From time to time, there is such a build-up to a mid-week football match, that you cannot wait for the Wednesday night. The build-up to this week’s French presidential debate promised a night of high drama, philosophical insights and antipodal… Continue Reading
Joan of Arc, having liberated France from English occupation in the 15th century, has become a symbol of ultra-nationalism expressed by the French National Front Party. The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is a poetic tale, in which… Continue Reading
(IV) Emmanuel Macron’s Late Night Out Up to now, compared to Marine Le Pen, I’ve been quite nice to Emmanuel Macron. Well, one thing’s for sure: nobody’s perfect I was fortunate enough to attend the Euro 2000 football championship final… Continue Reading
(II) Marine Le Pen’s Splitting Headache Over Europe The situation at the Whirlpool plant, situated in the northern town of Amiens, underscores the nature of the combat between Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron. The fact that the American… Continue Reading
A series of short posts highlighting interesting points arising during the final countdown to the French presidential election. (I) – Storm in a “Whirlpool” It’s what we call “l’entre deux tours” (between the two rounds) of the French… Continue Reading
If I talked to you about a country that just had a dubiously run referendum, the result of which was so close, as to be invalid for such a huge constitutional change, you would probably be thinking of Turkey. If… Continue Reading
Mes enfants, it’s fast approaching squeaky bum time in France, with the first round of the 2017 presidential election due on the 23rd April. The political situation in France is, as I see it, similar to that of 2002, when… Continue Reading
The British Press: Responsible but not guilty? When the offices of the French satirical journal Charlie Hebdo were gruesomely attacked in January 2015, the world was shocked, and rightly so. The attack focused on the press, one of the… Continue Reading
It’s ironic that former prime minister David Cameron put forward a referendum on Europe that now threatens the very nature of the parliamentary democracy that let him propose it in the first place. Of course, whether Cameron had any choice… Continue Reading
Having left the UK in 1984, I am beginning to wonder if my motherland is not the outward looking and relaxed land that I thought it was. I love the UK, don’t get me wrong. I can assure you that,… Continue Reading