France
Is the New York Times right to say Muslims are fleeing France?
Has the New York Times found a new bête noire? It was for a number of years Britain, damned for…
Macron’s diplomatic failure in Russia was still a political success
President Emmanuel Macron may or may not have imagined that his mission to Moscow would head off armed conflict in…
How the Ukraine crisis ends
Vladimir Putin does not think in the way the West does. Of course sanctions will hurt. But so what? He…
Macron’s energy intervention has seriously backfired
He intervened decisively. He showed the ability of the state to make a difference. And he demonstrated that greedy, self-interested…
Is President Macron’s re-election as safe as it looks?
In February 1995, Jacques Chirac was at 12 per cent in the polls. Two months later he was president. Two…
Shadows of Macron
Could Valérie Pécresse become France’s first female president?
Low life
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…
Low life
‘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
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…
Low life
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…
