I find myself full of admiration for the young people of France. Unlike so many protestors here at home – usually middle-aged men in black masks with domestic violence convictions – the youth of France punches up, not down.

In Britain, we see a process of demonisation of the weak. Is the immigration system broken? Yes. Is that a reason to hound and persecute not just every immigrant and refugee, but increasingly anyone whose skin isn’t white? Hell would freeze over before I’d agree to that monstrous suggestion.

In France, we see the targeting of those with power. French youth is on the streets outraged at the state of their schools and universities, and the dire decline in education standards. If only our young people would do the same.

The kids of France aren’t blaming migrants for social ills, they’re blaming the real culprits: the politicians and the money-men who have a chokehold on politicians.

As with any protest, nothing is perfect. There’s a fringe of hoodlums who have hitched their wagon to the education protests – they too have adopted the black mask of the political gangster – and caused violence.

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But the vast majority of young French protestors are peaceful. There’s far more to worry about when it comes to violence from the French police.

In France, children see matters much clearer than British adults. The cause of our social ills across the west is quite simply austerity. In........

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