France
Banning Marine Le Pen from politics would be a grave mistake
Paris prosecutors last week recommended that Marine Le Pen be jailed and banned from public office for five years. The…
It’s rich of the French to call Trump ‘vulgar’
There has always been a touch of snobbery in the way the French elite regard American politics. The word one…
Small-town mysteries: A Case of Matricide, by Graeme MacRae Burnet, reviewed
The gifted writer Graeme Macrae Burnet makes a mockery of the genres publishers impose on credulous readers. The author of…
A fashion series made by people who hate fashion: Apple TV+’s La Maison reviewed
I’m a bit disappointed – déçu, as we Francophiles like to say – with La Maison. When French TV drama…
Move over, Mrs Bennet – I’ve seen two daughters married in less than a month
Provence A few days before my middle daughter’s Oxfordshire wedding this summer, my youngest announced that she and her fiancé,…
Pornography and the truth about the Pelicot case
There have been protests in 30 cities across France, people marching in outrage over the case of Dominique Pelicot who…
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…
The joy of hiring an old banger
There is always much to look forward to on a holiday with friends in France (the day one supermarket sweep,…
Will France’s school uniform experiment foster égalité?
As the new school year begins in France, pupils across the country are putting on school uniforms for the first…
The mystique of Henry V remains as powerful as ever
The belligerent young hero of Agincourt really was the model of a medieval monarch, doing the job exactly as it was supposed to be done, according to Dan Jones
My dinner date with the detective
Provence ‘What do you mean?’ I wanted to ask the man who told me last autumn it was time to…
What’s gone wrong at the National Theatre?
Now we have a Labour government, it would be nice to feel repertory will return to the National Theatre. It…
Do I have too many friends?
Can one have too many friends? I asked myself this question as we prepared yet another dinner party for ten…
Who will stand up for France’s aristocrats?
When it was recently announced that 40,000 people, the great majority civilians, have been killed in the Gaza conflict, I…
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…
The ‘Clooney effect’ hasn’t touched my corner of Provence
Provence My eldest daughter’s husband is from Como. In the early 2000s George Clooney caused a stir in the town…
Market apocalypse? No, a welcome correction
A bout of global stock-market turmoil and an outbreak of UK street violence as adjacent news items gave an apocalyptic…
Europe is worried that Britain’s riots might spread
The riots that have erupted across England in the last week have been splashed across Europe’s newspapers and broadcast on…
Welcome to the new global theocracy
I had a revelation while watching the Olympics opening ceremony. It was during the infamous section that I (and almost…
Will we always have Paris?
There are times when you might be fooled into believing all is well. I had a moment of such weakness…
Why can’t French progressives be more civil?
There was a muted reaction among the French political class to the attempt on Donald’s Trump’s life. Keir Starmer sent…
Portrait of the Week: Starmer’s first steps, Biden’s wobble and Australia’s egg shortage
Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, appointed several ministers who are not MPs, but will be created life peers.…
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…
How Marine Le Pen rebranded herself
Marine Le Pen was called a ‘bitch’ this week and threatened with sexual violence. It’s what passes for rap music…
My nights with the eagle owls
Provence Summer has arrived. The evenings are warm enough to sit out on the balcony terrace and watch the lights…
