James Tidmarsh is an international lawyer based in Paris. His law firm specialises in complex international commercial litigation and arbitration.
France’s churches are under attack, yet the media and political establishment are pretending not to notice. Last year, we saw blazes at historic churches in Rouen, Saint-Omer and Poitiers – each one another grim statistic in an escalating crisis. For years, we’ve seen Christian places of worship targeted in acts of arson and vandalism. Yet, until
The government has defended its controversial decision to relinquish control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius with an excuse so far-fetched it could be mistaken for a plot from a spy novel gone wrong. According to reports in the Telegraph, Starmer’s administration claims that the deal is necessary to secure the viability of the military base
Goma, a city of 1.5 million in Eastern Congo, has fallen to the M23 rebels, openly backed by Rwanda. Foreign governments are calling for the rebels to withdraw, and the UN Security Council has been holding crisis talks, but this is not the time to stop at diplomatic gestures: maximum pressure must be applied on
France’s 2025 census has ignited a predictable but exhausting row. The controversy centres on a seemingly innocuous question: ‘Where were your parents born?’ Cue outrage from the French left, who have called for a boycott of the question, declaring it racist and a dangerous gateway to discrimination. The fact is that many on the left
The French government on Wednesday declared war on X and on Elon Musk, directly threatening to ban the platform. Speaking on France Inter, Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s Foreign Minister, accused Musk of allowing X to become a platform for interference undermining European ‘public discourse’. Barrot demanded that the European Commission act with ‘the utmost firmness’. He
Another year, another protest. French farmers are at it again. France’s Coordination Rurale trade union is calling for another round of massive protests starting this week. Unions say that French farmers ‘won’t die in silence’. Cue tractors clogging motorways, hay bales set ablaze in front of government offices, and manure dumped on city streets. This time, the
Once one of France’s most respected publications, Le Monde is in crisis. Its newsroom is gripped by a climate of fear, where only left-wing and woke views are tolerated, and dissenters whisper their frustrations in the shadows. Once a beacon of intellectual rigour and fearless reporting, an investigation by its rival Le Figaro paints a damning picture
Earlier this year, Sciences Po’s feminist association, Décollectif Féministe, organised a ‘non-mixed’ meeting, which explicitly excluded men and white attendees. Intended as a ‘safe space’ for women of colour, the event sparked an immediate backlash. An MP from Marine Le Pen’s National Rally called it ‘racist and discriminatory.’ Ultimately, the meeting was cancelled before it took place, but it
In the remote Ludewa district of southern Tanzania, villagers scratch out a meagre living in harsh conditions. The roads are barely passable, clean water is hard to come by, and families live in rudimentary homes made from mud bricks. Preventable diseases like malaria, cholera, and dysentery plague the region, and health infrastructure is almost non-existent.
The latest move in Anne Hidalgo’s war on cars has left Paris motorists teetering on the edge of despair. Last week, the city’s left-wing mayor reduced the speed limit on the Périphérique, Paris’s critical eight-lane motorway, to a crawl-inducing 30 mph. For the thousands of suburban commuters who rely on it, it’s made the daily grind
Sir Keir Starmer, the man often dubbed ‘Mr. Rules’ for his reputation as a stickler for ethical conduct, now finds himself facing an ethics probe over undeclared gifts. The accusations concern luxury suits gifted to Starmer and dresses for his wife, Victoria, reportedly paid for by Lord Alli, a Labour peer and supporter. Starmer’s team
As the new school year begins in France, pupils across the country are putting on school uniforms for the first time in decades. In a pilot program spearheaded by the government, approximately one hundred schools across the country are testing whether uniforms can reduce bullying, improve classroom tranquillity, and foster equality. While some see uniforms
The UK is currently struggling with balancing migrant rights and public safety. Record numbers of foreign national offenders are currently still living in the country, unable to be deported. While the case of Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai – an Afghan asylum seeker who had previously murdered two migrants before entering the country, and who went on to murder a 21-year-old
The arrest of Pavel Durov, the founder of the messaging app Telegram, has not only raised questions about the charges against him, but also about the peculiar relationship between the tech entrepreneur and the French government. In 2018, President Emmanuel Macron extended an olive branch, inviting Durov to lunch and offering him French citizenship in
