The dog days of summer

It’s La Rentrée – the period immediately after the long break when the French rather reluctantly head home en masse. A sure sign that summer is almost over. The motorways were chock-a-block last weekend, familiar faces and programmes are back on the telly and the usual round of “Universities” have come and gone. Ah yes the “Universities” – the term used here for the big annual powwows organised by all the political parties, unions and employers.

For the Socialist Party this year’s event was a chance for even more navel-gazing than ever. Mind you not all the big cheeses were around for a group wound licking, and that left the door open for the former golden couple to stake their individual claims of their visions for the future of the party.

All well and good perhaps, but while they’re doing what they do best (very little) Nicolas Sarkozy continues his “open government” cherry picking with his latest appointment to a parliamentary commission, Michel Rocard – a former Socialist prime minister (under Mitterand from 1988-1991).

Ho hum.

Meanwhile an apology – of sorts.

It appears that there is more than one spelling of the world “People” here in France. It all depends on where you source your celebrity gossip. Readers of the broadsheets (or the French equivalent thereof) will be treated to the borrowed word in its original English spelling (God forbid).

However, if your tastes veer more to the weekly glossies crammed full of paparazzi pics, the chances are you’ll be delighted by the phonetic “Piple”. This revelation came after perusing the pages of “Closer”, which had won the right to publish photos of the Socialist Party chairman, François Hollande, smooching with his new woman during his summer hols. He had tried to stop publication, but the courts upheld the rag’s right to “publish and be damned” slapping a miserly €15,000 fine on the magazine. So following on the heels of Sarkozy’s airbrushed love handles and Segolene’s week on the beach, it’s now official on all levels. Politicians are Piple and fair game for any long lens.


Back to political policy and the government was quick to react to the latest horror story of a so-called “dangerous dog” when a 15-month old girl died after having been attacked by an American Staffordshire terrier.

The Interior Minister, Marie Aliot-Marie immediately promised to enforce existing laws (there have been three passed by Parliament since 1991 – the most recent was in March this year) and introduce even stricter controls.

These include limits on the import of dogs from Eastern Europe and the requirement for vets to be present during the purchase of certain breeds. Potential owners will also have to follow a special education course – which might not be a bad thing across the board rather than just limiting it to types. But unfortunately the media got hold of the one angle that shed the undoubtedly good intentions in a rather less serious light; The ban on certain crosses – most notable among them the labrador-boxer! Hardly two breeds known for their aggressive nature.

So a summer of mad dogs, paedophiles, gruesome infanticide and a fair share of Piple news comes to an end with la Rentréé heralding not only the return to work but of course the start of the school year.

And Sarkozy was on hand to promote two of the promises he had made at his inauguration as President in May. The first is most admirably to integrate children with handicaps fully into the state education system.

The second is to make compulsory in all secondary schools, the reading of letter written by a World War II teenage resistance fighter. Guy Moquet was just 17 years old when he wrote to his parents on the night before his execution back in 1941. Earlier this year Sarkozy said that Moquet should serve as a model for today’s youth, presumably in keeping with his belief that France needs “to take risks and follow initiatives.”

While the letter may well tug at the hearts of many children, there are the inevitable grumblings and rumblings from teachers. Not because of its contents but rather at government plans to “rationalise” the number of positions available. The unions of course are claiming that it will lead to an increased workload for teachers and a deterioration of educational standards.

Critics maintain Sarkozy’s honeymoon period is almost over and that the true test will come in the shape of pension, education and labour reforms expected over the next couple of months. But who will be left to rouse the opposition into action? And with Permatanman already jumping on the country’s hosting of the rugby world cup as yet another vehicle of his own self-promotion campaign, a home would likely boost his popularity.