London Briefing: One of the many cultural differences between Britain and France is how they pronounce the euro.

Unlike the other English-speaking members of the EU, we refuse to silence the "s" when speaking about euros, choosing, for once, proper pronunciation. Perhaps a subtle but important indicator of reconciliation and of the UK getting ready to join the single currency will be when BBC newsreaders start to try and sound more like their continental counterparts. Pigs might also sprout wings.

To give Tony Blair his dues, he is trying to kick-start a debate that should have commenced 15 years ago when the Berlin Wall came down. His point is a simple one and he is making it in some surprising places - the German tabloid, Bild, for example, last week carried an opinion piece written by the British prime minister.

He is not lying when he says he is a committed European. Blair would have taken us into the euro years ago if it wasn't for Gordon Brown.

Blair loves the summitry and is comfortable with the other grandstanders masquerading as European leaders, but even someone with a disinterest in economics such as Blair has noticed that something has gone wrong with the European economy and that something has gone right in the UK.

But Blair is trying not to sound triumphalist; there are no claims about the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon model.

There are far more similarities than differences between the European and UK economies. The trouble is, those few differences lead to very different outcomes in the labour market.

Any kindergarten economist could solve Europe's employment problems. The list of policy prescriptions is familiar and uncontentious.

Failure to implement those policy choices represents either woeful ignorance or a lack of leadership. Probably, it's a combination of both.

Some European politicians argue that those policy choices would lead to the electorate booting them out of office - just look at Gerhard Schröder - so there is no point adopting them. Europe, on this explanation, has a stagnant economy and high unemployment because most people are happy with things this way. You get what you vote for. The history of the Anglo-Saxon economies is broadly consistent with this thesis. The US and UK economies are in the shape they are in today because Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher implemented painful economic reforms without any electoral mandate to do so.

Thatcher was allowed to keep office during some dark days for the UK economy mostly because of the ineptitude of the opposition. Few people actually voted for that economic pain and not many more thought it would lay the groundwork for 14 years of uninterrupted economic growth. Indeed, not long after she was first elected, 364 of the country's leading economists signed an open letter forecasting economic disaster if Thatcher continued on her chosen path.

I wonder if the UK even has 364 leading economists today.So it is sensible to argue that the UK and US economies are in relative strength thanks mainly to chance and circumstance.

Even so, the experience of the past two decades provides proof of what needs to be done if economies are to grow at their maximum potential and unemployment to fall. However they get implemented, we know what policy actions have to be taken, while acknowledging how politically difficult they are to implement. Europe's social model is no such thing. It is a set of collective arrangements designed explicitly for the benefit of "insiders" at the expense of a growing minority of "outsiders". Insiders defend their turf and salve their consciences with generous welfare payments to the outsiders or, also known as the poor, the immigrants, the young and the unemployed.

The denial of opportunity to millions of Europe's unemployed is neither social nor economically rational. Blair's message is that the current situation is unsustainable.

Europe can't choose to have 10 per cent-plus unemployment forever because even that modest if appalling objective is unattainable. Without change, more and more people will be out of work.

Chris Johns is an investment strategist with Collins Stewart. All opinions are personal.