristo.
22:35 Um, fantastic book, fantastic book, and uh, I watched this program once, um, and the guy was, French author, yeah, Alexandre Dumas, right? Um, I watched the program once, and the guy was using, uh, Count of Monte Cristo as a text, and he was showing how, um, the protagonist Dante, at the start of his life before he was imprisoned unjustly, um, he was a good and honest man, but the problem was, was he hadn’t had enough experience with the dark side, with the shadow aspect of human nature, and that’s what allowed him to get totally rolled the way he was. And, um, I don’t know that many good and honest men.
23:09 Yeah. All right. Well, if I’m just thinking of politics or business or anything, can you go through and be completely honest the whole, the whole of your life? I don’t know what that means. I mean, like, in business, if, if I want to, like, shut down a competitor and be ruthless and underprice him, and, and hire all his staff, legally, some people would say that was ruthless and wrong, and, but that’s, but that’s capitalism, isn’t it?
23:29 To a certain extent. Well, to a stone-cold killer, that’s capitalism. But where do you draw the line? Like, where, where it’s, I guess it’s the age-old question, um, okay, so, so lying on a, a spreadsheet, or, or maybe stealing a customer from someone’s, one thing, but where is the line drawn? Like, what stops you from f***ing poisoning the guy at a, at a, a dinner, like, whether you get caught?
23:51 You know what I mean? But I mean, I think everyone in their everyday lives compromises themselves all the time. It’s funny, when I had a buddy that worked at Deutsche Bank in the City, and his friends were calling him a greedy banker, like a year ago, two years, and he said, one, he stopped at one point. He said, he’s like, I don’t think greed is monopolised by bankers. He’s like, there’s greed, there’s greed everywhere, and there’s people cutting corners all the time to get the job done, and anyone in any job, they do, probably sees points where they can maximise or minimise.
24:16 But I guess politics, why, why are we so, or why are you so, uh, not happy with politics? Is it because we’ve seen so many examples, so many public examples of people being corrupted? Yeah, I think that’s part of it. Another part of it is, you know, like, um, I read something a long time ago that shaped a lot of my opinion, and that is, um, you know, governments or political systems usually start out quite small, you know, like within a tribe, there’s a group of elders, and then as the civilisation and society grows, so does the political system, and what happens is it becomes bloated and it becomes greedy, because it requires a lot of resources to support it.
24:54 Um, and I mean, it’s a paradoxical thing. Capitalism, it’s pretty much anti-capitalist to me. That’s why I’m quite surprised that someone like you doesn’t, um, have complete disdain for politics? Because to me it’s the complete opposite of the efficiency of capitalism. I just think a democratic system, and you can tell me if you think you’re wrong.
25:13 I think right now it’s the best option, and, um, I figure I might need to engage and play the game, rather than just to ignore it, because if I ignore it, I’m almost committing a crime that’s ten times as worse. That’s a good point. So I can at least, especially look at the Green Party, and look at, you know, Nick, and all that coalition government. Okay, they’re not doing a great job, but new people have a voice. So I think in every human endeavor you, to compromise, and like I think the main point about politics, uh, which there’s a lot of job, a lot of work to be done in a lot of countries, uh, which already be done in, not the country, you have to make it as, uh, transparent as possible.
25:46 I mean, if you, in Denmark for example, you can see every, uh, every parliamentary decision, every decision is recorded, every text can be online very quickly, and you know, know if it’s, uh, I mean, obviously they can be excess and everything, but if it’s, if the transparency is greater, it should improve a system. I mean, I give you another example. In Norway, I don’t think it will be done in France, or in UK, or in US, anytime soon. In Norway you have an iPhone app to be able to check the tax, the, the, the, the tax paid, but anyone, you want, in Norway, really.
26:20 So, aming, if, if you go to, if you go to a bar and there’s a guy chatting a girl, she will go to the toilet, check your phone, and check how much the guy, how much the guy was making last year, and depending on the result, she will chat the guy. That is incredible. Interesting. I think transparency is the way. I mean, it also, if you limit the public campaign amounts involved, and if you make every decision, like you said, public.
26:42 I mean, all the Congressional decisions are public, and the more you make it transparent, even if you go out, down to the expenses they’re claiming and see, okay, how much are they claiming for their flights and their private jets? If they’re doing that, I think that can only make it better. That’s one, uh, what you mentioned there, is one of the things that’s just really left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t, I don’t read newspapers anymore, but when I did, it, I invariably saw every time I picked up a newspaper, a story about some, um, politician spending this huge amount on flights for him and his wife to go shopping and where, and I don’t know.
27:16 Just, I guess it’s misguided idealism, Brian. It’s, it’s their job also to report the bad news. But yeah, I mean, and they’re getting weeded out, all those MP expenses and stuff, and that’s probably not going to happen in the future. I mean, the system has a, reading, consum on it. It’s just opened my eyes to I guess, the system has improved so much, because the amount of, um, evil in, in that, what was happening, like in the, with the Revolution and everything in French politics at the time.
27:42 I just, it, it blew my mind. It, an old boys’ club in that, great, and everyone just was conspiring and things. I have one, one question for you. Um, Yannick, you know, I, I don’t know you, but based on, on first appearances, and this first impression that I have of you, you seem like someone who has a good and, and honest and open face, right? Um, I would like to ask you, have you, um, got any internal mental checks and balances that you’re going to use to make sure that you don’t become corrupted by the system?
28:13 Well, I mean, I have to express my judgment on everything I do, and basically people, I me, the process of election is you have to trust someone’s judgment for the next five years to make the right decision. Um, like I say, I’m not going into politics to, in order to, to have more power. The idea is to really influence the, the way the money is spent in France, and the way the government is run, to make it better. Uh, that’s my only motive. There’s not a big, a big plan to, to gain anything from it.
28:49 Not TR. Do you see problems in France that you’re like, I wish that could change? This, yes. I mean, especially, I mean, it’s less on the ideology, it’s mostly on the economic. The economic policy in France is in a total disarray.
29:01 It seems like a big old bureaucracy that’s not moving in the right ways, with subsidies for people growing grapes, they shouldn’t be doing it, and maybe I’m generalising, but no, no, but I mean, there’s a lot. I mean, a lot of countries, I mean, we’re living in UK. I mean, a lot of countries have a pragmatic, uh, government policy, and in France a lot of things seem to be, uh, governed by, you know, ideology and other things, and there’s a, there’s a lot.
29:26 I mean, even, I mean, without big ideas, or, you know, there’s a lot of things to do today to make the running of the government, uh, smoother and cheaper and better. Just, simply things. It’s not going to save the world, but at least, you know, if you can save, if he’s going to save some debt, uh, debt of the government, you know, that will be good for everyone. You know, I had a question that you’ve pretty much answered already, but, but be interested to hear your opinion on it.
29:51 Uh, you know, when we’re, when you’re a kid, you know, all the kids, all the boys in the neighbourhood, like, this one wants to grow up to be a fireman, this one wants to grow up to be a policeman, or a doctor, whatever. I mean, how often do you hear little kids saying, I want to grow up to be a mayor or a politician? I was a senator one time for Halloween. Yeah, I was. Yeah, okay.
30:08 But it’s, it’s refreshing to hear someone that has, like, something they want to, that’s bigger than the greater good. Like, okay, I think I can change this, knowing that you’re going to be going uphill. I mean, you’re going to be one of 537 people in a parliament, which is, so, going to be far from easy. Yeah, far from easy. And you’re, I mean, I, I was wondering, okay, it’s day one where you walk in, you go into Paris and walk into the Parliament, and you’ve got this crazy interconnected social political group of people, and you’re trying to be the, I’m the change guy, and they’ve met you every year for the last 200 years, and, um, they’ve got all these social ties, economic ties, old boys’ ties, and you’re going to be trying to, like, knock at the door.
30:44 The good thing you’ve got is that you represent potentially an economically influenced group, being French citizens in London. But what’s that first day going to be like? I don’t mind to be the underdog. I mean, I’ve been the underdog in my old career. I’ve been working for smaller, smaller companies, and everything.
30:58 Now I work in a small firm, you know. I don’t, I don’t mind. I mean, even, you know, if it’s difficult, it’s, it’s worth it. Okay, so it’s all I can do. I will do I will try my best to try to change things.
31:08 I will probably make mistakes. There’s a lot of things to, there’s probably a lot of things to learn, but you know, I can, uh, I can learn quickly. You know what, I, I wish, um, hearing you say that, you know, what you say sounds really altruistic and, um, pretty good, but that’s uh, that’s politician’s job, right? What politician, so cynical? I’ve never seen you this close-minded about something, but what I, what I’d love is, like, if we had, like, an x-ray machine that could x-ray your soul, and we could just see straight away if he’s really on point.
31:37 You too. Yeah, for sure. But you find some bad stuff. It’s a good idea, because you have pretty good equipment here. You should put a lie detector as well.
31:44 I mean, I’m sure you can buy one on eBay. I’m sure it doesn’t cost a lot. You put a lie detector, and you can see on the, on the, on the graph if the guy’s lying. Imagine having every candidate do a polygraph test. That would be incredible.
31:54 You would be surprised if he would pass. Now, but if we, the whole Parliament, like at once, you know, and see what they were like, or in five years’ time, be, well, they were all lying, but which one was lying the most? What I’m curious about, say we take ourselves forward five years, and you’re actually running for reelection. What’s Yannick now going to be like, in all in all honesty? It’s probably going to be no more hair, or everything going to be white and wrinkled.
32:16 I mean, it’s pictures of Obama. Obama, man, he’s aged so fast. Yeah, and every, I mean, it’s not only Obama. Every politician, I mean, Tony Blair, for example, I mean, he did some very bad things when he was prime minister, but he, you know, he aged a lot, and it looks like, I mean, you would think that, you know, you have a good life, you have a private jet, or whatever, you, you have dinner with heads of state, but it looks like it’s very stressful, because when you look at president before and after, you know, it’s not an advertising for a health clinic or whatever.
32:46 It’s really people just constant, constant pressure and stress, constant, and like, when you’re a chief executive, you’ve got everything riding on you. I mean, like, you look at Obama, he’s giving a, um, a, it was like a presidential dinner, the White House correspondence crew, and he’s making jokes when he just pushed the order on Osama, and he’s sending 70 Navy Seals, of that potentially die, and he’s cracking jokes at the same time. I mean, that’s a lot on your mind.
33:08 I mean, as an MP, you probably don’t have that many crucial decisions, but it’s 24/7. Yeah, yeah, you, you have media. I mean, you have media too. You have media attention, and you have to be, like I say, everything has to be completely, uh, uh, open to everyone. So obviously it should be pretty difficult.
33:25 You know, The Onion, do you watch The Onion? You read it? Um, it’s like a humour publication in the States. There’s a website you might have seen it, and, um, it had one, one joke, and it was like, Obama is, um, he’s, uh, trying to convince the Americans why he would bother running again, you know, it’s like, because he’s like, why would I want all this s*** on me that you put on me, cuz it’s always his fault, and you know, never nothing works out right?
33:46 I mean, it’s a bit of a thankless job, too. Right, totally. It’s a weird combination of ego and power and public service, and I agree it has so many weird feelings. Do you have feelings? Well, look, personally, if, if I, um, if you said, oh, you’re not sure if any industry is untainted by, by, um, uh, the dark side of the shadow, and I’m inclined to agree with you, but politics is just, I mean, when you hear about a corrupt politician, you don’t even bat an eyelid.
34:12 You know, it’s just, it’s so the nature of the game. And as an outsider looking in, I always, the, the thing that runs through my mind is, why would I just want to get involved in that? Why would I want to just, you know, what? And and, you, you seem like, if you want to change it, that’s the only way to do. I mean, you can vote.
34:30 You have one vote. At least, if I get elected, I will have one vote, not out of 40 million. They will have one vote of 577. As Brian says, still, very, it’s still going to be difficult to change things, but at least you’re getting that. I mean, you look at the nuclear disaster that was in Japan recently.
34:45 Okay, this horrible thing happened in a country where you think is one of the safest places in the world, and it was a lot because of really bad bureaucracy. And now you see what Germany did, they’re shutting down all their nuclear plants, so like the Green Party is really powerful in Germany, and there’s a big youth vote, and they’re basically voting with their, with their votes, they’re shutting down nuclear power, when Germany really can’t afford to be dependent on Russian oil, but they’re doing it. Right, and you look at the liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg.
35:09 I mean, he’s part of a coalition government. I mean, it’s hard to believe that that happened. So these votes can make a difference. No, I’m sure, but it’s like, it’s important to address what Nick’s feeling, cuz like, there’s a lot of people like you, and um, there’s people like, why should I bother voting, you know? And it’s usually, it’s usually young, younger people, you know.
35:26 Actually, maybe it’s older people too. I, I think, the, I mean, I don’t have any statistic. I think obviously people have to see that they will, uh, you know, what they do have an impact. And in the past it’s true that either because people were having, I mean, some people make promises and don’t fulfil those promises afterwards. It’s, it’s, it’s normal for some people to feel they’re not, they’re not interested, but you know, at one point, uh, you, you know, the way the country is run will affect your life, and therefore you should be involved.
35:57 How do you, um, how you finding this political race? I know you said you have kind of a, you’re more of the moderate candidate. You’ve kind of got the, to just generalise, the Tory kind of candidate, the more right side, and then the liberal, sorry, what they call the Labour side, the more left side. You’re more in the middle. Yes.
36:11 How do you start a campaign? How do you do this? What’s the fight like? You said a little, it was, it was not as clean as you thought it might be. I mean, it’s at the beginning, it’s first of all, it’s a local election, so there’s local things to be solved for French people living in the constituency.
36:26 It’s mainly about education, taxation and the right of double nationality. You know, so it’s not a big ideological debate about what should be done, we do or not. It’s like, you know, everyday, uh, everyday concern that French people can have, you know, in terms of taxation. You know, you have a double taxation in some part of the, you pay some tax in France as well as tax here in UK, or in some other country. Um, in France, because there’s quite a lot of pressure from the extreme right, the, the right to have a double nationality, starts to be in a GE party.
37:02 It’s harder and harder to keep double nationality. I think, I mean, some countries don’t recognise double nationality traditionally, and why not? But in France we’ve been doing it for many many years, and it’s something that makes the country better. It’s a tricky topic. You do, you have dual nationality, South African and Greek, right?
37:17 I have dual nationality, as UK and US. And are you, oh, I’m French. My wife is Japanese, and in Japan, because it’s an island, because it’s a kingdom, and because of the tradition, they don’t have the right to nationality. Lot of countries don’t allow it. If you wonder, if you think about dual nationality, the whole concept of it is quite confusing, because if you ever did have to choose one nation or the other, it’s, it’s tricky.
37:37 I think you should have an economic right not to pay taxes in two countries, but like, you know, for you, what would you choose? Or if I had to choose, you shouldn’t have to choose. I mean, you can have two, deity, and you will feel close to you know, like, you know, it’s, you can drink tea and you can drink coffee. You get drafted by both. Yeah, I mean, if we, if we, if we take, uh, the ideal that I have in my mind is, is, as we’re, as the planet is, I personally feel that we’re moving towards a new type of consciousness.
38:04 You know, we started when we began to evolve, we formed these little tribes, and it was my tribe against your tribe, and then we moved to my village against your village, and now we’re my country against your country, and I think eventually, I mean, we can hope, maybe in a few hundred years, all of that will, like, borders, everything, just dissolve. And you just think about it, it is quite arbitrary, the fact that I need a little book with a number that’s got a little chip in it, that’s stored on a computer somewhere, for me to cross some line. I mean, it is in peacetime, too, though.
38:33 How do you mean? If this was World War II, it wouldn’t be so arbitrary. But yeah, I agree, it was a peacetime. And you look at this, Kony 2012. You saw that whole media thing about crazy?
38:42 That’s, like, I mean, that was like a global movement, and you can say there were some bad things behind it, but you, 100 million people watch this video, and like, it just spanned across nationalities. It didn’t matter who you were, a citizen of. I mean, don’t you find, like, as someone like you, personally, like, something that I’ve noticed in myself lately is, identify less and less with, oh, I’m Greek, or I’m South African, or I’m just a f***ing human being, bro.
39:06 Do you know what I mean? And like, I just, I don’t know. That’s that’s where I’m at at this point, and politics kind of, to me, seems the antithesis of that. Yeah, I guess that’s true. I guess then, other point is, you want someone to represent your interests.
39:19 Yeah, but anyway, you have representation at a European level now, so in a way, at least you have a European area where at least within Schengen, people can cross border without showing any passport, and you can vote for European election, and all in all, I think there’s a benefit to have wider, let’s say, states, where you can move without having to show your passport or your ID card. And other things we’re both representing from these political changes that were made. I mean, you couldn’t live and work in the UK unless you were EU citizen, and I couldn’t live and work here unless I became a UK citizen.
39:52 So these were all changes that, I guess, were made by political groups. Exactly. I remember when I was a kid, like, um, cuz I was a Christian, um, quite a strong Christian at the time, like a fundamentalist Christian, and the whole thing in that religion was like, this new world order is coming, and that’s going to herald the end of the world. You know, this one world government and this one world religion, and, and uh, I mean, that was taught, uh, to me that this was the worst thing possible, and the more I think about it now, like, I just think that that’s an amazing thing that would be the best thing possible, just dissolve all borders and, uh, complete transparency.
40:25 Do you know what I mean? I don’t know if it’ll ever happen. It’s, it’s fascinating with the way the internet comes, and I think that’s maybe ideal, but I think when there’s going to be big global conflict, then it’ll switch back down to clans. I mean, France, France, I do. Yeah, I mean, France invented the concept of democracy and nationalism, didn’t it?
40:40 It all opened in evolution in the 16 and 1700s, because before that it was a bunch of different clans like you said, and they were all united, and that kind of gave France its power, and Napoleon, and became a nation, and people were now willing to die for a nation, and not for their group, and that’s only something in the last 200 years Right, 300 years, democracy is quite young. And, uh, I mean, and that’s for sure, but you know, there’s one thing good about, I mean, but we talked about capitalism and corruption and, and politicians, but I think as long as people are able to deal, I mean, trade with each other, and there is, you know, they exchange goods and services, usually there’s, you know, it’s better for peace, and there, you know, there’s less war if you have two countries doing a lot of trade, and therefore a lot of people benefiting from that, that the frontier is open, the likelihood of a war is much, is much lower.
41:31 Yeah, trade makes a big difference, isn’t it? And then, gu, the European and the world is getting more and more global. The trade is becoming, uh, you know, the, every goods used to ship through, you know, from China to Europe, Europe to South America, now everything goes in every direction, whatever it’s, you know, money or uh, natural resources, or human capital even. Yes, that’s a big one. Um, I’m going to hit it with a couple of questions from our people on Facebook.
41:56 I wanted to know what’s your day-to-day life on a campaign trail? I mean, are you kissing babies? What do you have to do? You have to, you have to press the flesh, though, right? I did some canvassing.
42:04 I do some canvassing, quite, quite often, you know, so I, I do door to door, or we did, I mean, we did a lot of things. Like, we did some funny thing. We went to a French event, like a concert or festival, to give some flyers. We do door to door, because we have, uh, we have the list of where people live, so we can give some flyers and meet some people. I even went, uh, outside the building of French banks, because it’s full of French people, as you know, to, you know, to talk to them and everything.
42:33 And you have a, uh, you have to really target the French people, right? Yes. That’s, I mean, it’s very tricky. Small percentage of the population. Exactly.
42:39 It’s a very small percentage of the entire population, and after, within those French people, you know, even less people are registered voters here, so it’s very, very difficult to be able to target the people you want to convince. Sounds like Facebook needs to get a nice little niche there, so they can charge you money on ads. We’ve had a few questions. Um, I think we covered a few of them, which were the whole, um, you know, internet side, and the whole, um, uh, maximising that.
43:05 We had someone ask, it was Rosanna Frza. She’s always got a question and comment for us. But, um, and this is a good question, potentially, for you, because you were in the industry, but she said, I don’t expect Yannick to give a straight answer to this, as he is a politician, of course, he’s not yet, but this is probably the toughest show you’ve been on. Um, but to what degree is white-collar crime responsible for the European debt crisis? The Euro, IMF bailout, why just cause more misery to the taxpayer to repay their country’s debt?
43:29 How can we end this cycle? I’m just quickly curious what your call is, cuz you know you were in it and then you’re not in it now. But uh, yeah, cares, well, my opinion is worth any opinions. I mean, everyone can see it in a different way. I think there were two, two main, uh, two main problems.
43:45 First of all, there were problems starting from states, but not only in states, which is the fact that people were lending money to people in order to buy a house, and they, they would, they knew it, from their own, that they would not be able to repay, and just because they were repackaging it and selling it to people so far away, uh, you know, so far removed from the entire process, they were able to do it for vast amounts of, vast amounts of money. So in this process there were, there was some kind of corruption, because, the, this is in the US, right? Yeah.
44:16 The person, you know, doing the, doing the originating, the first loan, he knew that the person would not repay, but he didn’t care, because he was selling it right away. The bank that was repackaging it, they didn’t care either, because, uh, because they were repackaging and selling it somewhere. The rating agencies were getting fees to rate something, and so therefore it was not a corruption, like, you know, it was an incentive for people not to do the perfect job, and not to, and, and therefore, I mean, was making money for everyone, and why change it?
44:49 It’s very difficult. I mean, I was in a, I was working in a bank at the time. I was in different desks, and I had, you know, we had to do a certain budget, and we had the people in the CDOs, and people doing stru credit, they were making, you know, hundreds of millions of, uh, of EUR of profit, when I was barely making, you know, a few millions of profit. How are those guys doing it? And you know, it’s very, you can’t run against that.
45:13 It’s, it’s what I call passive corruption. That’s a problem you have in, I think, in the capitalistic society. The capitalism will try, you know, if there’s no border, and if there’s no regulation. And the second point, which, why all this problem happened, is because at that time politicians were thinking that the industry could self-regulate, and that was a big mistake. The job of the government is to regulate the industry, whatever it’s, you know, you’ve got electricity supplier, whatever it’s your water supplier, whatever is the airline or banking.
45:46 It’s exactly the same thing, it’s utilities. You have to, you have to regulate to make sure that, uh, there’s no excess. Or, I like that concept of passive corruption. I guess it’s, it’s something we probably all engage in without thinking about it. Right?
46:00 I, I think, you know, you have to, uh, you know, if something’s going well in a capitalist society, your bills are being paid. It’s just like everything’s fine. Today, yeah. It’s easy to stand on a high horse, like I do sometimes, and be like, oh, politicians are corrupt, or, you know, bankers are corrupt. I mean, you’re sitting there doing the job, you got a wife and kids, your, your, your wife wants a new Mercedes, like the kids are in private schools.
46:20 I mean, you might have taken out a loan, a subprime loan in the States, for a house you couldn’t afford. You know, you might have. Yeah, I might have, if that’s what you were given credit by these people. Right, these banks were like, here’s credit. And so that’s what we had in States, and in Europe we had something slightly different.
46:35 It’s in fact, the, the debt was not built, uh, on, you know, on the family level or on individual level. All the debt was either in banks or in the States. In fact, if you look at the last five years in France, but the same in UK, and the same in most of a lot of countries, the amount of debt that those countries took on just to subsidise, uh, some of the social costs, uh, it was impossible to, uh, to keep up. And therefore, you know, it’s very difficult to know if it’s, you know, white-collar corruption or not.
47:11 But you know, there was this incentive. There was such an amount of money in the system that it was an incentive for everyone to push away the problem and think that growth, uh, will solve a future problem. And you know, there’s one thing you know, one thing which is certain: when there’s debt, you have to pay it back. What about now, if you’re, if you’re a Greek citizen, and they’re like, I can’t take any more austerity measures, this is ridiculous, this has got to stop, we want to get out of the Euro?
47:37 Or you see lots of countries now that are just like, had enough of this potential austerity. What do you tell these voters? No, the problem is, uh, the problem is people. I mean, the the austerity measures today are not impacting people that benefited from it. Right?
47:51 People that benefited, a lot of people benefited from it, for a small amount of money, very large amount of money. But those people either left the country, or or, you know, or they went bust, or whatever. So the problem is the pain is now distributed to people that in fact didn’t really benefit from it, and that’s really, really, uh, hard, that’s really, really hard on them. And you know, there’s no perfect recipe, uh, all in all. Um, uh, at least in Greece, and, you know, people that lend money to the government lost money, and they lost quite a lot of money.
48:25 They lost, what, seven, more than 75% of what they lent, and that’s this amount of money doesn’t have to be repaid. Um, and uh, slowly, um, you know, there’s a possibility that the country will be able to, uh, to, to go back to, uh, to go back. But you know, it’s, if you know, it’s the responsibility of the citizen, are voting to make sure that the politicians make the right decision, and therefore don’t increase the amount of debt of the country. You know, you know, if they had, if they had voted for people a bit more responsible, the, the country will not have this kind of debt problem.
49:01 Yeah, but again, it comes back to, um, at the, at the point where, where they made those votes that put those people in power, they were using their combined or individual intellect to make the choices that they thought were the best at the time, and um, it clearly didn’t turn out that way. Do you know what I mean? ENT the ball market. Yeah, so no, but you have countries. I mean, if you look at the, uh, if you look at, if you look at Europe, Continental Europe, to make it simple.
49:27 Since the end of the ’90s, some countries took the right decision. Whatever it is, in Sweden, most, I would say, country I know well is Sweden and Germany, for example, and they did reduce debt, and they did make the country more competitive. And on the other side, and at that time it was not the popular thing to do, because, you know, at that time the Irish economy was growing very quickly, same for Spain. Uh, and, uh, that, you know, it was a long-term decision to reduce deficit, and it was the right decision.
49:58 So it’s, um, they, you know, and they were both elected from normal people, and some, some politicians took the right decision. After that, you know, you, you it’s very difficult to, uh, it’s very difficult to know how people will do. There’s one thing for sure. I think you have to trust politicians, is when, you know, usually when the situation is becoming very, very bad, they tend to do the, the right thing at the end. But I would say that the only criticism I would have about, you know, the system is usually a politician tries to push the problem forward until it’s untenable, and he has to do something.
50:32 So it’s the end of the five-to-eight-year democratic cycle, four-year to eight-year. Yeah. I had a quick question, which I’m sure people will think about a lot. Um, when you think of France, I think of one guy in particular, besides Sarkozy, and that’s, um, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Yes.
50:44 And, um, you know, most people know about him. He was, what, formerly the head of the, the IMF, and then he lost that position after his, uh, issues in New York, and now he’s up for corruption issues again, and some people look at him and they’re like, okay, this is what’s wrong with French politics, although he isn’t really in politics. Is he? Um, what’s your read on him? Well, in France, there’s, we’re talking about transparency, uh, and in France it’s true that there’s much less media pressure on your personal life than you have here in UK.
51:12 Or they almost respect that, right? They almost don’t go into the personal life. It’s, I mean, I don’t know where it’s coming from. Whatever, it’s a traditional thing, or if it’s the way the, the media, I mean, who owns the media, and everything. But so far it’s true that they have the kind of respect, but you know, but on the other side of it, it’s, you know, a French politician will not show, you know, they will not try to be elected by showing his kids and his wife and how perfect a family they are.
51:37 So it’s a bit of both. Ises that a dig on the US there. So um, it’s a fine, it’s a fine line there. Well, I don’t know. I, I think there is, I mean, there is definitely in force, and it’s true everywhere, but definitely in France there’s a need for better transparency on either how you spend the money, how you look at the money, and the way you run your life.
51:58 I mean, here there’s a debate in UK about, you know, people should show the tax expense. I mean, they should show their, the expense and the tax receipt. No, you know, how much tax they pay and everything, and I think it’s probably for politicians. Yes, yeah, it’s probably a good thing. What do you think of Strauss-Kahn?
52:12 I don’t even know who that is, so he’s the guy that was, um, caught in New York for sexual harassment, in that, that hotel, made then that those car just got dropped. Now he’s back in France, and he’s kind of accused of, roundabout, of being kind of in some type of, it wasn’t a prostitution ring, but it was like he was involved with some prostitutes in Lille and stuff, and it’s just put this weird taint on him, and everything that he is, although he isn’t really directly involved in politics. is he, per se?
52:34 Not anymore. I think not anymore, but um, it’s just kind of this whole French cultural way of, like you said, that they kind of, uh, they kind of leave the politicians’ private lives to themselves. And if that works for France, then I guess that works for France, right? And what about Sarkozy? Will he get elected?
52:47 Nick likes his wife. Oh, okay. Uh, I don’t know. I mean, so far in the poll, he’s not winning. I think the poll is 54, 46 for the second round, so it’s not, it’s not obvious for him.
52:58 But you know, French people have the tendency of taking the decision at the very, very, very last time, and therefore I know it’s, uh, even though the first round is on the 22nd, so it’s pretty, it’s pretty soon. A lot of things can happen. I think if you, in the poll, something like 35% of people didn’t make up their mind yet. Okay, well, we’re almost done here, guys. I just wonder what your next two months is going to be like?
53:21 You’ve got a vote on June 3rd? Yes. Uh, is that to the first round, to, to, to be, to have only two candidates? Yeah, okay. Yeah, and then you have another election, yeah, on 17th, 17th, and that’s going to be online, or potentially online?
53:32 Yeah, yeah, people will have the choice to vote either online. They have the choice to vote by mail, uh, online, and uh, so cool, and going to the you know, to the, uh, to do it physically. So you’re going to be out there trying to press a flesh, getting yourself in in person, talking, debating, that kind of thing? Well, I’m doing it. It’s what I’m doing now.
53:51 I mean, talking now this afternoon I have a big debate with an ex-finance French finance minister. There will be 150 people. Uh, how do you prepare for that? And do you get nervous? No, it’s fine.
54:02 You don’t seem like that. And uh, tomorrow morning I take the first easyJet flight to go to Copenhagen and Malmö, and I, I meet some people over there. There’s some big event. On, don’t lie to us, you’re going on a Le jet, not easyJet. EasyJet, I tell you.
54:16 Probably everything’s transparent these days. You don’t want to get, I mean, I tell you, there, I mean, easyJet and Norwegian. I don’t know if you know Norwegian. It’s a fantastic low-cost, uh, company, and it’s, it’s the one I’m using the most. Probably I’m one of the best clients now, because I use them.
54:30 So you know, it’s all budget, it’s all budget. You probably have your picture at the budget seat. That’s probably a good campaign thing. Yeah, those are the people that Brian spits on as he’s walking through, through economy, to, to the first class. Carry my lunch, right?
54:42 Um, are you having fun? It sounds like fun. I mean, I think it’s very interesting. I meet a lot of people. I meet a lot of people, uh, people ask me questions I need to be able to answer.
54:53 Uh, so I think it’s very interesting. One, one last question. The people, for me at least, the people that you meet, um, and I want, please, yeah, the honest, as honest as a politician can answer, answer, not a politician yet. Um, the people on average, the person, the people that you meet in uh, this new, um, industry that you’ve entered into, would you, are they the kind of people you’d like to have as friends outside of work? Okay, but are you talking about people in the same party, or people from the outside party?
55:23 Just like when you go and meet these 50 cabinet ministers, um, etc, etc, like that, that kind of. I think, they, I mean, I think the, uh, the entire political class will benefit from, uh, the, you know, from the input from the input from the private industry, because you know, a lot. I mean, it’s a bit, sometimes a bit archaic, and you know, there’s a lot to improve. I mean, anyway, I’m here for that. There’s a lot to improve in the way you run, uh, they run it like a business, you say, I mean, in, I mean, whatever it’s like.
55:57 If your question was more about if I like people or not, but the way to run it, it could be, there’s a much more efficient way to run it, and you said something, you said that reminded me of what we’re doing with London Real. Is that you told me earlier, you, you’ve done the finance thing, and if anything you were getting a little bored with it, and this is completely different, right? Because you’re, no, but I think, come on, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s it’s a fantastic challenge, so I mean, I’m up for it, and uh, it’s going to be very difficult, uh, for a lot of reasons, but you know, it’s, it’s not very different.
56:26 I mean, I don’t think why it shouldn’t be possible. At the end, everyone has to start. You know, every politician started in a local election at one time, and you have to start, and that’s it, and you’ll see, you fail or you succeed, and or you get elected, but you fail because what you try to achieve is impossible or it’s very hard, but you know, you have to try. It’s by trying that you change things. If you never try, you never change things.
56:52 Fair enough. Well, if you’re French, and you want to register to vote, then register. If they want to get in contact with you, your Twitter is Yannick, we’ve tweeted you out. That’s y a n i c k n a u d. Sorry, no, how else can they, um, get in touch with you?
57:06 Facebook, or what’s the best way? No, but you can, you know, now you go to, uh, you do Yannick, no, y a n i nud, and you have, you will have the Facebook, you will have my website, you will have, uh, Twitter. You know, we have transparency, right? You will have every, everything, and uh, and if you’re French, you should register to vote, right? Yeah, I mean, if you’re French, I mean, you have to be already, uh, yet to register back last year, but if you are registered, you probably know, you probably received an email from me.
57:31 So therefore either it went to your spam account, probably if you have a Gmail account, probably went to spam, but otherwise you received it, and you probably have all my details. Okay, cool, man. If I was a French expert, I would vote for you. Wow, you have my endorsement. Well, thanks for coming on and, um, answering the tough questions.
57:51 You know, I think that was big. So, um, yeah, our first politician, our first guy in a suit and tie. So that’s awesome. Thank you very much. Thanks for running the Gauntlet, especially with Mr Nick Gabriel.
58:03 Thanks for coming on. Thank you. The journey. All right. Peace, boys.
58:21 Cheers. Of, and
