Bad Politics
Racial prejudice in France, each time it manifests, is generally expressed under guise of secularism or laïcité. We’ve got nothing against Muslims – runs the argument, which can come from the left or...
View ArticleBanning the Burqa
This month, a bill making the wearing of the burqa* illegal in public will become law in France. Predictably, as an Englishwoman I have mixed feelings about this law. On the one hand I agree with...
View ArticleDSKNY
When I first heard the news of Dominique Strauss Kahn’s arrest in New York I clapped my hand over my mouth in horror. The news was shocking in itself – attempted rape…unlawful imprisonment – but my...
View ArticleDSK
Why do so many French women – and not just powerful women in politics and the media – see DSK as the victim? Listening to the French equivalent of BBC Radio 4 this morning (France Inter) brought it...
View ArticleThe DSK case and the Sisterhood
Although I have always called myself a feminist, I was, in the days following Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest, unable to join the sisterhood in condemning a man — albeit of dubious moral record — for...
View ArticleNotes from a Rebel Island
Many of us fall in love with Corsica but it rarely lasts. The French call her l’Ile de Beauté, which helps mask their unease about a place of perpetual insurgency, unrest and superstition. I was...
View ArticlePlaying with Fire
18% to the National Front… Sarkozy’s evil strategy of making eyes at the extreme right all the way through his campaign seems to have backfired. In vain did people in his party warn him to stop...
View ArticleWoman on the edge…
On May 2nd, between the first and second rounds of the presidential elections, Francois Hollande’s partner, Valerie Trierweiler gave an interview to the women’s magazine, Femme Actuelle. A smiling head...
View ArticleReporting live from the moral high ground
The Chevaline Murders Yet again a news story and the particular nature of its coverage seem to reveal the chasm between British and French worldviews. For once, though, the issue at stake is not our...
View ArticleThe End of the Affair?
With the publication of a new biography of Francois Hollande’s girlfriend, Valerie Treirweiller, the French public will, whether they like it or not, discover yet another layer in the complex erotic...
View ArticleAt Last…
The Secret Life of France is to be published in French! In April/May 2013. The publishers are Hugo et Cie who offer a small but eclectic list of titles, ranging as far as I can tell from the serious,...
View ArticleLight relief
Did you know that ‘jejune’ is the silliest word in the dictionary in both English and French? Where oh where has this Woody Allen gone to?
View ArticleÀ paraître…
An evocation of London, explored through the Circle Underground Line. To be published in March 2013. Brought up off the King’s Road in the seventies when punk was in full bloom, Lucy is part of a...
View ArticleBelle et Boring
Belle et bête Marcela Iacub Stock, 128pp, €13.50 There are moments when I feel that as long as I live and as hard as I try, France will remain forever a mystery to me. Reading Marcela Iacub’s book...
View ArticleNew and (hopefully) improved…
An extract from the first of the new chapters for the revised edition of The Secret Life of France, just out… Everything in its Place When this book was first published in 2009, the two most valid...
View ArticleDark Horse.
Why has Hollande’s affair with Julie Gayet led to a poll boost among French women? An opinion poll this week’s Nouvel Observateur shows a three-point jump in approval for Francois Hollande among women...
View ArticleLast Lady
In the aftermath of the Hollande-Gayet-Trierweiller sex scandal, or love vortex – depending on which side of the Channel you’re viewing things from – Le Nouvel Observateur asked me to comment on the...
View ArticleLe Roi est mort
We tend to believe that most aspects of political life are uniform across western societies – except, that is, when France hits the headlines. Just think of the leap of the imagination required to...
View Article‘Parfaite,’ a one-act play about a less-than-perfect mother-son relationship…
Pierre Francois Garel (Jack) Fanny Cottencon (Claire) Parfaite (Perfect) is my first play, written in French for Le Paris des Femmes, a festival created by three women – Michele Fitoussi, Veronique...
View ArticleFrench Schools: is secularism the answer?
Since the terrorist attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket in Paris in January, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France’s indefatigable and impressive Education Minister, is everywhere. Ushered...
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