Carla Bruni to hit the big screen?

Isn't it just the news you've been waiting for? France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is rumoured to be set to appear at a cinema near you sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Well that's if the Spanish national daily newspaper El Mundo is to believed.

It claims that the wife of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has accepted an offer from the US director Woody Allen to appear in his next movie which begins filming in 2010.

But according to the French daily, Le Parisien, it's far from being a "done deal" with unnamed "members of her entourage denying that she has been signed up by the US director."

Speculation of a possible role for Bruni-Sarkozy in Allen's next movie has of course been rife since June, when the 73-year-old director was in Paris to promote his most recent film, "Whatever works".

During and appearance on the mid-evening television news magazine "Le Grand Journal" on Canal +, Allen was full of praise for France's first lady.

"I would love to work with Carla Bruni, he said.

"She's an accomplished artist, very beautiful and I'm sure she has a gift for acting," he added.

"I would really like to offer her a role in my next film and what's more I promise that her participation wouldn't create any embarrassment for the president or the image of France."

Should Bruni-Sarkozy - and it's probably still a might big "should" in spite of the story in El Mundo - really have accepted Allen's offer, it wouldn't be the first time she'll have appeared in a film.

She has been seen on the big screen before, albeit briefly and playing herself in the 1994 fashion satire "Prêt-à-Porter" ("Ready to wear") directed by the late Robert Altman.

And acting is certainly in her blood. Her mother, Marisa Borini, as well as having been a concert pianist has also appeared in several films.

And of course Bruni-Sarkozy's older sister, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, is an accomplished film, television and theatre actress and director.

So after modelling and singing (who can forget the hullaballoo that accompanied the release of her third album just months after her marriage to the French president? If you're curious about that and want even more coverage of her musical exploits it's all here) could Bruni-Sarkozy now be ready for the big screen?

Perhaps more importantly, are the French ready to see their first lady slip into a new role as a performer or would it be, as the entertainment and celebrity news site Purepeople.com puts it, simply be "too much"?

A new song from Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

Music lovers pin back your ears, the rumours have been confirmed.

France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, has been back in the recording studio.

This time around though it has not been as a singer but as a songwriter.

Bruni-Sarkozy has written one of the tracks for the upcoming album of one of this country's first "girls of rock 'n roll" and now a long-established star of the French musical scene, Sylvie Vartan.

A former wife of (French) rock music icon Johnny Hallyday, Vartan's new album, "Toutes peines confondues" is due for release on September 14, and among the tracks composed especially for her is "Je chante le blues" penned by none other than Bruni-Sarkozy.

In what is probably one of this country's worst-kept recent music industry secrets, an extract from the recording was played on national radio on Tuesday morning with the "revelation" that it would be "Vartan's first single to be taken from the upcoming album.

What's more it's Bruni-Sarkozy first "new" song since becoming first lady and taking up residence at the president's Elysée palace. Although she released her own album - her third - "Comme si de rien n'etait" last July, the bulk of those songs were written before she had even met the French president.

Even though Vartan's decision to release the track as her first single might have been something of a scoop for radio listeners on Wednesday morning, the same cannot be said for the news that the two women had been working together.

Back in March, the weekly news magazine, L'Express, told its readers that the Bulgarian-born 64-year-old (Vartan) had asked the Italian-born 41-year-old (Bruni-Sarkozy) to write a song for her and that the deed had been done and the track recorded.

There's even an extract that has been up and playing on YouTube since March, although it has so far only received a little over 10,000 hits.



For Bruni-Sarkozy lovers and/or those of you who enjoyed the breathless, gasping sounds of the French first lady's voice and gentle guitar strumming on "Comme si de rien n'etait" the new single from Vartan will have more than a familiar ring to it.

Except that is for the voice, which as you can hear is most definitely NOT that of the model-turned singer-turned first lady.

All that can be hoped perhaps is that Vartan's album, with other tracks written by well-known and successful French singer-songerwriters such as Marc Lavoine and Didier Barbelivien won't have the same lacklustre record sales as Bruni-Sarkoy's last offering.

Even though it officially achieved domestic sales of over 185,000, that figure took into account albums still on stock in the stores, a common practice for the music industry to massage the real figures (you can read about that here).

Vartan's new single and album are to be released to coincide with a series of concerts she'll be giving in Paris in September.

G20 over but where was Carla?

The talking is over, the dining done and most importantly an historic deal has been agreed.

But away from the serious business of politics and economic, the burning question on many lips here in France - and apparently in the British media too - was where was Carla during the G20 in London?

You might remember that almost a year ago France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy wowed the media the other side of the channel when she accompanied her hubbie on a state visit.

But there was no sign of her in London during the G20 and instead the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was left to cope on his own during the dinner thrown by the hosts, Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah.

Sarkozy refused to answer journalists' questions as to his wife's whereabouts, according to the French glossy magazine, Gala, and instead was reportedly in "something of a sulk as he tucked into his meal isolated, without his beauty at his side to help him out with his less-than-perfect English."

So where was Carla?

Back home in the French capital according to a British tabloid, the Daily Mail, having a ciggie (tut tut) and putting her feet up.

In what the paper quite clearly saw as somewhat haughty behaviour from France's first lady, Bruni-Sarkozy's absence was described as being something of an insult to Sarah Brown, and more importantly perhaps explained in terms of her not wanting to be outshone by her US counterpart, Michelle Obama.

All right so that's perhaps one slightly less than generous clarification of Bruni-Sarkozy's absence.

Others included the more diplomatic interpretation of not wanting to appear to compete for the limelight with Michelle Obama.

In an interview with American television last November, Bruni-Sarkozy was full of praise for the new US first lady calling her "a strong, formidable and intelligent women, whom she was keen to meet."

Another explanation was that she found the idea of hanging on Sarkozy's arm more than a little boring and of course most unkind of all maybe that she didn't want to appear as yet another giant beside her much shorter husband during photo calls with the US presidential couple.

Of course Bruni-Sarkozy wasn't the only "no show" as the British daily, the Guardian points out.

Her husband may have had to "muddle through without her for a couple of days, but he was in good company as spouses of a couple of other G20 heads of state or government chose not to attend.

As is often the case on official business, Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel, was without her husband, Joachim Sauer, who rarely puts in an appearance at such events.

And Argentina's president, Cristina Fernandez, was also without her other half, Nestor Kirchner.

But as he was her predecessor in office, maybe that was just a bit of protocol coming into play.

Back to Bruni-Sarkozy though, and whatever might or might not have been the reasons behind her decision to stay at home, she will meet the US presidential pair this weekend - on home turf so-to-speak - as France hosts the Nato summit in Strasbourg.

Going in search of the winter sun

Not surprisingly perhaps school vacations dictate when many of the French are able to take time off work for their holidays.

Right now we're all in the middle of the school winter break, and although it's staggered regionally, a fair chunk of the country (or at least those who can afford it) will at some point this month be taking advantage of the weather here (snow, snow and more snow).

For those who might ordinarily be heading for the sun in the shape of the overseas departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe, recent strikes have meant a bit of a rethink, with reportedly more than 10,000 cancelling their travel plans.

All right so it's well known - here in France at least - that the country has the tradition of closing down over the summer. The French even have two words - or categories if you like - for those who take their holidays at certain times.

Les juilletistes - for those slipping away from the rat race for most of the month of July, and les aôutiens for - well you've probably guessed and I probably don't need to spell it out. But just in case - it's for August.

But winter - and February in particular - is another time when much of the country seems to decide to "down tools" - and not necessarily because they're indulging in what might appear to be to the outside observer, as the national pastime of striking.

France has a reasonably-priced (well in comparison to Switzerland and Austria) ski resort "industry" and the infrastructure and organisation to cope with the hordes.

It's also blessed with the Alps, the Pyrenees and even the Massif Central - each offering something suitable to fit most sizes of wallet.

For those who aren't too keen on the white fluffy stuff (me) there are the affordable sun alternatives in the form of the overseas French departments, such as the Caribbean Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, (or for those with deeper pockets Saint-Barthélemy) and the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion.

They're all "part" of France.

But the Caribbean, or French Antilles, are a bit of a "no-no" for tourists at the moment as there have been a series of strikes in Guadeloupe for the past month and they have spread to Martinique this last week.

Part of the outcome has been that thousands of (French) tourists have cancelled their planned holidays at the last moment and there's now a last-minute scramble to look for alternatives.

Anyway. I'm lucky enough to be able to choose when I take my holiday as there are no children involved - just a dog and house sitter required.

By the same token, I also tend to buck the trend, staying at home during the summer when the capital is at its glorious best, calm and fairly empty (of locals) apart from tourists wondering what all the fuss is about as the Parisians still around seem charmingly chilled.

I work through the summer months and take my "proper" break in the winter avoiding the crowds by heading for destinations they're least likely to choose.

Of course I never seem to get it right.

Last year it was Egypt and I still managed to bump into a fair few French as I dragged my old bones around along the lines of one old ruin visiting several others. Still it was a real eye-opener as I tried to convey in some posts here when I came back.

This year it's - well I ain't saying yet, just in case all my good intentions of taking stunning photos with my state-of-the-art camera come to nothing.

But it's far away from here and there probably won't be a news outlet in sight which makes me wonder how exactly I'll manage.

No news can be good news maybe. I'll get a chance to write (rather than ramble) and READ books rather than surf the Net.

Which brings me nicely to the pick of the best (or perhaps the worst), I've chosen to take with me on my wanderings.

You see I really haven't been able to avoid shoving a recently-bought copy of "Belle-Amie" into my case. It's a "warts and all" sort of read (apparently) by two French journalists, Michaël Darmon and Yves Derai, about this country's justice minister, Rachida Dati.

They've been doing the rounds this past week of television and radio promoting their book in which they trace the rapid rise of Dati from the humblest of beginnings to high political office, "dish the dirt" somewhat on her apparently "manipulative" character and "reveal" the name of the father of her daughter Zhora.

Hmmmmn

While I'll have my nose buried in a book it doesn't of course mean that France is going to come to a standstill. There'll be plenty of news around.

Those ongoing strikes in Guadeloupe and Martinique haven't been resolved yet and could spread to French Guyane and even the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion unless the French government manages to come up with a solution to the protests.

There's another "good read" that has just been released - this time an unauthorised biography on how the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, met the (now) first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, written by the man who brought them together.

So if you fancy seeing how the French react to revelations about the private lives of public figures, that might be worth taking a peek at, especially as once again it rather breaks the mould of how this sort of stuff was "handled" in the past.

On the political front, Sarkozy is due to meet union leaders next week in an effort to avoid another general strike scheduled for March 19.

For now though - catch y'all in a couple of weeks. And I'll be thinking of you as I'm happily knocking back some cocktail in paradise. - NOT.

Pip the toodle!

Twin honour for France's first lady

Just before the New Year is ushered in, here's a story that might just tickle the fancy of anyone wanting a respite from serious breaking news.

A French village in the Auvergne region in the south of the country is looking to "twin" with a village close to the Italian city of Turin, to honour France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

The French village in question - Carlat (pronounced Carla) and the Italian? Well you've probably guessed - Bruni.

The idea is the brainchild apparently of the Communist mayor of Carlat (population 300), Alain Cousin.

He told Agence France Presse that he had been looking for a while for a village named "Bruni" and although while surfing the Net he had found several alternatives in the United States, Switzerland, Austria and Portugal, in the end he had plumped for the Italian option.

"I've no idea of the political leanings of the mayor of Bruni," he said.

"But all the indications are that the two villages have a lot in common," he added.

"It (Bruni) is a village in the mountains, makes good regional products and has a strong folklore culture - just as we do."

What's more, Turin is the city in which Bruni-Sarkozy, who celebrated her 41st birthday on December 23 was born, although her family moved to France when she was just six years old.

The plan reportedly has the backing of the entire council of Carlat and as far as the mayor is concerned would help draw attention through cultural and economic exchanges to the picturesque village famous for its "Rocher de Carlat" or rock of Carlat, once home to a chateau razed to the ground in 1604.

Twinning is of course a concept widely practised throughout the world, and in the European Union at least, is a chance for a city, town or village to organise cultural links with a counterpart in another country.

Cousin said that he had sent an email to the mayor of Bruni just before Christmas, and was hoping for a reply shortly.

Sarkozy taking action - legal action

It has been a busy almost 18 months for the lawyers of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the past month has been especially hectic.

As the latest edition of the weekly news magazine "L'Express" points out, Sarkozy has resorted to French justice to pursue civil suits more than any other president in the history of the country's Fifth Republic.

It had been 30 years since an incumbent president had last brought a civil suit legal action, but in the space of less than 18 months, Sarkozy has well and truly bucked the trend in taking or threatening legal proceedings six times.

Some would argue that at least a couple of the suits have had a basis, such as the recent ones involving hacking into his private bank account - for which two people where taken in for questioning on Tuesday - or action he has taken against allegations made by a former head of French intelligence (more on that in a moment). But others - and remember there have been four more - have raised a few eyebrows.

Of those six, three have come in just the last month, and without passing judgement on the relative merits of each case, L'Express listed them all, pointing out that Sarkozy had now "accumulated a number of legal actions making him the "most plaintiff president of the Fifth Republic."

Here's a whistle stop tour of what Sarkozy's lawyers have been up to while he's been running the country, trying to fix the world's economy and, as France currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, bashing Europe into shape by trying to persuade countries unwilling, that institutional reform in the shape of the Lisbon Treaty, is an absolute must.

The most recent case of course was just last week when he instructed his lawyers to take out a law suit against the former head of the French intelligence service, Yves Bertrand, following the publication of diaries which included "unsubstantiated allegations" about a number of politicians - among them Sarkozy.

But that wasn't the only threat of action last week. There was also the affair of the "Voodoo dolls."

They come as part of a kit; complete with 12 needles and an instruction manual that quite literally invites the user to "pinpoint" exactly which elements of Sarkozy's policies or character they dislike most. His friendship with a comedian of dubious taste? Apparent "respect" for actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise? The end of advertising on public television? If you don't like one or many of the "traits" written on the effigy of Sarkozy, you stick the needle in the appropriate place.

There's also a similar doll for the defeated candidate in last year's presidential election, Ségolène Royal.

Certainly not of the greatest taste, but offensive enough to Sarkozy and his advisors to have him instruct his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, to whip off a letter to the distributors to have the doll withdrawn or risk legal action for "misuse of the president's image".

And in May there was the "T-shirt incident", when the president's lawyers demanded a company withdraw T-shirts emblazoned with "Sarkozy" with the "o" in his name transformed into a target with the slogan beneath it "zero tolerance - 50 points." An affront to the office of the president? A slight against the man and his policies? The case is still ongoing.

In February Sarkozy - and his not yet third wife Carla - took low cost airline Ryanair to court for the unauthorised use of a photograph of the couple in an advertisement. They later won the case, Sarkozy receiving the symbolic sum of €1 and Bruni-Sarkozy being paid €60,000 in damages.

And of course few here in France will forget the furore surrounding the text message he reportedly sent to his former wife, Cécilia, shortly before marrying Bruni-Sarkozy.

"If you return, I'll cancel everything" - ran an sms apparently never sent and therefore never received, but which caused a brouhaha both at home and abroad when it was reported on the website of the weekly news magazine Nouvel Observateur.

Sarkozy immediately slapped a law suit on the magazine - which could have brought with it three years in prison and a €45,000 fine. But matters were "sorted" an apology apparently made (by the magazine) and Sarkozy's complaint withdrawn.

Of course Sarkozy isn't the only member of his family to have been "involved with the law" over the past 18 months,

His second son, Jean and his new wife, Jessica Sebaoun, have recently started proceedings against a number of magazines for "invasion of privacy" when they snapped shots of the couple shortly after their very private marriage.

And Jean's alleged involvement in a hit-and-run scooter incident from 2005 has only just been dropped - on the recommendation of the public prosecutor.

Sarkozy is often portrayed at both at home and abroad as the most "American" of French presidents, and for much of the first few months after coming to power in May 2007, he certainly seemed more than to embrace that image.

On recent evidence he seems to have taken it one step further with a pattern of behaviour that might perhaps be more widely characterised as being "typically American" namely suing or at least regularly launching the threat of legals proceedings.

Perhaps the conclusion is that if the past 18 months of Sarkozy's time in office are anything to go by, then the rest of his tenure could well be a busy one - at least for the family's lawyers.

Jean Sarkozy sues for "invasion of privacy"

It's a case that raises the problem of how far the media has the right to pry into the private lives of public people. And the issue is rearing its head once again here in France - with a Sarkozy at the centre of legal action.

No, not the president, Nicolas, but the younger of his two grown up sons from his first marriage, Jean.

He's suing two of the country's weekly magazines specialising in celebrity news "Voici" and "VSD" and there's a fair chance that there will be more law suits to follow.

Sarkozy is upset at the publication of photographs published in both magazines taken without his consent at his recent marriage to Jessica Sebaoun.

And on his political blog the 22-year-old also puts the record straight about some "facts" that have appeared in the French media lately - and especially celebrity news magazines.

"As you can probably tell recently there have been stories based on rumours concerning my private life," he writes.

"I have never agreed to give any interview (on the subject) nor given my consent to the use of the photographs.

"All I have done is to simply deny - officially - the desire that I have supposedly expressed to want to convert to Judaism."

Those reports began circulating after it was suggested by a French cartoonist that Sarkozy was about to convert. His wife, Jessica is Jewish and the daughter of the heiress to the large electronics retail company, Darty.

Photographs of the couple were taken after their marriage on September 10 and published in this week's edition of "Voici" and republished in other magazines.

Speaking to AFP, Sebaoun's lawyer Bruno Illouz said that the pictures had been taken without the couple's consent.

"There are public places that become private under certain circumstances and especially when access is reserved ," he said.

"This was a private ceremony and photographs were not supposed to be taken for publication."

Defending itself, an editor in charge of the two magazines maintained that they had been well within their rights to publish.

"It's a journalistic subject because all the media was talking about it," Philippe Labi told AFP.

"We have done our job in the most professional and calm way possible without any aggression."

Part of the problem here in France is that although privacy laws are in theory very strict, there have been many cases of the line being blurred.

Weekly celebrity news magazines have over the years often published stories and photographs of "stars" and when sued, simply coughed up the fine.

Since (Nicolas) Sarkozy came to office in May last year, politicians have increasingly been subjected to that celebrity status, none more so perhaps than the French president himself.

His divorce from Cécilia and whirlwind romance and subsequent marriage to Carla, was the stuff guaranteed to increase magazine circulation figures both at home and abroad.

This latest case involving a Sarkozy and the law is far from being an isolated one. Over the past few months the family has been no stranger to legal action.

In June, the Paris public prosecutor recommended charges be dropped against Jean in the case of a hit-and-run scooter incident.

And in February his father and the first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, won damages against the low-cost airline, Ryanair, for the unauthorised use of a photograph of the couple in an advertisement.

No date has yet been fixed for a hearing over this latest action but Sarkozy and his wife are reported to be seeking damages of €30,000, and if they win their case the money would be donated to charity.

The 22-year-old is the second son from the French president's first marriage and has already carved out something of a name for himself in local politics.

He won a seat on the regional council of Haut-de-Seine in March in June and was elected president of the centre-right grouping of the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party - Nouveau Centre in the same regional council.

Who has been juggling with Carla's figures?

No it's not a story about unsubstantiated tittle-tattle surrounding the possibility of the patter of tiny feet at the Elysée palace, the official residence of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Rumours that by the way have been circling for the best part of this year.

Instead it's the mystery surrounding the exact record sales of the latest album by the country's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

Before you read any further, you might want to grab something to drink, don a pair of dark glasses or clear your mind completely, because there's a fair bit of (conflicting) number crunching to follow, and it could leave you with something of a headache. You have been warned.

You may remember Bruni-Sarkozy's latest album "Comme si de rien n'etait" was released simultaneously in France, Britain and Germany on July 11 and later throughout the rest of Europe and the United States.

After just one week it had knocked the new album from the British band, Coldplay, off the number one spot here in France according to the Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique (SNEP), the music industry group that tracks record sales here, although it didn't issue exact numbers.

Instead we had to rely on figures supplied by the singer's record company, Naïve, which maintained that 14,000 copies had been sold in that first week.

Now that same company is insisting that Bruni-Sarkozy's album has sold a whopping 300,000 copies worldwide with 160,000 in France alone, thus ensuring gold status in sales.

But hang about a mo'. What does SNEP have to say about all of this?

Well, according to its figures, reported in the national daily Le Parisien, sales are in fact far lower in France - at 80,657 to be precise. Quite a disparity in numbers by anyone's reckoning.

But while SNEP calculates its tally on copies bought over the counter, the record company has quite a different method for counting sales.

It uses one which apparently tells a far rosier picture and explains how an album with a rather mediocre performance can in fact be made to look as though it's selling pretty well.

Naïve told Le Parisien that its computes "sales" by including the number of albums still on stock in the stores (common practice apparently).

Hence with this gentle reinterpretation of reality, Bruni-Sarkozy's record has notched up that magical figure of more than 160,000 (and counting) in France enabling it somehow to surpass the SNEP marker of 100,000 for gold status and fast approaching the double-gold standard of 200,000.

Confusing but clever n'est ce pas?

Whatever the true figure, Bruni-Sarkozy will begin the autumn with another media promotional blitz here in France for this, her third album, with a round of television appearances.

Already slated are a popular Sunday afternoon chat show, Vivement dimanche, a specialist music programme,Taratara and a round-table prime time news talk show (a French speciality) Le Grand Journal.

If the French hadn't already heard that their first lady had released an album - and that's probably a little hard to believe given the coverage it received when it came out - they certainly should have over the next couple of months.

Of course that won't necessarily get them out there buying it, although perhaps the record company will come up with yet another way of telling us all that sales have hit double or even triple the "real" number as they aim for 200,000 domestic sales by Christmas.

Just for the record (groan) the best selling album over the summer here in France was Coldplay's "Viva" according to SNEP. But for the sake of sanity, perhaps it's a good idea not to dwell on the figures.

Pass the aspirin.

Carla meets the Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama may for one reason or another not have got to meet the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy during his current trip to France, but on Friday morning he met the unofficial and undeclared stand-in of sorts, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

France's first lady was among the around 2,000 guests invited to attend the opening ceremony of a new Buddhist temple in the town of Roqueredonde in southern France.

Among the other guests were a host of personalities including French actresses Juliette Binoche and Line Renaud and the former model Inès de la Fressangeas. But also present were a couple of current and former members of Sarkozy's government.

Seated next to Bruni Sarkozy were the foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, and the junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade. Both had initially toed the government line and declared they would probably not be attending, but just last week they announced that they would be present at the inauguration of the temple - the largest Buddhist centre in Europe.

Bruni-Sarkozy's presence was interpreted by many here as a diplomatic solution for the French president to avoid upsetting the Chinese government, whom he has been pressing for several months to reopen discussions with representatives of the exiled spiritual leader after the crackdown in Tibet by security forces in March.

After the ceremony, Bruni-Sarkozy had a private audience with the Dalai Lama and was later joined by Kouchner - a declared personal friend of the former Nobel peace prize winner.

The attendance of both Kouchner and Yade was the first official contact the Dalai Lama has had with members of the French government during this trip although he met a delegation of parliamentarians last week.

Part of the problem with the Dalai Lama's 12-day visit, which ends on Saturday, and the reason it has been covered so much in the French media, is of course the fact that although it is strictly a religious one, there have from the outset been political undertones.

Sarkozy's office maintained before the visit that the timing made a personal meeting with the Dalai Lama inappropriate as the trip occurred during the Olympic games in Beijing. And that was reportedly also a choice accepted by both the Dalai Lama and the French president.

The two men will however meet in France later this year on December 10.

Sarkozy spin or a cave in to Chinese pressure?

It’s hard enough for any of us to stick to our principles at the best of times. Imagine how much harder it must be then for a politician, regardless of his or her political hue.

Of course it can help assuage guilt and shed a completely different light on your own decision when your partner holds opposing views and is able to exercise “independent’ actions over which you apparently have no control.

And as he beamed from the stands of the Olympic stadium in Beijing on Friday at the opening ceremony of the Games, similar thoughts could well have been passing through the mind of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

You’ll perhaps remember that the poor man had problems deciding whether he should pitch up at all. Back in March he said he was “shocked” by China's security clampdown in Tibet and urged Beijing to re-open discussions with the exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

He then ummed and aahed for a couple of months, all the while not making it clear what he would do. Finally he ignored the decision of Germany’s Angela Merkel, who took the moral high road by refusing to attend, and said he would indeed show up. Which he did.

Sarkozy could have been forgiven for brimming with Gallic indignation a couple of days later though, when the Chinese ambassador to Paris, Kong Quan, told the French media that there would be "serious consequences" for Sino-Franco relations if he decided to meet the Dalai Lama personally during the exiled spiritual leader’s visit to France in August.

Instead Sarkozy remained quiet – seemingly a recently-discovered tactic in his diplomatic armoury, although it could also be interpreted as simply being “vague.”

Quiet that is just before his “appearance” at the opening ceremony, when his office at the Elysée palace released an official statement that showed once again he is a master of wheedling himself out of a conundrum

The solution to the dilemma? Twofold. First a carefully worded announcement from the Elysée palace that Sarkozy wouldn’t be meeting the Dalai Lama, while making it look as though it was the latter’s decision but cleverly not expounding on the reason.

And then phase two and the real answer to his dreams: Enter stage Left, politically and socially in the form of none other than France’s first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

For it is she and not he, who will be present as the Dalai Lama opens a Buddhist temple in southern France on August 22.

A cave in from Sarkozy, a jiggling of the first lady’s calendar or some deft diplomatic footwork that appears to keep all sides happy and prevents any loss of face?

Whatever the case may be, it sure hasn’t done Sarkozy any harm having Carla at the Elysée palace.

France's top 50 favourites "French" of course. What else did you expect?

Here's a test for some of you Francophiles out there. Who do you think the most popular (French) person in France is?

Well twice a year the national Sunday newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, JDD, publishes a list of this country's 50 most popular "celebrities". The inverted commas are there to stress how broad a term that is - encompassing figures from the world of sports, entertainment and heaven help us, politics.

Twice a year perhaps, not because there's that much difference between the two polls, but it sure does fill a few column inches, sets tongues a-wagging and provides some simple filler fodder for television and radio news bulletin, when there's not much else about.

And once again - just as he was last December - it's former tennis ace-turned singer and musician Yannick Noah, who is this country's most popular person.

Now you might not initially give two hoots about who the French consider to be their favourite person. But hang about a moment, because in a sense it reveals quite a lot about the country, the people and the way they think, if for nothing more than the sheer diversity of the people listed.

Tennis ace

Noah's father was a professional footballer for the Cameroon and his mother the daughter of a French poet.

It was his tennis career that first put him on the map, winning the French Open at Roland Garros back in 1983, endearing him to many in France by bringing pride to the nation as a Frenchman winning on home turf (or better said clay). He twice steered the French team as captain to victory in the Davis Cup and in the 1990s reinvented himself as a musician and singer with the first in a string of hit albums and singles.

Twice married with five children - one of whom, Joakim plays for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA - Noah perhaps represents much of what the French love about their "stars". He is an individual who has succeeded in more than one sphere and is not afraid to speak his mind.

He has been an outspoken defender of the rights of immigrants, humanitarian causes and the environment as well as being politically engaged and critical of the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement UMP) party.

In last year's presidential election he openly supported the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal, and told the media he would be "profoundly disappointed" if Nicolas Sarkozy were to win.

Box office hit

Figuring for the first time in the poll as the country's second most popular figure is the actor, comedian and director Dany Boon.

Again another multi-talented person (seemingly a French speciality as many stars shine in more than one field) Boon's latest film, Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, became the country's largest grossing domestic box office hit ever when it was released in February this year, attracting more than 20 million cinema goers.

Again that says a lot about the French, who are not exactly renowned for being able to laugh at themselves. The film illustrates with a great deal of humour, the differences between those living in the "cold, wet north" and their virtually impenetrable dialect with those from the "hot, sunny south" of the country.

It's not the French laughing "at" those from the north (where Boon was born and brought up) but "with" them, challenging the established clichés and prejudices.

Of course it's a formula guaranteed to work abroad. The rights have already been sold to Italy. And in the United States, look out for actor Will Smith to Hollywood-it up.

Zizou, the environmentalist and the top woman

Retired football international, and arguably one of the world's greatest players ever, Zinedine Zidane, ranks third in the new poll.

Whatever he may have done during the closing minutes of the 2006 World Cup final in Germany, "Zizou", as he is affectionately known here, remains an idol for many of the country's youth and a favourite among the French in general and has held the top spot several times over the years.

At number 4 in the rankings is a man probably not too well known outside of France, - the environmentalist, ecologist and TV presenter, Nicolas Hulot.

Against all odds perhaps, he somehow managed to get politicians in last year's presidential elections to sign a pledge saying they would make environmental issues an essential element in any of their policy decisions should they be elected.

Rounding out the top five is the first woman - a perennial favourite in this country, in the shape of the diminutive, Mimie Mathy - star of a popular television series, comdienne, singer and all-round entertainer.

Top favourites

In the 20 years that the poll has been going, only five different people have occupied the number one slot, proving perhaps that once the French take someone to their hearts, they're unwilling and unlikely to drop them.

And none of the most revered five has been Posh 'n Becks or Brangelina types figures.

Topping the list for more than a decade were two men. Either the French naval office, explorer, ecologist, fimaker, scientist, photographer - you name it he seems to have done it - the late Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Or L'Abbé Pierre.

In fact when the newspaper decided to commission the "top of the tops" so-to-speak, it was L'Abbé Pierre who came out ahead - just.

And few in this country will forget the tributes paid to him last year when he died at the age of 94.

During his life, the Catholic priest (born Henri Grouès) was not only a member of the French resistance in the Second World War, but a member of parliament, a champion of the poor, the homeless and of refugees.

In 1949 he founded the Emmaus charity here in France, a concept for providing accommodation and employment for otherwise homeless people and "recycling" a number of what might otherwise be considered "useless" products.

In France, if you have a table for example that you no longer need, don't throw it out, but donate it to Emmaus instead, they'll sell it on and put the money to good use.

L'Abbé Pierre was, and still is, the "voice and the conscience" of the poor for many here in France.

The only other three French (men - as a woman has yet make the number one slot) to top the poll have all been sportsmen. As well as Noah and Zizou of course, there has been multi world and Olympic judo champion, David Douillet.

Best of the rest

Among other notable names that might strike a chord outside of France in this latest Top 50 is the recently sacked prime time news anchor Patrick Poivre d'Avoir, PPDA (15).

He still remains popular in spite of what his former employer TF1 might think. PPDA's replacement in the autumn, the golden girl of television news, Laurence Ferrari (48), makes her first appearance in the top 50.

Among politicians, it's Ingrid Betancourt (21) , much in the headlines after her release last month by FARC and also making her first appearance in the list, who is the highest placed, well ahead of Sarkozy (44) and Royal (49).

In between the two "finalists" for last year's French presidential race is another face from the world of (French) politics, the 34-year-old leader and spokesman of the far left, Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire, Olivier Besancenot (45). Now that certainly speaks volumes about how the French view their politicians.

And squeezing in to the top 50 for the very first time is Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, officially defined in the poll as a "singer"

Carla's number 1 - France's first lady really is tops

It has only been out a couple of weeks but already Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's new album is riding high in the charts here in France.

The model-turned singer-turned first lady confounded critics (and cynics alike) by notching up sales of more than 14,000 of her latest musical offering "Comme si de rien n'etait" (As if nothing had happened) in just the first couple of days according to her record company - perhaps not exactly the most objective of sources.

But now the Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique (SNEP), the music industry group that tracks record sales here in France has confirmed that Bruni-Sarkozy has actually made it all the way to the number 1 spot. And in the process she has knocked off the new album from the British band, Coldplay.

Not bad going by anyone's standards, even if SNEP didn't actually release official sales figures.

The album is Bruni-Sarkozy's third and it hit the stores on July 11, accompanied by a blaze of publicity as the first lady took to the promotional trail giving "exclusive" interviews virtually left right and centre (not politically-speaking of course) - at least here in France.

Of course interest was especially high in how this album would fare in light of her whirlwind romance and marriage to the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, which made all the international headlines earlier this year.

But that aside, Bruni-Sarkozy does have a musical track record - whether you're a fan or not.

She released her first album "Quelqu'un m'a dit,” back in 2002 to largely critical acclaim here in France and abroad - selling around 2 million copies.

Her 2007 follow-up, “No promises”, didn't go down well, but so far her third album seems to have caught the public's imagination.

It was launched simultaneously in France, Britain and Germany earlier this month and is now available elsewhere in Europe.

The official release date in the United States has been set for August 5.

Clearly Bruni-Sarkozy has taken to heart her husband's oft-repeated mantra of "work more to earn more" but at least she won't be pocketing any of the proceeds from the sale of the album herself.

They will be going to charity.

Carla sings - and talks - everywhere

The publicity campaign to accompany the release of her third album is in full swing, and France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has been doing the rounds here to promote
"Comme si de rien n'était."

On Thursday, the eve of the album hitting the stores, she spent a punishing day talking to the press from home and abroad. And on Friday she gave an "exclusive" to a national radio station during the day and in the evening she popped up at the end of TF1's prime time news for a full 10-minute section with anchorwoman Claire Chazal.

It's not unusual for style or cultural pieces to appear towards the end of the main news bulletin on either TF1, France's biggest private channel, or its public television equivalent France 2, although perhaps the length of the segment was a little longer than is the norm.

Viewers were treated to glossy promotional shots of "the making of" as well as a round up of her few short months at the president's official residence, the Elysée palace, and her trips abroad accompanying her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, on state visits.

The only references she made to her "Nicolas" as he has often been mockingly portrayed in the French media, was as "my husband" or "my spouse", neatly side stepping the fact that he also happened to be the president.

With the camera clearly adoring her finely chiselled features, Bruni-Sarkozy seemed perfectly at ease - as well she might for a woman who has spent a great deal of her adult life in the media spotlight - speaking in a breathless voice in almost accentless French.

No, there was no conflict in being first lady and releasing an album, we were told, and music had always been a very important part of her life.

When the now happily married couple were first spotted out together in public for the first time at Eurodisney of all places last December, and the rumours of a speedy marriage gathered pace, the media - French and international - went into hysterical speculative overdrive.

How, many wondered, would this woman with a past possibly be able to carve out a role for herself as first lady, retain her own career as a singer and be accepted by the French at large?

Well the answer seems to be on all counts so far, remarkably well in spite, or maybe because, of her colourful background. In an opinion poll here in France just last month, more than two-thirds of those questioned approved of the way she had conducted herself as first lady.

The daughter of a wealthy Italian industrialist and composer, Alberto Bruni Tedeschi, and the Italian concert pianist, Marisa Borini, Bruni-Sarkozy was born in Turin, moved to France with her family when she was just five and was “discovered” by the world of catwalks at 19.

She has long been considered one of the world’s most beautiful women – the kind who would make wearing a tea cosy not only fashionable but probably also sexy.

Over the years she acquired the reputation as something of a “man eater”, not an image she was eager to play down, even apparently going as far as to say once that, “I am monogamous from time to time, but I prefer polygamy and polyandry.”

In her 20s she had a much publicised on-off affair with Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger – and she also dated a long and eclectic number of A-listers including US billionaire Donald Trump, British rock star Eric Clapton, Hollywood actor Kevin Costner and even former French Socialist prime minister, Laurent Fabius.

And how’s this for a one-woman double act so to speak. Seven years ago, while living with the French publisher, Jean-Paul Enthoven, she met and fell in love with his son, Raphael.

Bruni and Enthoven Jnr have a son, Aurélien – now six.

But most importantly perhaps in the equation, and the reason that she has been so readily accepted, is that Bruni-Sarkozy also comes with intellectual credentials. She has expressed views on many issues, is seen as Left-of centre and still publically disagrees with many of Sarkozy's policies - such as the mandatory DNA testing of immigrants.

It'll be interesting to see how this new album fares. When Bruni-Sarkozy launched herself musically on an unsuspecting public back in 2002 with the release of her first album "Quelqu'un m'a dit,” she received both critical and commercial acclaim. It sold 1.2 million copies in France alone and a further 800.000 abroad.

However her follow-up in 2007, “No promises” in which she set music to English-language poems was something of a flop by comparison, notching up sales of around 80,000 here in France.

Perhaps she has learned her lesson by only including one track on her new album where she sets a poem to music – this time by the French writer, Michel Houellebecq.

Most of the 14 tracks have been penned by the singer herself although there's a remake of a Bob Dylan number, "You belong to me" as well as a song in her native Italian - a cover of Francesco Guccini's "Il Vecchio E Il Bambino." Proof perhaps that Bruni-Sarkozy remains ever the polyglot with an eye on the international market.

Anybody expecting some sort of presidential revelation or behind-the-scenes surprise will be in for a disappointment as 95 per cent of the material on the album was written before she first met Sarkozy, although there's at least one track that's open to interpretation of quite a different sort.

All proceeds from the sale of the album will reportedly be donated to charity.



Bruni-Sarkozy talks to Claire Chazal

Carla speaks out

It’s just what France (and the world) has been waiting for – the real story behind the marriage of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his third wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

And that’s exactly what it’s going to get on Thursday – apparently – with the release of a new book “La Véritable Histoire de Carla et Nicolas”.

On the whole since their marriage, Bruni-Sarkozy has remained pretty tight-lipped, gorgeously appearing at her husband’s side on state occasions and uttering the occasional “Hmmmn” and “Delicious.” Indeed the only interview she has granted so far was to the weekly news magazine “L’Express” shortly after their marriage in February.

But now she is “telling the story as it really is” in a book written by two journalists, Valérie Bénaïm and Yves Azérouai. And it promises to make fascinating reading as it reportedly contains approved material from the first lady herself in which she sets straight some of the rumours that have been circulating ever since the couple met, fell in love and tied the knot.

The first tantalising snippets have already appeared in the French press, from which we learn that the two did in fact meet at a dinner organised by the publicist Jacques Séguela in November last year, and Carla quickly realised that they had both in fact been set up on a blind date of sorts.

“There were three couples and us – two single people,” she says. “I had never expected someone so funny, so lively. I was seduced by his physique, his charm and his intelligence.”

So that’s one rumour that has been doing the rounds well and truly confirmed – by Carla herself. That’ll doubtless come as a blesséd relief to all the gossip columnists and Sarkozy-watchers who would seem to have been (accurately) reporting very much the same thing right from the start.

Another rumour though, that Bruni-Sarkozy enjoys less than a warm relationship with the justice minister, Rachida Dati, is one she unsurprisingly sets out to scotch.

Before Bruni-Sarkozy appeared on the scene it was often the justice minister who appeared at the side of the president at official functions after the break up of his marriage to his second wife, Cecilia.

But the current first lady denies that there is any rivalry between her and Dati in spite of what the media might maintain.

“I see her quite often and she makes me laugh a lot,” says Bruni-Sarkozy.

“These rumours must have their source in the fact that she is a close friend of the president’s former wife. But there really is no hostility between us.”

As to her future and role as first lady, Bruni-Sarkozy reveals that she has set herself the goals of campaigning against poverty and ignorance, but she’s not going to give up her music career.

“I have a role to fulfil but it isn’t my metier,” she insists.

“I am not just a folk singer. I tell stories which are the same as everybody else’s. There’s nothing subversive in that.”

The excerpts that have so far appeared in the press would seem to suggest that the book gives a certain “spin” on events. Whether anyone really thinks that an expectant public will completely believe everything that’s written is perhaps a little hard to imagine.

Doubtless though these gems and others will make the book a bestseller. The Carla-Nicolas story is after all is one everybody loves to pretend they’re not really interested in.

That has been proven on countless occasions over the last six months. Whenever a picture of either or both has been slapped on the cover of a magazine, a boost in sales has been guaranteed. And Sarkozy has also been a profitable subject for many a publisher with more than 70 books written about him in the past year.

Only a cynic would dispute the need for yet another one, especially one in which the principle figure and source is the first lady herself.

So go on, rush out and buy your copy tomorrow, while stocks last. And don’t forget Bruni-Sarkozy’s album is released next month – July 21 to be precise.

A taxing day as Sarkozy goes walkabout among the fruit and veg

What a start to the day for the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. He was up and about before dawned cracked rubbing shoulders and pressing flesh with the hoi polloi at Rungis, France’s largest wholesale food and flower market just south of Paris.

And as soon as he was done with mixing with the masses it was off to the airwaves of a national radio station for his first broadcast away from the comfort of the presidential palace since taking office.

Along for the ride at Rungis, so to speak, was the inevitable pack of hacks recording his every move as he pounded from aisle to aisle meeting and greeting in a way only Sarkozy can manage. Ah yes they had been forewarned and must have been delighted by the early-morning press call.

Indeed it was pretty much a case of déjà vu, a harking back to the good old bad old days of just 18 months ago when Sarkozy was in full flow as he stumped up and down the country during his presidential campaign.

Mind you the major difference this time around perhaps was the presence of none other than the first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, looking disgustingly radiant so early in the morning as she seemed to glide ethereally alongside her husband.

Quite what she made of being surrounded by heaps of kidneys and tripe at five o’clock as the couple set off on their 90-minute mystery tour leaves the mind boggling. Blow the cynics, it really must be love.

One thing’s for sure, the media hounds looked a lot more bleary-eyed than she did as they shuffled along camera-toting and snap happy for lunchtime television news broadcasts and tomorrow’s front pages. Ah the blessings of stage management.

From the heaps of offal on to slabs of meat, then past crate-loads of fruit and veg before pausing in front of hunks of cheese. Bruni-Sarkozy allowing herself to spend the longest time wickedly nibbling the smallest piece, hardly gorging herself to Fatdom and pronouncing it “delicious.” Once a model always a model.

And so the ambulant presidential cavalcade proceeded to the sweeter scents of the flower section, Not quite 6.30am and Sarkozy still smiling and exchanging banter – far removed from the ill-humoured scenes and insults back at the agricultural fair in February when he famously told a visitor who refused to shake his hand to “get lost” in no uncertain terms.

This really was Sarkozy at his best, driving home the impression once again that he was leading by example and paying tribute to the agricultural backbone of France – those who stirred themselves into action at such an inhumane hour every day of the week, 52 weeks a year.

And in case anybody had forgotten that these were exactly the same tactics that had endeared him to voters just over a year ago, he reminded them - in a pre-arranged impromptu press conference there on the floors of Rungis.

His message yet again was basically those who work hard would get their just rewards. A sort of “early bird catches the worm” variation on his “work more to earn more” mantra that he seems to delight in repeating.

So much for the early public relations exercise, this was always going to be a marathon of a day, with policy issues taking centre stage.

Sarkozy had an all-important radio interview scheduled, during which he would outline part two of his economic strategy to “save” the country, boost purchasing power (yes that again) and counter possible industrial action. So enough of enjoying himself at Rungis, time for more serious stuff as he headed back towards the capital.

With French fishermen still blocking ports in protest against rising fuel prices the government is desperate to avoid action spreading, especially to the nation’s 35,000 truck drivers who could bring France to a standstill as they have before.

Sarkozy needed to pull a rabbit from somewhere – not an easy trick to do when the state’s coffers are empty and the government can’t afford to decrease the price of fuel because it relies too much on the tax it levies – currently accounting for around 65 per cent of the price of each litre.

Somehow though the president announced that he has managed to magic up a special fund of between €150-170 million for every trimester. It’ll be used to compensate those who are most exposed to the recent world hike in oil prices - haulage companies, fishermen, taxi drivers - and will be financed by siphoning off some of the money from VAT on fuel.

So really it amounts to a numbers game that involves shuffling around taxes without addressing core issues of alternative energy supplies, which anyway would take far too long to be implemented and fail to address the immediate need for action. Ad hoc economics some would say.

Because the rise in fuel prices is not confined to France, Sarkozy can of course always blame global market pressure should his stopgap measure not work. Still top marks for finding some sort of bunny.

And still on the issue of taxes, and because he has proclaimed himself as the “president who wants to cut taxes not increase them”, Sarkozy also announced that there’s going to be no rise in the television licence.

That came as rather a surprise – he’s good a that – as it still leaves many wondering how the heck he is going to finance the state-owned television channel, France 2, when the planned ban on advertising kicks in.

Did someone say privatisation?

The First Lady sings

For some it’ll be a date to note in their diaries and one on which they’ll rush out in anticipation to the record stores. For others it’ll be time to clap their hands over their ears in an attempt to protect their hearing.

July 21 has been confirmed as the release date for Carla Bruni-Sarkozy’s new album – her first since she took up residence alongside her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, at the president’s official residence, the Elysée Palace.

Bruni-Sarkozy launched herself musically on an unsuspecting public back in 2002 with the release of her first album "Quelqu'un m'a dit,” which received both critical and commercial acclaim. It sold 1.2 million copies in France alone and a further 800.000 abroad.

Her follow-up in 2007, “No promises” in which she set music to English-language poems was something of a flop by comparison, notching up sales of around 80,000 here in France.

Perhaps she has learned her lesson by only including one track on her new album where she sets a poem to music – this time by the French writer, Michel Houellebecq.

According to her agent – as if Bruni-Sarkozy actually needed one - the as yet untitled new album will include 14 songs, many of them penned by the singer herself. There’ll also be a remake of a Bob Dylan number as well as a song in her native Italian, proving that she remains ever the polyglot with an eye on the international market.

The album will be released simultaneously in France, Italy, Germany and Britain

It’ll be the third offering from the former model-turned singer-turned president’s wife, and music lovers won’t be the only ones curious to find out whether her new life as France’s First lady has had any influence on her artistic output or direction.

But those expecting some sort of presidential revelation or behind-the-scenes surprise could well be in for a disappointment as apparently 95 per cent of the material on the album was written before she first met Sarkozy.

Leaving little to chance and definitely not relying on the presidential stamp of approval, Bruni-Sarkozy is also rumoured to be negotiating a number of television talk show appearances on both of France’s main channels to coincide with the album’s release

One thing’s for certain, whether you relish the chance to hear her folksy ditties or consider her recordings as nothing more than unwelcome warbling, it’ll be hard to ignore her.

Clothes maketh the man……and the woman

It’s pretty much a sure thing that Tuesday’s headlines here in France will focus on the garb the country’s first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy will be togged up in when she steps off the Eurostar to be greeted by HRH in London. She’s bound to stun and surprise, and the contrast between ancient and modern – to put it rather unkindly – will be there for everyone to see.

But amazingly just for a day the possible dress sense of the former top model and renowned clotheshorse has been shunted from the front pages by the sartorial statements being made by a rising French star of the sporting world – the swimmer Alain Bernard.

The 24-year-old broke three world records and won two gold medals all in the space of three days at the European swimming championships in Eindhoven, the Netherlands last week.

But while his spectacular performance in the pool was making waves in the French media, the swimming world was getting its knickers in a twist over what he was wearing – an all-in-one, state-of-the-art Speedo swim suit.

Now while some will raise their hands in horror because Speedos are apparently back big time, others will breathe a sigh of relief that they’re not quite the 80s fashion victims they perhaps thought they were. But let’s face it these are not really Speedos as we know and love them.

Instead, according to the company’s own self-fulfilling hype, the new little number boasts “stabilising supports to maintain body position, panels to give a streamlined shape and decrease drag, and a strong, light fabric to reduce muscle oscillation and skin vibration.”

In other words squeeze a high-performance athlete into the all-in-one Speedo LZR Racer, and hey-presto, world records will tumble. And so they have – six times in the space of just a month.

That alone has raised a few eyebrows within the sports governing body FINA, over claims that the suit – which retails for almost €500 – will give some richer nations a competitive edge in this year’s Beijing Olympics – as if they needed it. Some argue that it will further diminish the chances of talent winning through as big bucks and sponsorship push the sport even further away from its amateur beginnings.

But in a sense, even as Bernard admits, that’s already happened. In a television interview shortly after his triumphs, he stressed the importance of how a nationally financed sports programme had allowed him to spend hours each day training in the pool and lifting weights in the gym. And certainly his hulking figures bears witness. At 1.95 metres (6ft 5 inches) and 84kgs (190lbs) he’s a veritable muscle machine with an upper body that would grace any bodybuilding competition

Even though of all people the French swimming federation technical director, Claude Fauquet, has waded into the legitimacy of the swim suit by calling for an ethical debate on whether it should be permitted, FINA has already reviewed its “fairness” and declared that everyone who wants to compete in Beijing wearing it should be allowed to do so. Still the price tag might present some from doing so.

Stunned by the polemic surrounding his choice of swimming cozzy and the impact it might have had on his performance so far this year, Bernard mused as to how fast the LZR Racer would be able to complete a length of the pool without someone inside it.

One bright wag within the sport suggested that should FINA really wish to level the playing field so to speak, perhaps it should insist that all swimmers compete naked. That might well boost television ratings, but that would without doubt cause aerodynamic problems of quite a different sort.

For the moment though Bernard remains the toast of French sport – LZR or not – and is undoubtedly among the favourites to lift an Olympic gold.

He has also shrugged off comments – later withdrawn – by one his beaten opponents that he had clearly been “taking the right vitamins”. Certainly his build is far from “normal” – more approaching the stature of a cartoon superhero in fact, but there again it’s just further evidence of how technological training has become for all high performance athletes.

The debate is basically all good silly stuff in the run-up to the games perhaps, but serious business as companies vie with each other in terms of potential sponsorship deals.

One thing’s for sure. Carla won’t be oozing her shapely figure into a Speedo swimsuit when she daintily descends the train in London tomorrow.

Persiflage

With her foot firmly in her mouth

She will do her best, promises France’s new first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in the headline of her exclusive interview with the weekly news magazine L’Express. But unfortunately she has got off to a somewhat less than flying start, which hardly augurs well for the future.

Bruni-Sarkozy told the magazine that one of its competitors, the centre-left weekly Nouvel Observateur was nothing more than a gossip mag after its Internet site published, what it alleged was, a text message sent from her new hubby, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to his former wife, Cecilia, just days before he got hitched to Carla.

In the message, Sarkozy apparently said that he would “drop everything if she returned”.

Last week’s story might have been that Sarkozy is suing, but this week’s is surely his new wife’s outstanding talent to show the tact required in her newly-elevated role from model-turned singer-turned president’s wife,

Bruni-Sarkozy went straight for the undiplomatic jugular by asking rhetorically what would have happened with the denunciation of Jews if a similar kind of site had existed during the war. A tender little slur on Nouvel Observateur for which she later apologised.

The magazine in turn offered its own apology for publishing the message, but still maintained the president was to blame for bringing his private life into the open so much himself.

So apologies all round, but a hefty majority of the French would seem to agree that Sarkozy is to blame for the whole sorry episode. According to the most recent opinion poll in the national daily, Le Figaro, a mighty 82 per cent of those questioned deemed the president’s behaviour and private life to be inappropriate to his role as head of state.

Be that as it may, he and his new wife are big sellers, as proven by the decision of L’Express to run an eight-page special on the thoughts and views of Bruni-Sarkozy, complete with a misty-lensed front cover shot and several “I’ve spent years posing for the cameras so I’m a dab hand at this” pictures to accompany the exclusive.

And what gripping stuff, what marvellous revelations we’re treated to in the piece. It’s essentially “Carla according to Carla”, worthy of any serious news magazine and incisive to the nth degree.

We learn for example that it was love at first sight when the couple clapped eyes on each other barely three months ago.

Apparently the former model and regular of the gossip columns would also have us believe that she was more than surprised by the media attention her whirlwind romance and marriage received – in fact she was submerged. Years on the catwalk had apparently familiarised Bruni-Sarkozy to media attention but not to the extent that she has experienced since first stepping out with the president.

Poor Carla, we learn, might find the reaction and the tone of the coverage overwhelming, but she has never been tempted to take flight, a barbed reference maybe to the former Mrs S, and rich from someone who has only been married for a couple of weeks. Here speaks an old hand indeed.

The main thing, Carla insists, is that she is in love, and no amount of pressure or scrutiny can change that. Right. Now is not the time probably to list all of her numerous high-profile past liaisons.

This one’s for real because she’s Italian (her words) and therefore doesn’t believe in divorce. Yikes it’s a marriage to last a lifetime -– a word of warning to her other half perhaps who seems to make it a pretty regular habit of exchanging vows.

She’s first lady until the end of her husband’s mandate (does she already worry that he’ll not be re-elected?) and wife ‘til death us do part’.

So what exactly is she going to do in her new job? Well, “her best” she asserts, but basically has nothing planned, which will be reassuring to the rest of the country, who will now know that she hasn’t got a clue what she is going to do – or so she says.

Of course she maintains how much she respects her immediate first lady predecessors (apart from Cecilia that is, who was hardly around long enough to be counted) such as Bernadette Chirac and Danielle Mitterrand. Both were long and silent sufferers of their respective husbands’ philandering it should be noted.

Bruni-Sarkozy aspires to maintain the dignity of the role, while keeping her own personality. Right.

Supposedly that also includes keeping up with her music – there’s a third album unfortunately due for release shortly. And for those who cannot get enough of her, there’s also the regularly featured commercial in which she appears for an Italian car maker currently doing the rounds of the television stations – complete with her dulcet tones.

With the first state visit not due until the end of March, France’s new premiere dame has a chance to try on a few designer frocks, pamper her already finely chiselled features and perhaps practise her curtsey before she heads off to the other side of the Channel.

Yes she’ll be draped from her husband’s arm (or maybe it’ll be vice-versa) during an official trip to Britain.

Better still maybe she would be well-advised to polish up the suit of armour and tape up her jaw to avoid any faux pas in front of the British paparazzi who, let’s be frank, make their French colleagues look like pussy cats.

Low cost justice

They don’t really need the money but it’s the principle that counts. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his new missus, Carla, have won damages in a case they brought against the budget airline Ryanair.

The normally publicity-shy couple sued the airline for using a photograph of them without their consent in an advertisement that recently appeared in the French daily newspaper Le Parisien.

It showed the pair looking towards the sky with the former model-turned singer-turned First Lady saying, “With Ryanair the whole of my family can attend my wedding.”

The ad’ only appeared once shortly before the couple married, but that was apparently reason enough for them to sue.

Carla sought the sum of a meagre €500,000, claiming it was the fee she would normally pocket for appearing in such an advertisement – so at least we know her true value.

But a Paris judge decided that was a slight exaggeration and instead ordered Ryanair to pay Mrs Sarkozy €60,000 for “patrimonial and moral” damages and the “infringement of a personal image.”

Generous soul that she is, Mrs S has donated her winnings to a national charity.

Meanwhile her husband was awarded the symbolic amount of €1 – no reflection on his true value perhaps. But as he already earns a packet after awarding himself a hefty 172 per cent pay increase last November for an annual salary of more than €240,000, it’s unlikely he’ll be seeking anything more.

Maybe he’ll squirrel it away in a high interest earning account for a rainy day. After all he has spent much of the past nine months as president telling the French that they’ll have to tighten their belts.

A strange case really though for a couple who, since they met, have stage-managed every possible photo opportunity to ensure maximum public exposure on their own terms. And the impending marriage was possibly one of the world’s worst kept secrets, with rumours and speculation splashed across front pages since the relationship first became public last November.

Ryanair was also ordered to publish the court’s verdict in “Le Parisien”, and the airline has promised not to run the advertisement again.

Shame really as they’ve already paid for it.

Knotted

Well he promised the media would only find out after the event, and so it turned out. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, must be as pleased as punch that he once again managed to scoop the press as he took the former model-turned singer, Carla Bruni, to be his lawfully wedded.

Saturday lunchtime – a full week ahead of the much rumoured “surprise” ceremony, Nicolas and Carla – for the past two months now there has been no need for surnames here in France as everyone knows who is meant - officially tied the knot, with Bruni becoming Mrs Sarkozy mark III in a service at the president’s official residence, the Elysée palace.

Not bad going for a couple who met less than three months ago and a huge sigh of relief all round for protocol as Nicolas no longer has to drag along his justice minister, Rachida Dati, on his state trips abroad because he now has a proper First Lady.

It’ll also surely please France’s quietly-suffering prime minister, François Fillon, who has been privately complaining recently that his boss did not have his mind on affairs of state and had somewhat lost the plot in the whirlwind of his Bling Bling courtship.

A dramatic drop in popularity in yet another opinion poll released last week would certainly seem to back up the widely-held belief that Nicolas has had other matters on his mind. Add to that his declared on-off involvement in next month’s local election campaign and his complete lack of progress in delivering on his own election campaign promise to increase spending power, and it’s not difficult to see why his approval rating has plummeted to an all-time low.

It would be easy to criticise the courtship as a form of presidential speed dating followed by speed marriage, but it’s typical of the breakneck pace at which Sarkozy seems to run both his personal and professional life.

Divorced from Mrs mark II, Cecilia, last October, Nicolas only met his Carla in November, and a month later the two were famously spotted and snapped at their first stage-managed public outing at Eurodisney. An equally media-friendly photo opportunity of a holiday followed in Egypt and Jordan. And at a press conference in January, the president confirmed that he and Bruni were a serious item and marriage was more than likely on the horizon.

There has to be some doubt as to whether the weekend’s nuptials will help stem the momentum of growing public dissatisfaction of the French with their president. In fact it could herald the beginning of a difficult period for him.

His new wife is known not to share some of his political beliefs and comes with a past, which is there in black and white, and often very vivid colour.

Glossy magazines will probably keep dragging up pictures of her exploits for as long as they continue to boost circulation figures – and all the evidence is that plastering a picture of either Carla or Nicolas on the front cover can do just that.

And there’ll also be the inevitable questions about what will happen to her singing career. She reportedly has a new album scheduled and a tour was in the planning.

Since coming to office last May, Sarkozy has changed the rules of politics by opening up the government and inviting in the opposition. At the same time he has reinvented the public role of the president to such an extent that his private life is very much part of the public domain – a novelty for the French.

And it is clearly a fact that the country is now going to have to live with.

If nothing else, and highly appropriate given their first public outing together last December the Sarkozy’s are proving that the “world is really turning Disney and there’s nothing we can do”. Sigh