France has been plunged into crisis – again
Prime Minister François Bayrou’s government has collapsed after a bruising no-confidence vote in the French National Assembly. MPs rejected his…
Will the Bloquons Tout strikes cripple France?
The French intelligence services are warning that next week’s Bloquons Tout mobilisation, set to start on 10 September, could dwarf…
The folly of blaming boomers for France’s financial crisis
Ministers are packing up their offices. Emmanuel Macron’s government, desperate to shift the narrative and rally support ahead of its…
Migrant riots have come to Switzerland
A stolen scooter, a police chase, and a fatal crash left a 17-year-old of migrant background dead. Within hours, Lausanne…
In defence of Notting Hill Carnival
Every August Bank Holiday my neighbours in Notting Hill Gate pull down the shutters and disappear. Cornwall, Tuscany, anywhere but…
Is this the end for Emmanuel Macron?
Prime Minister François Bayrou has recalled parliament for a confidence vote on 8 September, betting he can outmanoeuvre a surging…
The death of a streamer is being used to stifle free speech
One viewer whispered on the livestream: ‘Yes, keep going… Keep going’. Moments later, Jean Pormanove was dead. Last Sunday night…
The awkward truth about tourists in Paris
As Parisians slowly return from their long summer breaks, locals are beginning to do what they do best: complaining. Montmartre,…
The sad decline of the French village fête
France’s village fêtes are disappearing. A survey by the association Les Plus Belles Fêtes de France found that in just…
Could the Arctic be key to ending the Ukraine war?
‘It is in Alaska and in the Arctic that the economic interests of our countries converge and prospects for implementing…
Donald Trump is humiliating Switzerland
The Swiss president and economy minister are rushing to Washington in a last-ditch attempt to reverse Donald Trump’s decision to…
Why France is cracking down on topless tourists
Police have been sent out to patrol France’s seaside promenades. Not to chase hardened criminals – but to look for bare-chested…
Remembering Jonathan Miller
The long-time Spectator contributor Jonathan Miller has died. James Tidmarsh remembers him here: Jonathan Miller liked to say that Emmanuel…
France wants to know the true cost of immigration
The right-wing UDR group in the French parliament, led by Eric Ciotti, has called for a parliamentary commission to calculate…
Has Trump brought peace to the Congo?
It remains to be seen whether Trump’s ceasefire between Iran and Israel will hold, but on the other side of…
The danger of the fatwa against Gabriel Attal
An imam at the Grand Mosque of Massy, just outside Paris, has threatened to issue a fatwa against former Prime…
France’s toddler screen ban is pure state overreach
The French government is preparing to ban all screen time for children under the age of three. The measure, announced…
How can France ban outdoor smoking?
Faced with a cost-of-living crisis, rising delinquency, failing public services, and riots in the suburbs, the French government has finally…
Anne Hidalgo has ruined Paris – now she wants to be UN refugee chief
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, is being lined up for one of the world’s most powerful humanitarian jobs: United…
Why France’s taxi drivers are on strike
A taxi drivers’ strike has plunged Paris, Marseille, and other big cities into chaos. Approximately 5,000 taxi drivers have taken…
Brussels is dropping a bureaucratic bombshell on Europe
Brussels makes one thing better than anywhere else: regulation. Reporting duties, due diligence checks, ESG disclosures, and endless frameworks for…
Bruno Retailleau’s quiet revolution
Bruno Retailleau has done something nobody expected. He has made himself the most serious contender for the French presidency, not…
Can France dismantle the NGO-migrant complex?
France’s interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, and his party Les Républicains (LR) are moving to end the decades-long monopoly on providing legal…
Why is Macron courting the Freemasons?
Emmanuel Macron turned this week to France’s shadowy Freemasons for support. In a speech delivered to the secretive Grande Loge…
France is quietly tightening its citizenship rules
Bruno Retailleau, the hardline French Minister of the Interior, has issued a confidential circular to regional prefects with a simple…
