Keir Starmer’s pointless meeting with Emmanuel Macron
It’s extremely difficult to imagine that today’s meeting between Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron produced anything substantive beyond a photo opportunity…
SpaceX has put Europe to shame
The flawless launch of SpaceX’s 5,000-ton Starship and its Super Heavy Booster, and the precision recovery of the booster on…
France is finally opting for austerity
After the binge, the bill? The new French government of Michel Barnier presented the main lines of its proposed 2025…
Michel Barnier’s government in name only
A trillion here and a trillion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money. Of course, France now owes…
Why French students want English uniforms
Béziers, France The École Mairan in Béziers in southern France is a happy neighbourhood elementary school housed in a superb…
Marine Le Pen looks unstoppable
Overlook for the moment the shenanigans surrounding French prime minister Michel Barnier’s attempt to cobble together a new government. One…
It’s a pity Thierry Breton didn’t resign sooner
The spectacular resignation of Thierry Breton from the European Commission suggests that the president of the European Commission Ursula von…
Marine Le Pen is crucial to Michel Barnier’s survival
Michel Barnier, the OAP appointed yesterday as Prime Minister of France, is a sensible fellow, even if at 73 he…
Macron’s search for a prime minster is a complete farce
Who will be the next prime minister of France? Almost two months after the centre lost its majority in the National…
French politics has become an absurdist farce
It’s the rentrée politique this week in France, the start of the political year, a bit earlier than normal. It promises to be…
Imane Khelif’s laughable lawsuit against J.K. Rowling
Popcorn not being the traditional French treat to celebrate an entertaining spectacle, break out the caramel au beurre salé. J.K.…
France’s view on the British riots is stunningly hypocritical
As the Olympics draw to a close tonight, two things have delighted the French. The first is that the Games turned…
The cult of Bedales
Another of my ageing Bedales school cohort has died and so there’s an ad hoc reunion in his honour at…
Macron’s Olympic delusion
All the world’s a stage and the Olympic Games in Paris is the greatest stage of all for the comedian president. Emmanuel…
Macron is looking increasingly desperate
President Emmanuel Macron finally broke his silence and rediscovered the magical breath of his ‘baraka’ as he took to the…
Emmanuel Macron is cornered
They’re playing with a Rubik’s Cube in Paris trying to cobble together a government. An Italian-job technocratic government? A national government…
Le Pen is still the biggest winner in France’s elections
Ignore most snap verdicts from last night – the big winner in the French parliamentary election was still Marine Le…
Après Macron, le déluge
France is voting after three weeks of campaigning, backstabbing, attacks on more than 50 politicians so far, some light rioting,…
Is Macron considering using France’s emergency powers?
Does Emmanuel Macron have one more joker to play? Perhaps. His petulant decision to dissolve the National Assembly has been…
Will French voters be revolted by the new popular front?
The Nouveau Front Populaire has been formed to take on Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in the French legislative…
Can Macron still outplay Le Pen?
Petulance, panic and performance. President Macron’s broadcast following the evisceration of his party in last weekend’s elections for the European…
French healthcare shows there’s another way for the NHS
Nigel Farage says the NHS ‘isn’t working’ and has suggested the UK adopt a French-style heathcare system. He’s evidently been…
The EU wants to make travelling to France a misery
Exciting developments may be in store for everyone travelling to Europe from this autumn onwards. That’s to say riots, gnashing…
Macron’s empire is falling apart
‘Maoré na Farantsa paka tcho!’, Emmanuel Macron declared five years ago campaigning in Mamoudzou, speaking the local language of Shimaoré…
The bizarre sexual politics of the French
‘More sex please, we’re French,’ declared, in effect, France’s president Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, demanding that his compatriots counteract a…
