France
It's time for Boris to turn back the Channel migrant boats
There is a sentence in the latest BBC report on English Channel migrant crossings that is just exquisite. Thursday saw…
The real ‘scallop’ war: how do you pronounce it?
‘You say scallops and I say scallops,’ sang my husband in his best Ginger Rogers accents. Since we both pronounce…
Is it worth gambling on supermarket wine bargains?
Rich men often look out for bargains. I suppose that is why they are rich. But there can be problems.…
Fishing for votes: what’s really behind our trade war with France?
Who has the most to lose from our trade war with France?
Why I didn’t get a hug at COP26
COP26 is not your typical power summit, because world leaders, NGOs and hacks are all in the same scrum. Outside…
Portrait of the week: Fishing friction, Greta’s singalong and terror in Tokyo
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, told delegates to the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework…
Is Eric Zemmour running or not?
Eric Zemmour, the right-wing journalist and self-declared populist, is at a crossroads. Will he or won’t he declare himself a…
Did Macron win the Brexit fish war?
Who is winning the fish war? Will gentlemen in England still a-bed think themselves accursed they were not there? This…
France must protect Eric Zemmour’s life
There are several similarities between Eric Zemmour and the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, and one distinct difference. The Dutchman was…
Macron is following in the failed footsteps of the wrong Napoleon
Is Emmanuel Macron turning into Emperor Napoleon III? Not the great Napoleon who conquered Europe and was eventually defeated by…
Is Britain heading for a full-blown fish war with France?
As the COP26 summit gets underway, a diplomatic Brexit row is escalating on the sidelines of the conference over fish.…
France is too Catholic to forgive Britain for Brexit
Former Chancellor Nigel Lawson famously said that the National Health Service is the nearest thing we British have to a…
Macron’s pointless fish war
During the now virtually forgotten cod wars between Iceland and the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1976, the diminutive foreign…
Zemmour's xenophobia
The received opinion is that Islam and immigration are Éric Zemmour’s prime targets as his putative presidential campaign gathers pace. But…
My night in Béziers with Zemmour
Zemmour’s star power is undeniable
Plan Z: the rise of Éric Zemmour
France’s new insurgent, Éric Zemmour
The idiotic myth of the ‘lone wolf’ attack
In the summer of 2020 the French Senate published a report on the ‘Development of Islamist Radicalisation and the means…
Macron may well win. But Macronism is dead
President Emmanuel Macron was in an expansive mood this week as he commandeered the splendid beaux arts Grand Palais in…
France's political elite created Eric Zemmour
Love him or loathe him, Eric Zemmour is a breath of fresh air in French politics. Before he appeared as…
The downfall of the French middle class
The chesty Corsican taxi driver was giving me his earnest appraisal of the way things were headed in France politically.…
Power fail: French tantrum diplomacy is wearing thin
It’s hard for tabloid journalists to engage in mad hyperbole when politicians seem all too willing to do it for…
Macron's selective defence of free speech
In the early years of his presidency, Emmanuel Macron became known as Monsieur ‘En Meme Temps’. The president of France…
Eric Zemmour is eating Marine Le Pen alive
French opinion polls are best taken with a generous bucket of sel de Guérande but this evening’s drop of a…
Von der Leyen is the real winner of the German elections
The bald guy who leads the Social Democrats. The earnest looking Green lady. Or perhaps the guy in the charcoal-grey…
Emmanuel Macron and the art of tantrum diplomacy
France’s fit of pique following Australia’s cancelled submarine contract – and the signing of the Aukus pact – is a…
