France
What we owe to the self-taught genius Carl Linnaeus
Bumptious, uncouth and the despair of his schoolmasters, Linnaeus died almost forgotten. Yet he established a system of taxonomy that we still use two centuries later
The plot to bring down Emmanuel Macron
Last week Emmanuel Macron inaugurated the Olympic aquatic centre that will host the swimming and diving events at this summer’s…
Why Thames Water is the pariah of post-privatisation capitalism
‘It would have been ideal not to have so much poo in the water,’ said Oxford captain Leonard Jenkins after…
How Africa fell out of love with France
The death of Françafrique
Letters: The Lucy Letby killings shouldn’t mean we lose trust in all NHS managers
Murder mystery Sir: I once made a diagnosis of a very rare condition too late to cure the patient. She…
The joy of French motorways
The news that Heineken, the Dutch brewer, has sold its business in Russia to a local buyer for a token…
The ‘historic’ national dishes which turn out to be artful PR exercises
Japan’s ramen ‘tradition’ was created in 1958 to use up surplus imported flour, while Pizza Margherita’s specious royal connection helped boost Naples’s tourist trade
Enforce the borders, stop the boats, save lives
Rishi Sunak has failed in his pledge to ‘Stop the Boats’, and the £480 million deal he signed with France…
Love in idleness: The Four Corners of the Heart, by Françoise Sagan, reviewed
In an atmosphere of languid torpor on a French family estate, an unfortunate relationship develops between a son, a father and a mother-in-law
The fine art of French rioting
Watching the kids and police play hide and seek
Why Europe riots
What’s behind the rise of gang violence across Europe?
French racism is not the problem
Last week we learned that a woman in a park in Skegness was dragged into the bushes and raped by…
The French riots threaten the state’s very existence
How dangerous are riots to the very existence of the French state? Most commentators avoid the question and concentrate on causes.…
The beauty of rosé and roses
What an idyllic setting. We were amidst the joys of high summer in England, with just enough of a breeze…
The Franco-Prussian war changed the map of Europe – so why are we so ignorant about it?
Rachel Chrastil describes how Bismarck, relying on Gallic pride to provoke the war he wanted, ensured that France would fight without a single ally
Wikipedia does more justice to this fascinating story than this film: Chevalier reviewed
Chevalier is a biopic of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, whom you’ve probably never heard of, as I hadn’t. He…
The Britishness of Bordeaux
Burgundy or Bordeaux? We were discussing that unending question during dinner over the weekend. I think that there is only…
Haunted by Old Russia: Rachmaninoff’s lonely final years
Exiled from Russia and often denigrated in America, Rachmaninoff lived in a fug of unbearable, impenetrable sadness, says Paul Kildea
Can Macron get through the day without insulting the Brits?
The editorial in today’s Le Figaro heralds the dawn of a 21st century Entente Cordiale and the newspaper carries an interview…
The murder of Lola and the failure of Marconism
Last Friday, a beautiful 12-year-old Paris girl named Lola failed to come home from middle school. Later that evening, her…
My battle with an ant
At eight o’clock in the morning a nurse injected me with a radioactive marker and told me to go away…
My three-night retreat with the nuns
We were four round the little table in the nunnery kitchen: a 90-year-old German lady and her man; a nun…
Marine Le Pen wants France to become the next Sweden
While Emmanuel Macron spent Sunday in London honouring the memory of the late Queen Elizabeth, Marine Le Pen marked her…
