France
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…
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…
