The Macron-Morrison "spat"

is disturbing but less surprising than it should be.

There is a man in the next street who works for the submarine people. I have known the family since they moved in. The boys were small then and they are both at university now. Their father is Danish. He's an engineer.

More than once over the last few years there have been concerns about the stability of his job. It has been of even more concern recently. 

M.... had serious concerns about the project he was working on. There were, he told me, multiple problems with the contract.

That's hardly surprising. Contracts as big and complex as that are always problematic. There will always be issues which need to be resolved.  Often they can be resolved with good will on both sides. This time it seems that the problems were too big. 

"The French aren't delivering," M...told me many months ago. He couldn't get on with his own work because there were so many delays in other places.

The French were awarded the contract over the Japanese and another consortium. I think most Downunderites were relieved the contract did not go to the Japanese. However much we may do business with them there is still a lingering distrust of the Japanese among many people, especially those in the older generation. Add the complexities of the language and the culture to the mix and a contract that big might well have been unworkable. I suspect most Dowunderites will never learn to say "konnichiwa" even if only some of them can "bon jour". 

But France and Downunder had a contract and, like any other contract, it needs to be filled. Contracts involve give and take. They are a two way thing. If someone is not fulfilling their side of the contract then penalties can apply. 

I can only presume that there were, as M.... suggested to me, good reasons for not going ahead. Of course it is a blow to French pride. Of course they see it as an insult. It is a blow to the French economy and much more. 

But it is also an insult to us, especially to everyone who has worked so hard and invested so much in the project.

The real problem lies with the people who did not keep to the terms of the contract. It lies with those who did not think it sufficiently important to keep them to those terms. If the project had been running in accordance with the contract even those touting the new AUKUS alliance would have had difficulty in demanding the contract be broken.

There are faults on both sides here. What is not helpful is the media trying to suggest that it is a rather childish and nasty argument between two men whose job it is to do the best they can for their countries.  The Downunder Prime Minister has come in for a great deal of criticism over this and undoubtedly he could have handled it better. The reality however is that he has not handled it quite as badly as the media would have us believe. There are many reasons to believe that there are multiple faults on both sides and that the working relationship was in danger of breaking down long before this.  On n'est jamais trahi que par les siens?