Why Macron is happy to leave Ghosn shivering in his Tokyo cell

In France after New Year, the only gilets jaunes I spotted were a rather dejected bunch near an autoroute exit. I was ready to give them a cheery thumbs-up rather than risk having my path blocked, but they took no notice of me — and no one I met expressed support for them. The novelty has worn off and sensible French citizens are horrified that the protests have led to deaths in car and lorry accidents at the barricades. On the other hand, most people are also very offended by the rising living costs, high taxes, poor economic prospects and irrelevant green initiatives that provoked the protests in the first place — and no one I met expressed a word of support or sympathy for Emmanuel Macron, the rumour-dogged president who, after less than two years in office, has become the definition of a busted flush.

This self-obsession with domestic troubles meant, incidentally, that none of my local acquaintances, whether French or expats from elsewhere in the EU, wanted to talk about Brexit.