One of the Frenchest paragraphs ever, from an Economist article about the nation’s current train-union strike:

“Yet the timing of this strike, reaching into the baccalauréat week, is also a public-relations risk. Every June, as part of a national ritual, over half a million school-leavers sit down to take the first bac exams. For half of them, this involves a four-hour philosophy exam based around a single essay question; this morning’s choices included ‘Do we live in order to be happy?’ The prospect of pupils arriving late due to the train strike has prompted much indignation and an emergency scheme by the SNCF to encourage car-pooling and other alternatives.”