A trip to Paris brings home just how broken Britain is, says Herald columnist Andy Maciver

This time last week, I was writing my column for The Herald not from my usual spot in my Edinburgh home, but in a Parisian cafe. My children are now at an age where city breaks are not excruciatingly boring for them, so as a school holiday treat we took them for a weekend of eating crepes and croissants.

The boulangeries and patisseries did not disappoint, but what struck me first about them was how busy they were. Not just the one from which I wrote my article last week; that sat in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower so it being packed was no surprise. We spent a considerable amount of time away from the main tourist spots, in the residential Arrondissements where the ordinary folk went about their day. Those cafes and restaurants were busy too, but with locals rather than tourists. It does not take at all long to be struck by the obvious impression that Parisians have an awful lot more disposable income than we Scots and Brits do back home. I was surprised.

As we meandered around the streets long enough for the children to complain about excessive walking, something else became obvious - there was no litter. These streets were clean, and, again, not just around the tourist hot-spots. There are huge numbers of street bins, and they were not overflowing. It was all delightfully orderly, and distressingly juxtaposed to many of our towns and cities here at home.

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