A headache

COULD its hospitals provide a new flashpoint of social unrest in troubled France? Over the past month, there has been a growing rumble of discontent over the government's plans to trim budgets and tidy up France's extravagant and inefficient hospital service. The trade unions say that tens of thousands of jobs and the closure of many wards and services are at stake. Some 20 hospitals have already been disrupted by protests; some hospital directors have even been taken hostage. A forthcoming series of strikes is supposed to culminate in a nationwide “day of action” on March 14th.