France
The healing power of medieval austerity
Eighty yards west of the high terrace where I’ve sat for three weeks recuperating is a hospice built for Napoleon’s…
How democratic are the French elections?
There are just 59 days to go until voters turn out for the first round of the French presidential election…
Can Macron really lecture Putin about democracy?
A penny for the thoughts of Vladimir Putin on Monday as he stared at Emmanuel Macron from the end of…
Le Pen, Zemmour and the two French far rights
Just about two months ahead of the French elections, a first poll for Le Parisién suggests that Marine Le Pen…
Eric Zemmour isn’t to blame for France’s anti-Semitism crisis
Emmanuel Macron sees anti-Semitism everywhere except where it really lurks. Earlier this month his government accused protesters opposed to the…
It’s my ninth – and final – chemotherapy session
‘Sorry I’m late,’ I said to the big unit stationed behind her computer. She’s the chief, this one. She shows…
Macron's vaccine culture war
When French prime minister Jean Castex and health minister Olivier Véran held a press conference last week, they outlined the timetable…
The fate of the French Socialists is a warning for Boris Johnson
The defection of Christian Wakeford to Labour has put a spring in the step of the left-wing party. Apparently it…
Has Macron shot France's energy industry in the foot?
Gas prices are soaring. Europe could be about to witness electricity shortages. Power companies are collapsing by the day, and,…
Portrait of the week: No. 10’s garden party, Djokovic’s visa row and France’s vaccine protests
Home Boris Johnson admitted to attending evening drinks for about 40 staff in the garden of 10 Downing Street on…
Will Marion Maréchal-Le Pen join Éric Zemmour’s campaign?
Is Marion Maréchal, granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen and niece of Marine, about to emerge from political retirement to support…
France has the most to lose from Britain's turn away from Europe
It was Napoleon who declared that ‘a state has the politics of its geography’. We do well to remember that…
The misery of Macron’s Covid clampdown
My daughter’s Christmas won’t quite be the same this year. She and I are in England but her French mother…
Macron’s British travel ban is entirely political
Emmanuel Macron subjected France to a two-hour primetime television interview on Wednesday evening which must have been a pre-Christmas treat…
Will Valérie Pécresse vanquish Macron?
It seems like just minutes ago that Michel Barnier, former Brexit negotiator, centre-right Républicain exiled to Brussels two decades ago,…
Why a love child might help ‘Papa Zemmour’
It’s not often you find Eric Zemmour plastered across the front of Closer magazine. Brigitte Macron, Beyonce and Lady Gaga…
The joy of French hospital food
After checking me in, the receptionist, who was wearing an overcoat, said: ‘There is no heating in the hotel. The…
Europe gripped by a fifth wave
How quickly things change. Just a month ago many EU countries were being praised for keeping some Covid restrictions in…
The fifth Covid wave could break Macron
The fifth Covid wave has started in Europe. Some governments are already imposing lockdowns and wage cuts for the unvaccinated…
My moment of madness in the opticians
Foolishly I chose new specs in the village optician’s after a long lunch: a rather outré design that I might…
Why has London's Royal Institution cancelled Eric Zemmour?
On Friday night, the insurgent but still undeclared French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour was to address 600 of his supporters,…
France is using migrants just like Belarus
It was hard not to laugh, coldly, at the statement from western members of the UN Security Council that condemned…
A troubling tide of anti-Semitism is sweeping Britain and France
A day after the Israeli ambassador to Britain, Tzipi Hotovely, was harassed as she left the London School of Economics,…
The remarkable rise of French sovereignism
The French presidential campaign reveals French voters’ widespread urge to roll back EU powers. The top five candidates for the…
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…
