Cast your mind back, if you can, to the summer of 1983. Francois Mitterrand was President of France and the French Socialist Party led a government containing four Communist Party ministers. Times were good for the English tourist. One pound bought 12 francs. A good lunch in the Dordogne was yours for a snip. Times were less bright for the French. The extensive nationalisation of French banking and industry combined with significant increases in public spending on pensions and other social benefits had produced a jump in inflation, an alarming balance of payments crisis and two devaluations in eight months. A third devaluation was soon to follow.
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