08th September 2010
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This month
Top stories
- Glimmers of economic hope, the budget and what it all means
- ‘Mistakes of the last recession being repeated’
- Budget increases statutory redundancy payments
- ‘Bossnapping’ and unexpected reading material in India
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‘Bossnapping’ and unexpected reading material in India
Two articles of international news have caught the eye this month – one confirming a national stereotype and the other seemingly defying all explanation.
In France, a characteristically militant response to the economic situation has seen an outbreak of ‘bossnapping’ – managers held temporary hostage by disgruntled employees – a tactic revived from the mists of 1968. While this could have been unpleasant and uncomfortable for those involved, reports say that the essential French-ness of the action was preserved in the fact that Union leaders ensured that there was a decent lunch brought in for the managers held.
In India, meanwhile, observers are seemingly at a loss to explain the latest publishing phenomena – a spectacular increase in sales of Adolf Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’. Described by many readers (including Benito Mussolini) as turgid, dull and boring the book is nonetheless selling at a rate of knots with more than 10,000 copies going through one New Delhi bookstore alone in the last few months. A spokesman for one of the printers dealing with the book suggested that ‘…(purchasers) see it as a kind of success story where one man can have a vision, work out a plan and successfully implement it’. Hmmmmmm.
