The irony of Starmer’s Armistice Day visit to France
Yesterday morning, the British Prime Minister travelled to Paris at the invitation of the French President to lay a wreath…
Germany and the politics of blame for the first world war
Wars begin and end in controversy. The war that ended 106 years ago today with the armistice of 11 November…
What the First World War can teach us about the Third
It is our duty on Remembrance Sunday to honour the fallen. But to do justice to their sacrifice, we should…
Why France’s media is keeping quiet about Michel Barnier’s health
France’s 73-year-old prime minister, Michel Barnier, underwent surgery last weekend for a lesion on his upper neck. According to the…
Does France need a government?
France has been without an official government for seven weeks, the longest in the history of the Fifth Republic. A…
Macron’s lavish spending is jeopardising French finances
In the last years of Louis XVI’s reign, French finances were in a parlous state. State debt had ballooned, its…
Even the Olympics can’t unite France
Writing of the state of France in the twilight of the fateful Second Empire, the left-wing journalist Henri Rochefort observed:…
Macron’s scheming could have disastrous consequences for France
French voters are looking on aghast at the state of their country’s democracy. Faced with stalemate in the French National…
Is France heading towards its Sixth Republic?
Against a backdrop of considerable tension – barricaded city centre shop-fronts and 30,000 police on standby – a radically divided…
Labour should be wary of Macron’s cooing
French president Emmanuel Macron has phoned Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his appointment as prime minister. Macron’s Twitter…
What the National Rally means for France’s foreign policy
The electoral turmoil in France threatens its status as a world power. Friendly nations are despairing; rivals and enemies are…
The plot to stop Marine Le Pen’s National Rally
This week France has drifted from surprise to confusion and panic as Sunday’s second round vote approaches. The bien-pensant centre-left weekly Nouvel Obs’…
National Rally brings a political earthquake to France
There is one big winner from the first round of the French legislative elections – and several big losers. The…
Macron’s power in Europe is draining
In Brussels over the last two days EU heads of state and government have been carving up the ‘top jobs’.…
Macron’s ‘civil war’ warning might be closer to reality than he realises
Of the 20 or so opinion polls since France’s president Emmanuel Macron announced a snap election this month, the vast…
Is France’s left-wing coalition more dangerous than Le Pen?
French and international media cannot break their fixation with the ‘extreme right’. They continue to target the Rassemblement National (RN)…
France’s future looks far from certain
The much loved and quintessentially French singer, Françoise Hardy, born in 1944, died last night. French certainties are disappearing. The…
The EU may struggle to find its way out of this election crisis
It is said that the EU thrives on crises. These are what spurs it on to the ultimate goal of…
Macron is trying to scare French voters into rejecting Le Pen’s party
The French presidential list score in the European elections ‘is not a good result for the parties which defend Europe’.…
Macron is to blame for France’s dismal economy
Standard & Poor’s downgrading of France’s credit rating on Friday is a hammer blow to President Macron’s reputation. The ratings…
Aukus is becoming a potent alliance
Compare and contrast the frenetic, largely unwanted and unnecessary manoeuvres to create a common EU defence union, with the methodical,…
Why Emmanuel Macron wants to give nukes to the EU
Emmanuel Macron is thinking and saying the unthinkable for a French President of the Republic. This weekend he suggested that…
The plot to stop Marine Le Pen could backfire badly
At first, French elites haughtily dismissed the Rassemblement National (RN) and its voters. Then they were in denial about its…
Keir Starmer should think twice before shunning Marine Le Pen
Riding high in the polls with a 20-point lead, the Labour party is preparing for government. Across the Channel with…
Why is Macron suddenly pro-Ukraine? Fear of Le Pen
Its an old ruse to deploy foreign policy for domestic purposes. France has a long history in that vein. General…
