You would wish that you had completed your studies and will spend nights imagining yourself dressed up like other people, or that you own a mobile phone, which you can show off.

With too much pomp, too many stumbling blocks, and a dearth of dynamism, France today can and should learn from Germany.

The rich should be urged not to flaunt their wealth extravagance amid much poverty arouses wrath.

Now, one might argue that the dignified pomp of Queen Elizabeth II is preferable to the tawdry grandiosity of Silvio Berlusconi, Madonna, or Cristiano Ronaldo.

But to mock someone for having a sensible watch at a modest price puts pressure on others to join the quest for ever greater extravagance.