Where is the Truth?

They say that everything is simpler if you tell the truth. But sometimes it is difficult to know where the truth lies. Take, for example, the French President's recent decision to cut ministers' salaries by 30%. On the whole, I welcome this decision even though I recognise that it is little more than a symbolic gesture, but my daughter, who actually works in a ministry in Paris, takes a rather different view. From her priviliged vantage point, she says that ministers work extremely hard for really not all that much money. I am not entirely convinced by the force of that argument, but I find her second criticism very compelling. If the purpose is to save money, even symbolically, then what on earth is the point of increasing the number of ministers? Not only are there more salaries to be paid, there are more ministries to be staffed with cabinet secretaries, minions, courtiers, charladies, chauffeurs, etc. By my reckoning, the new Government has 19 full ministers as opposed to 15 in the Sarkozy administration.

Incidentally, François Hollande's decision to reduce his own salary by 30% should be seen in the light of Nicolas Sarkozy's own decision, at the beginning of his presidency, to increase the presidential salary by 140%. In other words, Hollande's salary is 110% higher than before the Sarkozy era!