France
France vs Islamism: how does Macron hope to prosecute his war?
How does Macron hope to prosecute his war?
The best response to Islamism is Christianity
It has become normal to think of the Islamist attacks in Europe as attacks on a secular way of life.…
Portrait of the week: Shopping bans in Wales, soft drinks in Scotland and stowaways at sea
Home Wales, entering a 17-day ‘firebreak’, closed most shops by law but then tried to stop supermarkets selling ‘non-essential’ items…
Portrait of the week: A Manchester stand-off, a Presidential showdown and a Brexit culture clash
Home After ten days spent trying to persuade Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, to accede to the city…
Tiphaine Auzière and the panic inside the Élysée
Will the presidency of Emmanuel Macron open the door to a political dynasty in France? He has no children, so…
How I won €160 by mistake
My French friend André speaks perfect English and is the kindest of men. After reading last week about my futile…
Letters: The sorry state of BBC sport
Misplaced Trust Sir: Charles Moore is as ever bang on target (The Spectator’s Notes, 26 September). National Trust members have…
The lockdown battle of Marseilles is a warning for Boris
From the vantage point of Downing Street, Boris Johnson may feel reassured that the further measures against Covid-19 he imposed…
French gambling is a mystery to me
Feeling oddly confident, clairvoyant even, I entered a bar to place a bet on Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.…
Is my phobia of upmarket restaurants misplaced?
Scotching my bright idea of a stiff gin for Dutch courage in the bar across the road, Catriona bounded straight…
This is what cinema is for: Netflix’s Cuties reviewed
Cuties is the subject of a moral panic and a hashtag #CancelNetflix. It tells the story of Amy (Fathia Youssouf),…
Why French car-boot sales are good for my mental health
Hairpin bends in a stony forest. Downhill. Steep, then steeper. Smooth frictionless tarmac. I’ve got the car barely under control.…
The pleasures — and pain — of dog-walking
The old dog was in a companionable frame of mind and she trotted along at my side, glancing up now…
The Atlantic twists the truth
The Atlantic has stunk up an otherwise beautiful Labor Day weekend with a uniquely ugly story. Anti-Trump editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg claims that…
Bad news from my oncologist didn’t spoil my joyous reunion with my grandson
The Moulinards had inhabited the old stone hilltop house for centuries, ekeing out a hard living among the sun-baked boulders.…
The difference between American and French wine-drinkers
Is it safe to visit the continent? On the one hand, abroad is likely to be less crowded this August…
The only things left worth watching on the BBC are foreign buy-ins like The Last Wave
Soon, very soon now — even sooner than I imagined, if A Suitable Boy turns out to be as lacklustre…
A lament for the foreign correspondent’s house – and his hospitality
Provence-Alpes-Côte D’Azur Until January the foreign correspondent lived in a late-18th-century house with a vineyard, olive grove and vegetable garden…
Has France been naive in its handling of Huawei?
The controversy over the UK’s use of Huawei equipment in its 5G network has not abated, despite the government’s announcement…
Jam and Opium on the Somme
Phone calls aside, the only human contact I had on my ten-day Somme battlefield tour was with the lady who…
Will Macron’s new sidekick help him get re-elected?
Is France’s latest prime minister just another fall guy?
Nuns, a maquisard and the Devil’s Own Rum: a Provençale pilgrimage
Avid Spectator reader Mr Brown had endured the very strictest of lockdowns for family health reasons in Tunbridge Wells. Since…
How did the UK’s pandemic preparations go so wrong?
How was Britain so ill-prepared for a pandemic?
What angry young French men want
Chatting on the café terrace with my new friends Didier and Emile made me aware that certain political ideas, which…
Is left the new right?
I took a table on the terrace of the reopened bar and ordered une pression from the waitress. ‘Back to…
