FRENCH NEWS - in English of course. Politics, sports, reviews, travel, a slice of life in France and stories you might not necessarily be able to find elsewhere on the Net.
Not content with alienating many groups at home, US presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has turned his attention to foreign affairs (again) and in particular France (again).
“France is no longer France” he said at a campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina on Tuesday.
“I have friends who go to France every year. They love it,” he told the audience.
“I say, How do you like it this year? They say, we don’t go to France anymore. France in no longer France.”
(The first video below is silent...which, for many, might well be the best way to listen to Trump)
Wow. That’s an astute and shrewd analysis.
And one that Trump has made before. Yes, he’s a repeat “offender” of French feelings. Evidence that he has a complete understanding of a country he clearly knows and appreciates so well.
Back in July, after a terror attack in Nice on Bastille day left 87 people dead and the killing of a French priest, Father Jacques Hamel, 10 days later in a suburb of the north-western city of Rouen, Trump came up with his perceptive and incisive analysis that “France is no longer France.”
His source - an unnamed “friend” who apparently wouldn’t go to France because…yes, you’ve guessed it…”France is no longer France.
Interesting, isn’t it, (not really) that within the course of a few weeks the singular friend has become plural…and even though they apparently no longer set foot in France, they are knowledgeable enough to proclaim that, “France is no longer France”.
So, M. Trump (and friend/friends) if “France is no longer France” what is it?
Let’s have the benefit of your undoubted wisdom. It’s bound to be enlightening…if not completely skewed.
And in the meantime, perhaps you could take a look at this piece in "Le Monde" (just FYI, that’s a French daily newspaper) by journalist Olivier Ravanello.
It’s short and to the point and suggests that when you’re French bashing so "eloquently", you’re actually talking about your own country.
July 14, aka Bastille Day, came and went. France's celebratory show of military might made its collective way along "la plus belle avenue du monde", every major flippin' TV channel covered the it - live, and what ho!
The French president François Hollande (once again) broke an election promise (don't gasp in surprise).
Remember how during the presidential election campaign Hollande had said that, if elected, he wouldn't follow the example of his predecessors by conducting interviews at the Elysée palace?
Weekend anchors Claire Chazal (TF1) and Laurent Delahousse (France 2) were the lucky couple invited along to pose questions on:
**shale gas (there won't be any exploration during his presidency apparently),
**taxes (he'll decide next year whether there need to be increases but wants to keep them to a minimum),
**the economy ("It's recovering!" Please don't splutter and snort in contempt as you read that...Hollande actually said it),
**a possible Sarkozy return (Hollande is "cool" about it - that's paraphrasing what he said),
**the Greens (the political party - not the type you might not want to eat) and their place in government, pensions, the Bernard Tapie affair (here's a challenge...try to explain what that's all about Twitter style) and all the usual subjects you might expect to be of interest to viewers.
It was a veritable flood of questions and follow-ups from both Delahousse and Chazal as the two battled for Hollande's attention during 35 minutes and Hollande, the poor guy, resembled a spectator at a tennis match with his head swinging from side to side, seemingly unsure as to whom he should direct his replies.
And then, just as it was coming towards the end, Delahousse slipped in a question that has angered some.
Hollande had just finished explaining how dangerous and ill thought-out he believed the policies of the far-right Front National's leader Marine Le Pen to be when Delahousse had his "inspirational" moment described by political journalist Bruno Roger-Petit in the Nouvel Observateur as being without any real substance and pandering to an agenda set by the Front National.
"During your recent visit to Tunisia, you said something very important in that 'France knows that Islam and democracy are compatible," began Delahousse.
"That was obviously a message aimed at Tunisians. But I wanted to ask you a question. In France there are five to six million Moslems and a third of them say they're practising. If one day, an Islamist party, a fundamentalist one, were created in France, what would be your reaction?"
Hollande's answer was a simple one, reiterating what he had said in his speech in Tunisia that "no religion was inconsistent with democracy" and that France "remained a secular state".
But Delahousse's question received a furious response from Socialist parliamentarian Pouria Amirshahi.
"This is an issue worthy of the propaganda of the far right," he said.
"It was pitiful especially as a question for a July 14 interview and just feeds into irrational fears," he continued.
"At best it was ridiculous and at worst it was one more example of those who try to have us believe France is being 'invaded'."
While Amirshahi's reaction might appear virulent, he surely has a point.
Look at the words use by Chazal as she welcomed viewers and outlined to Hollande what subjects would be covered right before the interview began.
"We will ask you questions on issues that of course concern the French: unemployment, growth, the economic crisis ... "
And Roger-Petit pointed out a certain inconsistency in Delahousse's "science fiction" question.
"How can one of the leading and most acclaimed French journalists put such a question to the president," he wrote.
"How can he ask him something that is a matter of 'science fiction' (abour the speculative creation of a fundamentalist Islamist political party in France) at the expense of "reality" (the creation of a political extremist Catholic party for the next European elections)?
Guess which nationality figures yet again amongst the most unwelcome when on holiday abroad - the French
For the third consecutive year they rate poorly in a survey of hoteliers carried out on behalf of the Internet travel agency Expedia.fr
Overall they're second from bottom, and are generally seen as rude, mean, complaining and arrogant.
So no clichés there.
Time maybe for the French to take a lesson from the Japanese, British and Canadians, those nationalities that filled the top three slots.
Bastille day (July 14) might have been an excuse for the French to show off their military might with the traditional parade down the Champs Elysées; this year's guest of honour was India.
And there was blanket morning television coverage, exhorting the wonders of the French defence capability and generally revelling in national pride.
All of course in memory of the storming of the Bastille 220 years ago and part of the country's celebration of...well...being France.
But there's perhaps a characteristic the French would like not to dwell on which has nothing to do with fierce nationalism and everything to do with how they're apparently perceived when abroad.
French tourists are pretty much the worst in the world, according to a recent study conducted amongst 4,500 hoteliers by TNS Infratest on behalf of Expedia.fr
They ranked 27th (out of 28 countries) well behind those that headed the list and the worst-placed Europeans.
Only one nationality ranked lower than the French - the Chinese.
The survey questioned hoteliers worldwide about how they found the behaviour of guests from different countries in a number of categories including , general attitude, politeness, discretion, tendency to complain and elegance.
The result doesn't make for pleasant reading as far as the French are concerned.
For a country which likes to think of itself as having a legendary "savoir-vivre" and gallantry, simple manners and good behaviour seem to be more myth than reality, if the survey is to be believed.
The French are the least generous - leaving smaller tips - top the class in complaining and are generally perceived as "impolite (read "rude").
A simple "hello, thank you and goodbye" would not go amiss from the French, and that of course in the local language, which is seen as part of the problem when they decide to venture abroad.
"On the whole we don't speak English or at the best very little," says Timothée de Roux, Expedia's marketing director, adding with remarkable perspicacity, "We speak French which not a great deal of the rest of the world does."
Evidently the French are not quite as willing (or able) to make the effort of the top-ranking Japanese.
Apart from that perennial language problem though, there's also the claim that the French are "mean". But de Roux says the "lack of generosity" might just be a cultural thing, especially when it comes to tipping, as it's simply not a tradition among the French.
In France, "service" is usually included in the bill, whereas in the United States it's common practice to leave (at least) 15 per cent.
"In comparison with other nationalities, the French tend not to travel abroad (90 per cent of them holiday in France) and when they do hoteliers find that they're not very generous and spend less," he said.
"And there's no longer a habit of leaving a tip in France."
One bright note perhaps as far as the French are concerned is that when it comes to "discretion" they rank fourth. Apparently they make less noise than their Italian and Spanish neighbours.
But on the whole they still have a long, long way to go to match the Japanese, and for the moment at least have yet again earned the tag of being among the world's worst tourists.
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