France
Macron's ambitions have been torpedoed by Aukus
Today France is outraged. First, explicitly because Australia has broken a large contract to have a French company design their…
Macron is playing Eric Zemmour’s tune
In a big speech yesterday, Macron presented himself in almost Nixonian terms as guardian of law and order. He said…
Hidalgo has trashed Paris. Can she do the same for France?
Anne Hidalgo, the socialist mayor of Paris, whose reign has submerged the city in debt and rubbish, is the latest…
A tale of refugees from ‘Brexit Britain’
In the New Year I was introduced to a couple who had fled Britain impulsively on New Year’s Eve with…
The West's Islamist capitulation
On Monday, Tony Blair addressed a military think tank in London and stated that the West should continue to intervene…
Was I the picture of evil incarnate?
Not long after Catriona and I first met, her husband painted my head and shoulders portrait in oils as I…
France's provocateur is coming to London
Five years ago, London’s affluent French poured their dosh into the campaign of Emmanuel Macron. This time around, supporters of…
Is the EU trying to hamstring the French military?
Much recent discussion has focussed on the collapse of Afghanistan and the decline of the West. The humiliating American-led Western…
Anne Hidalgo’s socialist reign of error in Paris
A photograph, taken in June 2014, has become emblematic of Anne Hidalgo’s Socialist rule of Paris. In the picture stands…
France is nervous about welcoming a wave of Afghan refugees
Emmanuel Macron has once more infuriated many in France, but this time it has nothing to do with Covid passports…
Liberté, égalité, vacciné: France’s Covid passport revolt is just beginning
France’s revolt against Covid passports is just beginning
From ferreter to animal-rights champion
I was sitting quite still at the typewriter when a plump mouse emerged from under the fridge and crossed the…
Macron's vaccine passport is uniting French anti-fascists and nationalists
Saturday was what is known in France as the Chassé-croisé, the busiest day of the year on the roads, when…
Turning the tide: how to deal with Britain’s new migrant crisis
How Britain can stem the stream of illegal arrivals
Foucault was shielded from scandal by French reverence for intellectuals
Consider the hare and the hyena. The hare, Clement of Alexandria told readers of his 2nd-century sexual self-help manual Paedagogus,…
Macron's war on Covid meets resistance
A manager of an attraction park in France was reportedly assaulted on Sunday after he denied entry to a customer.…
Emmanuel Macron’s dangerous infantilisation of the French
From St Tropez to La Rochelle to Deauville, there is a familiar sight this summer in many of France’s most…
Macron’s vaccine passports are a betrayal of French values
What a celebration of diversity I witnessed in Paris on Saturday as tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the…
The wine that made me change my mind about rosé
Some time ago, I wrote that rosé should only be drunk south of Lyon, but one could start on the…
How Macron was outfoxed by a dead Napoleonic general
Skeletons don’t always lurk in cupboards, some of them hide under dance floors waiting for a particularly rousing party to…
Macron's Covid crackdown is a risky bet
Will the French accept compulsory vaccination against Covid? Health passports to get on a plane or train? Children of 12…
It’s the end of lockdown – and the village has gone wild
The village square is a long and pedestrianised oblong shaded along its length by massive pollarded plane trees. It’s known…
The growing extremism of France's Green party
On Sunday evening I met three left-leaning French friends for a picnic in a Parisian park. We’d hardly begun the…
Is Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid doomed?
Nothing went as predicted in France’s regional elections. Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National did not win a single region and…
The electoral humiliation of Macron and Le Pen
Five years ago, Emmanuel Macron was ‘en marche’ to his improbable ascent to the presidency of France. Last night, having…
