France
Nicolas Sarkozy and a very French corruption scandal
Nicolas Sarkozy, 66, President of France from 2007 to 2012, currently a valued member of Emmanuel Macron’s informal council of…
English beef: the sinister side to France’s mistrust of Britain
The sinister side to France’s mistrust of the ‘Anglo-Saxons’
Why I need to become a French citizen
After weeks of living in the 18th century, going everywhere on foot and encountering few other souls, I drove to…
It is time to make friends with the EU
On Monday morning, Clément Beaune, Emmanuel Macron’s Europe Minister, clipped out the section of his media interview criticising Britain’s vaccination…
My French lessons with Lord Nelson
Every Friday afternoon the foreign correspondent and I attend a French lady’s home for our one-hour French lesson. The foreign…
Macron is using Islam to outmanoeuvre Le Pen
There was a rally in Paris on Sunday at which a couple of hundred protestors vented their anger at the…
The rise of Florian Philippot, France’s answer to Nigel Farage
These are dispiriting times for France. The 6pm curfew and the closure of bistros and theatres have taken all the…
Macron eyes up a new career
How is France dealing with its latest Covid wave? Not particularly well, if you listen to the director of epidemiological research…
In praise of the bacon butty
I was tipped off to meet a white Hyundai at a French motorway toll rest area at 2.30 p.m. (I…
#MeTooInceste: has France’s code of silence finally been broken?
The sex abuse scandal rocking the French elite
How Argentina conquered Malbec
When Napoleon III proclaimed himself Emperor of France in 1852, he unwittingly kickstarted quality wine production in Chile and Argentina.…
My message to the log police
Here, as in Britain, everyone is a log expert. The woodman leaves a heap at the bottom of the drive…
France's Covid response is a source of national shame
France is the only permanent member of the UN Security Council not to have developed a coronavirus vaccine, and it…
Orban and Macron, Europe’s new power couple
The unlikely alliance of Orban and Macron
My future hangs on the result of this blood test
A new year and another round of medical treatments in the French health system. On Saturday morning, needing a blood…
In praise of nuns
Although I was ten minutes early, Vernon was there ahead of me, framed in the ancient chapel doorway, chatting up…
Macron’s vaccine ‘citizen panel’ is doomed to fail
France has a problem when it comes to the coronavirus vaccine. Emmanuel Macron’s administration has so far only given out…
Brexit causes food shortages – in France
Since leaving the EU on 31 December, Britain seems to have somehow avoided the apocalyptic scenarios outlined by those most…
Emmanuel Macron’s great Brexit gamble
There is an intriguing pattern in our relationship with European integration. A Frenchman vetoed our attempt to join. A Frenchman…
What French women want
Considering the subject of compatibility, experienced British expats in France maintain that a French man and an English woman might…
I found a confused elderly man in my bedroom
There are several cave houses built into the cliff. Ours is the highest and can be reached only by a…
France would be foolish to veto a Brexit deal
Britain and France are heading for an almighty bust-up over Brexit. This morning the French junior minister for European affairs,…
French republicanism confounds American progressives
Can an entire country sue for libel? If so, France would have a strong suit against swathes of the American…
‘Bonjour, monsieur! Douleur?’: My night in a French hospital
I regained consciousness on a trolley in a recovery ward. A masked porter wheeled me from there back to my…
My neighbour’s dinner party was a near-death experience
At dawn, starving, I drove to a commercial laboratory in the town centre where five phials of blood were taken…
