A voting share of 53 per cent sounds impressive. But a closer analysis of the French presidential election throws up a perplexing result. According to Ipsos*, the polling organisation, 18-59 year olds – those who work and pay most of the taxes – overwhelmingly voted for Ségolène Royal, the defeated Socialist candidate. Mr Sarkozy is now the president of France as a result of an extraordinary degree of homogenous political preferences by pensioners.  Mr Sarkozy won an unbelievable
68 per cent among those over 70,
and 61 per cent among the  60-69 year olds. So much for the notion of generational change.
The old crowd in France is still very much in charge.

The first and obvious conclusion is that in Europe’s ageing societies, the political power of the older generation is large – and occasionally decisive. Tom Peters, the management guru, has made another interesting observation in his blog**. While Mr Sarkozy was campaigning on a “back-to-work” ticket, he owed his election victory to people who are no longer in work. Mr Peters says by sending the young back to work, the “six-zero plussers can get their hands on the loot they need to spend their remaining winters in Nice”. I would probably not go that far, but would concede that the presidential election result was clearly an example of an insider-outsider vote.