France

Small-town mysteries: A Case of Matricide, by Graeme MacRae Burnet, reviewed

12 October 2024 9:00 am

The gifted writer Graeme Macrae Burnet makes a mockery of the genres publishers impose on credulous readers. The author of…

A fashion series made by people who hate fashion: Apple TV+’s La Maison reviewed

12 October 2024 9:00 am

I’m a bit disappointed – déçu, as we Francophiles like to say – with La Maison. When French TV drama…

Move over, Mrs Bennet – I’ve seen two daughters married in less than a month

5 October 2024 9:00 am

Provence A few days before my middle daughter’s Oxfordshire wedding this summer, my youngest announced that she and her fiancé,…

Pornography and the truth about the Pelicot case

5 October 2024 9:00 am

There have been protests in 30 cities across France, people marching in outrage over the case of Dominique Pelicot who…

Why French students want English uniforms

28 September 2024 9:00 am

Béziers, France The École Mairan in Béziers in southern France is a happy neighbourhood elementary school housed in a superb…

The joy of hiring an old banger

21 September 2024 9:00 am

There is always much to look forward to on a holiday with friends in France (the day one supermarket sweep,…

Will France’s school uniform experiment foster égalité?

15 September 2024 10:01 pm

As the new school year begins in France, pupils across the country are putting on school uniforms for the first…

The mystique of Henry V remains as powerful as ever

14 September 2024 9:00 am

The belligerent young hero of Agincourt really was the model of a medieval monarch, doing the job exactly as it was supposed to be done, according to Dan Jones

My dinner date with the detective

7 September 2024 9:00 am

Provence ‘What do you mean?’ I wanted to ask the man who told me last autumn it was time to…

What’s gone wrong at the National Theatre?

7 September 2024 9:00 am

Now we have a Labour government, it would be nice to feel repertory will return to the National Theatre. It…

Do I have too many friends?

31 August 2024 9:00 am

Can one have too many friends? I asked myself this question as we prepared yet another dinner party for ten…

Who will stand up for France’s aristocrats?

24 August 2024 9:00 am

When it was recently announced that 40,000 people, the great majority civilians, have been killed in the Gaza conflict, I…

Does France need a government?

21 August 2024 11:40 pm

France has been without an official government for seven weeks, the longest in the history of the Fifth Republic. A…

The ‘Clooney effect’ hasn’t touched my corner of Provence

17 August 2024 9:00 am

Provence My eldest daughter’s husband is from Como. In the early 2000s George Clooney caused a stir in the town…

Market apocalypse? No, a welcome correction

10 August 2024 9:00 am

A bout of global stock-market turmoil and an outbreak of UK street violence as adjacent news items gave an apocalyptic…

Europe is worried that Britain’s riots might spread

7 August 2024 7:56 pm

The riots that have erupted across England in the last week have been splashed across Europe’s newspapers and broadcast on…

Welcome to the new global theocracy

3 August 2024 9:00 am

I had a revelation while watching the Olympics opening ceremony. It was during the infamous section that I (and almost…

Will we always have Paris?

27 July 2024 9:00 am

There are times when you might be fooled into believing all is well. I had a moment of such weakness…

Why can’t French progressives be more civil?

22 July 2024 9:11 pm

There was a muted reaction among the French political class to the attempt on Donald’s Trump’s life. Keir Starmer sent…

Portrait of the Week: Starmer’s first steps, Biden’s wobble and Australia’s egg shortage

13 July 2024 9:00 am

Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, appointed several ministers who are not MPs, but will be created life peers.…

Le Pen is still the biggest winner in France’s elections

8 July 2024 8:06 pm

Ignore most snap verdicts from last night – the big winner in the French parliamentary election was still Marine Le…

How Marine Le Pen rebranded herself

7 July 2024 5:13 pm

Marine Le Pen was called a ‘bitch’ this week and threatened with sexual violence. It’s what passes for rap music…

My nights with the eagle owls

6 July 2024 9:00 am

Provence Summer has arrived. The evenings are warm enough to sit out on the balcony terrace and watch the lights…

Let’s start the new era with a glass of champagne

6 July 2024 9:00 am

‘I drink champagne when I’m happy and when I’m sad,’ Madame Lily Bollinger (1899-1977) remarked. ‘Sometimes I drink it when…