Macron is restoring France’s dignity

Has there ever been a time when the leaders of France and Great Britain are so diametrically opposed in character and style? One is weak and indecisive, a Prime Minister who avoids confrontation, the other is forthright and forceful, a president who relishes a fight. Emmanuel Macron seems to take a perverse delight in upsetting his compatriots; one can detect in his behaviour a healthy contempt for a section of French society. These are the slackers to whom he referred in a speech last year, the coasters, the self-entitled, the people he believes have grown up believing the state will look after them, whatever.

Last week he railed against a social security system that throws “crazy amounts of dosh” at the poor but offers them no long-term incentives or solutions to better themselves. Most on the left were outraged as they were last year when he told striking workers to “stop wreaking bloody havoc”. The latest target of Macron’s ire was a teenager who made the mistake of addressing the president as “Manu” during a walkabout on Monday in Mont Valérien, where French resistance members were executed during the war.