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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Mascots, memories and minister’s love song

From politicians' love songs to the latest on the French government crisis, via the lingering memories of a golden summer of sport, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Published: 14 September 2024 10:52 CEST
Inside France: Mascots, memories and minister's love song
The closing ceremony of the Paris Paralympics, where the French crowd took the opportunity to remind Emmanuel Macron that the summer truce is over. Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published every Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

99 problems

Well this is brutal – France has gone from a golden summer of sport to being plunged right back into a political crisis (and maybe a financial crisis too) and top it all off the temperature has plummeted so that it feels like late October already. 

The Paris Paralympics closed on Sunday with a beautiful ceremony at Stade de France – and the French took the opportunity to remind president Emmanuel Macron that he can’t hide from his political problems for ever by booing and whistling at him.

5 of the biggest problems that France (and Macron) face in September

By Monday, France was plunged right back into its political crisis, with newly appointed prime minister Michel Barnier beginning the long and difficult process of trying to put together a government. That will happen by next week – maybe. 

The above meme showing Barnier considering picking Darth Vader for his cabinet (or Dark Vador as he is known to the French) is a reminder that, while many leftist Brits have a lingering fondness for Barnier as the man who stood up to Boris Johnson and his Brexiteers, on domestic issues he is pretty far to the right of the political spectrum.

L’amour and Le Maire

One person we know won’t be in the new government is Bruno Le Maire – the man who has served as Macron’s finance minister ever since 2017. He announced his departure by quoting singer Michel Sardou and saying Je vous aime, mais je pars (I love you but I’m leaving).

I don’t really feel qualified to judge his economic record, but I can say that I have enjoyed his Instagram posts (almost all close-ups of himself either jogging or drinking coffee) and I’m still trying to forget the passage that I read from one of his erotic novels. As a politician who appears to have a healthy ego, I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of him.

Talking France

Back after its extended summer break is the Talking France podcast where we try, with the help of John Lichfield, to make sense of all this, look ahead to the legacy of the Paris Olympics and things to do in France in September.

As this is the first podcast we have done since the Games started we couldn’t resist a little chat about our favourite memories (plus some things to moan about) and I also got the opportunity to talk about my stint as a Volunteer during the Paralympics.

This was an incredible experience – I spent three weeks working at the Athletes’ Village and can honestly say it’s one of the best things I have ever done.

Farewell to the most incredible temporary workplace – the last 3 weeks as a volunteer in the Athletes’ Village for the Paris 2024 Paralympics have been amazing, wonderful, unforgettable

[image or embed]

— Emma Pearson (@emmapearson.bsky.social) September 8, 2024 at 9:28 AM

You can download the episode here or listen on the link below.

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Olympics nostalgia, holiday vibes and French internet law

From 'JOstalgie' to the worry (or not) of France having no government, via whether French courts can touch JK Rowling, Elon Musk or Donald Trump, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Published: 17 August 2024 10:06 CEST
Inside France: Olympics nostalgia, holiday vibes and French internet law

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

Games gloom

The new ailment in France? JOstalgie. Sometimes also known as ‘les blues post-JO’ or the post-Olympics blues. Is this something that we can shortly expect a remedy for on the shelves of French pharmacies? Perhaps alongside that seasonal favourite ailment that only seems to exist in France ‘heavy legs’?

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by HugoDécrypte – Sport (@hugodecrypte.sport)

While it’s nice to enjoy the warm glow of the Games and a look back at the best bits (stunning sport, beautiful venues, that mascot and France proudly showing the world via its opening and closing ceremonies exactly how wonderfully weird a country it is), this is actually only a brief pause – the Paralympics start on August 28th.

Largely held in the same wonderful Paris venues as the Olympics, they also have the advantage of tickets (starting from €15) still being available for many sports.

How to get Paris Paralympics tickets

End of the truce?

Probably contributing a bit to the generally cheerful and relaxed mood is that it’s August, and much of France is on holiday. This could also explain why still no-one seems particularly worried about France’s lack of government.

The Olympic ‘truce’ is now over but while some politicians at least started talking about the situation again this week, any clamour to replace the caretaker government with a more permanent arrangement seems distinctly muted.

What’s going on with the French government now the Olympics are over?

This is probably aided by the fact that Thursday was a public holiday, giving Frenchies who are still at work the chance to ‘faire le pont‘ on Friday – the commute into work on Friday morning was very quiet indeed, although I did appreciate having a Metro carriage all to myself.

Aux barricades

Eighty years ago this week the city of Paris was not quiet at all – in fact battle was raging during the week-long fight for the Liberation of the city from Nazi occupation, which began oh-so-Frenchly with a strike.

There are some incredible stories from that time of Parisians showing extraordinary courage, including that of 20-year-old Madeleine Riffaut; sprung from jail where she had been tortured and sentenced to death for killing a Nazi officer, she immediately headed to Buttes Chaumont park to derail a German train.

Upon capturing the train, she and her comrades partied with the Champagne and foie gras that the Germans were shipping home. “Let us say, we celebrated on that day: it was August 23rd. I was 20,” she said.

READ ALSO 7 wild stories from the Liberation of Paris 

If this is a topic that interests you, I highly recommend the Musée de la Libération Leclerc Moulin in Paris – more info here. It’s one of my three favourite museums/galleries in Paris (along with the Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration and the Petit Palais).

Le bras long of the law

And in a rather more unpleasant hangover from the Olympics, the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into alleged cyber-bullying of the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif.

The prosecutor’s office has said only that it has launched an investigation, but Khelif’s lawyer says that high profile figures outside France including British author JK Rowling, US-based Twitter boss Elon Musk and American presidential candidate Donald Trump – all of whom tweeted about Khelif – could be cited.

But do the French courts actually have jurisdiction over people outside France? Well in this case things are complicated by the fact that none of those involved are French, while international cyber crimes are notoriously difficult to prosecute without cross-border co-operation. 

France does, however, frequently launch criminal proceedings over events that happened outside France which involve its nationals – from the Rwanda genocide to the murder in Ireland of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

September

This newsletter will now be having a brief pause as I’m taking three weeks off work to do something a bit special. See you in September, when the Talking France podcast will also be returning.

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

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