Will bromance bloom between Trump and Jordan Bardella?
The 30-year-old president of France’s National Rally said he agrees ‘for the most part’ with Trump’s bleak outlook for Europe
Gavin Mortimer
Gavin Mortimer is a British author who lives in Burgundy after many years in Paris. He writes about French politics, terrorism and sport.
Monday
France is becoming a nation of sexless puritans
From our UK edition
Bring back brothels! It’s not your typical political slogan, but Marine Le Pen’s National Rally has launched a campaign to reopen and regulate France’s brothels for the benefit of sex workers. In an interview last week Jean-Philippe Tanguy, one of Le Pen’s senior MPs, said his party would table a bill to reopen the brothels
Friday
Stopping the boats will be harder than Jordan Bardella thinks
From our UK edition
France’s Jordan Bardella has promised to stop the boats. Now where have we heard that before? The president of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally made his boast on a day trip to London on Tuesday. After lunching with Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, the 30-year-old outlined his strategy for curtailing the passage of illegal immigrants between
Wednesday
Bardella and Le Pen are closer to power than ever before
From our UK edition
The 20 days that Nicolas Sarkozy recently spent behind bars have been turned into a book published today. The 70-year-old former president of France was convicted of criminal conspiracy after a long-running investigation into charges his aides approached Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for campaign funds. ‘Sarko’ was jailed for five years but he was released
Monday
Yes, Europe’s civilization is being erased
Trump is right to warn against mass immigration and the Islamification of Europe
Friday
David Lammy is wrong about Brexit and the EU
From our UK edition
David Lammy believes Britain should rejoin the EU customs union to boost economic growth. In an interview on Thursday, the Deputy Prime Minister argued that leaving the EU had ‘badly damaged’ Britain’s economy. A reversal of Brexit would be good for business he suggested. It was ‘self-evident’ that other countries had ‘seen growth’ after joining
Tuesday
Are America’s women heading for the exit?
Four in ten women want to leave America. But where would they go?
Monday
Why the prospect of peace in Ukraine is troubling Macron
From our UK edition
Emmanuel Macron welcomed Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to Paris this morning to discuss ‘the conditions for a just and lasting peace’. But is the French leader nervous about what peace in Ukraine might mean for Europe – and for France? There may be another reason why Macron is concerned at what peace in Ukraine might
Friday
France’s military service rollout is about more than Russia
From our UK edition
National service is being brought back in France. Emmanuel Macron used a visit to a military base in the Alps on Thursday to outline his initiative. The service will begin next year for a term of ten months, and it will be voluntary. Macron’s plan is being viewed as a response to the Russian threat,
Tuesday
Did the Louvre robbers want to get caught?
It is more than a month since thieves stole the crown jewels from the Louvre and the chances of recovering the loot, worth an estimated €88 million, diminish with every passing day. The robbery was initially dubbed the “heist of the century,” a brazen theft in broad daylight as visitors strolled through the world’s most
Thursday
A decade after Bataclan, France is more divided than ever
Ten years ago on Thursday, Islamist terrorists massacred 130 people in a coordinated attack across Paris. It was the heaviest loss of life on French soil since World War Two, and those who perished – as well as the 350 who were wounded – were remembered yesterday in a series of commemorations. Emmanuel Macron visited
Monday
Night-time air patrols won’t stop small boat crossings
From our UK edition
The government has deployed two aircraft to the Channel to detect and monitor small boats crossing under the cover of darkness. The planes, De Havilland Dash 8s, are equipped with hi-tech cameras and sensors and will give Border Force ‘eyes’ on the boats heading from France to England. The optimists within government hope that the
Friday
Why is it only left-wing leaders who are allowed to be young?
There was a time when the French left turned its nose up at all things American. Too low-brow for them. Not now. The victory of Zohran Mamdani in the New York mayoral race has caused much joie de vivre in left-circles. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Gallic Bernie Saunders and the leader of the far-left La France Insoumise,
Wednesday
The Ile d’Oléron attack and Islamism’s ceaseless menace
From our UK edition
A man shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ drove his car into a crowd on France’s Ile d’Oléron this morning. At least ten people on the popular holiday destination – situated off the Atlantic Coast – were injured, and three are in a critical condition. Police arrested the driver, a 35-year-old man with a history of petty crime.
Monday
France is in the grip of a heist epidemic
From our UK edition
The good news for the French police is that three of the four people suspected of carrying off the ‘heist of the century’ at the Louvre last month are in custody. The bad news is that the crown jewels they stole, worth an estimated €88 million (£76 million), have yet to be recovered. Given the audacity
Thursday
Brigitte Macron has lost France’s sympathy
From our UK edition
Ten people have been on trial this week in Paris, accused of transphobic cyberbullying against Brigitte Macron. France’s first lady, the wife of Emmanuel Macron, pressed charges after a claim that she was in fact a man went global. Some of those in the dock have apologised for spreading the allegations online but others have
Sunday
Is DEI to blame for the Louvre heist?
Police in Paris have now arrested two men over the robbery
Thursday
‘One in, one out’ is dead
From our UK edition
France is not a safe country. That was the excuse given by an Iranian man who returned to Britain last weekend a month after his deportation. The man was one of the first illegal immigrants to have been sent back to France as part of the ‘one in, one out’ deal agreed between the two
Wednesday
France has failed its daughters
From our UK edition
It is just over three years since a 12-year-old Parisian girl called Lola was raped and murdered in a crime that shocked France. The woman accused of the murder, 27-year-old Dahbia Benkired, is now on trial and on Monday the court heard chilling evidence from a man who encountered the defendant shortly after the death
Friday
Why the French are dreaming of a Donald Trump à la française
The French have never got The Donald. Amid parliamentary deadlock and fiscal crisis, this may now be changing
