France
There will be blood
It was a stroke of genius to invite Glenda Jackson to make her return to acting as the star of…
It is political correctness, not maniacal bigots, that will end civilisation
What does one do, attend or refuse a party after a tragic event such as the recent Paris outrage? My…
The pretend war: bombing Isil won’t solve the problem
Britain, France and America are in a protracted fight against Islamic radicalism. Pity our leaders have no idea how to win it
The GP charged around to my side of the table and roved her hand all over my pubic area
On Friday morning I was peeing razor blades so I rang up the doctor and was given an appointment after…
France’s civil war…
...and the struggle facing Europe
Low life
The car: a ’06 rosso red Seat Ibiza 1.9 TDI Sport, bought three weeks ago from a man who had…
Portrait of the week
Home After the killings in Paris, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that seven terrorist attacks on Britain had been…
The politics of terror
Hollande isn’t seizing his chance. Marine Le Pen might
Death watch
At the beginning of the summer of 1715 Louis XIV complained of a pain in the leg. In mid-August gangrene…
How they tried (and failed) to make ‘La Marseillaise’ nicer
Friendly words England football fans sang ‘La Marseillaise’ in a friendly match at Wembley. The anthem has not always been…
France’s new reactionaries
The nation’s intellectuals are being roiled by issues of immigration, sovereignty and freedom of expression
Heathrow’s third runway could still be halted – here’s how
The Great British Runway final between Heathrow and Gatwick is beginning to look like a game of two halves. The…
Europe’s ever-looser union
Europhiles have warned us for years of the dangers of Britain leaving the EU. But all the while a different…
Merkel’s folly
By making them more likely to attempt the perilous journey to Europe, the German chancellor is luring would-be migrants to their deaths
France’s fight on the right
The leaders of the Républicains avoid Le Pen’s coarse language, but many offer similar immigration policies
High life
These are the languid, sensuous days of summer, and I’ve had another birthday, which is the bad news. But it’s…
The clock that stopped: the victory of nuclear arms and defeat of nuclear power
‘I visited the black marble obelisk which marks the epicentre of the explosion, and I saw the plain domestic wall-clock…
Vive Hollande?
How France’s wobbly pudding of a president could still win again
Barometer
Naming terror David Cameron and the BBC argued over what to call the terror group most papers refer to as…
French Notebook
An overnight stop on the Ile de Ré taken between the St Malo ferry and the Quercy, where we always…
Portrait of the week
Home At least 30 British people were among 38 shot dead at a beach resort at Sousse in Tunisia by…
Deep Burgundy
‘There lies the dearest freshness deep down things’ — and also the dearest Frenchness. It is easy to be rude…
Portrait of the week
Home Tens of thousands took part in a demonstration in London against austerity, and thousands more in other cities. Russell…
Guardians of an ideal
The French have always favoured grand, elegant abstractions about the human condition, says Ruth Scurr. It’s part of their national identity
Facing their Waterloo
The French would still prefer to think of Napoleon’s last defeat as a moral victory
