François Hollande's irreproachable government and code of conduct - good stuff, isn't it?

Does anyone remember François Hollande saying in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche during the presidential election campaign that he would "undertake not to have anyone around him either at the Élysée or in government who had been accused and/or found guilty by a court"?

(screenshot BFMTV report)

His statement suggested he wanted a "clean" government; one beyond reproach and whose ministers would set a moral example to the rest of the country.

Hey, once the government had been named, Hollande even made them all sign a charter of ethics or code of conduct which, although it didn't explicity make reference to past "misdemeanours", stressed the importance of transparency and "good behaviour".

Among the pledges each minister made were that there would be no conflict of interests, no accepting private presents or invitations that could be called into question, the respect of collective responsibility for decisions taken by the government, to give up any other local or regional political offices they might hold.

And on the more "normal" level they were obliged to travel by train rather than 'plane whenever possible and ensure that they respected the rules of the road when driving or being driven.

Wonderful stuff, isn't it?

But back to that initial undertaking - the one to be surrounded by those with an unblemished past - legally speaking.

How's he doing?

Well for starters there's the prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault who, back in 1997 when he was mayor of Nantes was handed down "a suspended prison sentence for favouritism in the allocation of a city hall contract".

Then there's the foreign minister Laurent Fabius who was tried but acquitted of manslaughter in 1999 in the tainted blood scandal which took place when he was prime minister in the 1980s.

Let's not forget Christine Taubira, the newly-installed justice minister who back in 2004 was found guilty by an industrial tribunal in an unfair dismissal case brought against her by a former parliamentary assistant.

And bringing us bang up to date of course is the case of Arnaud Montebourg the minister of industrial renewal who has been found guilty this week of publicly insulting the management of the ferry company SeaFrance last year.


All right, they can all be "explained"  - they have - and justification made to show that in each case the minister has been "legally rehabilitated" (what?) or the case brought against them didn't have an impact on their "personal integrity".

But - phew.

Barely two weeks into a new government.

What the heck was that campaign pledge all about?

Hot air, it would seem.

And the charter of ethics? Well let's see just how many exceptions are made to that as the days, weeks, months, years roll by.


Gouvernement Hollande : polémique autour des... par BFMTV

Sexy "blow job" commercial - soft porn, fun or simply sexist?

Smutty probably isn't the right word to describe the latest advertising spot that went online just a week ago and is, according to the national daily Libération, under attack from some French feminists for being sexist.

(screenshot of 11footballclub commercial)

Soft porn would be nearer the mark as once again a company is creating a stir by using that age-old advertising tool to sell - sex.

It's for 11footballclub, a French online store specialising in football garb - mainly the sort you can wear - and which is planning to open its first retail outlet shortly in the western French city of Nantes.

Time then for a spot of publicity - anything will do, as long as it gets the company noticed and everyone talking about it.

And the commercial certainly does that.

It features a sexy (of course) red headed woman on her knees apparently - so the ambiguity of the camera angle would have you believe - about to give a man oral sex.

Of course that's what you're meant to think because as the camera pans out out you see that in fact she's helping a customer try on a pair of shoes.

There are the customary sexual groans and moans (because the shoes are too tight - naturally) , very little dialogue (after all who needs it in erotica) and mood-setting background music.

Highly creative - not.

It's meant to be amusing, as Benoît Defois, co-manager of the company told the free daily newspaper 20 minutes.

"The message of the ad isn't to denigrate women, but just to say we take care of our customers," he said.

"The next episode in the the series - which might run to four or five in total - could well see a man kneeling in front of a woman," he continued.

"We might release it just before the Euro 2012 (scheduled to take place in Poland and Ukraine from June 8 - July 1) to promote women's football."

Yes that would seem entirely logical.

The intended humour though isn't how one feminist group sees it.

For the Nantes-based "Collectif radical anti-sexisme et homophobie" (Crash) it's both sexist and offensive.

"We can't constantly laugh at sexism and machismo, when we know that a woman is raped every five hours in France," a member of the group told 20 minutes.

"If a black man were in the place of women, I don't think it would make many people laugh."

Judge for yourselves.

Samy Messaoud's (not so) "shocking" naked video - "Je suis gay"

French singer Samy Messaoud has reinvented the wheel, musically speaking.

Samy Messaoud (screenshot from "Je suis gay" video)

The 25-year-old from the western city of Nantes, who refers to himself as "Samylechanteur" on his blog, has come up with the brainstormingly original idea that "sex might help sell" when it comes to promoting his latest single "Je suis gay" (there's probably no need for a translation).

He appears completely naked in certain scenes of the song's video, flashing his private parts, and accompanied by an equally unclad man and woman.

"I decided to break down the taboo of nudity and without a doubt the clip has gone a bit far," admits Messaoud.

"It's a beautiful video, very elegant, but one in which I dance naked on several occasions with a girl and a boy who are also naked," he continues.

"I have no complex about showing myself naked and it's just too bad for those who are embarrassed - they simply don't have to watch."

No truer word has e'er been said.

If you want to see his wobbly bits wiggling to some trashy music, then just take a look at the video below.

Caution is advised though.

It's probably appropriate to follow the example set by journalist Jean-Marc Morandini whose site carries the warning that certain images contained within the video "might shock" especially those of tender years.

While there's no denying their clearly sexual nature: French kissing, simulated oral sex and tongues just about everywhere, there have certainly been equally "shocking" videos circulating on the Net and broadcast on MTV.

Perhaps the most disturbing or distressing element is that Messaoud actually believes the clip makes the mindless music any more palatable.

You have been warned.

Here goes.

It's awful.



The lyrics - if you're interested - were written by Ton Andries and are...er...how to put this politely...dumb.

They recount (ooh there's a rather overambitious word to describe them) a young boy dressing up in his mother's clothes and dreaming of taking to the catwalk one day.

About the song and its title Messaoud says, "I'm gay and I assume it 100 percent. I just wanted to prove that one can sing and be gay because today so many artists still hide it (their sexuality)."

Really? Obviously he knows something the rest of us don't.

But then, his creativity and words of wisdom clearly know no bounds.

Hot air balloon causes train delays in western France

Now that's not the sort of headline you see every day - not even here in France.

Trains were delayed on the TGV line between Nantes in western France and Paris for the best part of Saturday morning.

Not so unusual, you might be thinking, given French national railways' (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français, SNCF) track (ouch) record.

But this disruption wasn't down to industrial action, the weather or even suspected sabotage.

(screenshot - France 3 television news report)

Instead it occurred after a hot air balloon hit an overhead power line.

The balloon was one of several, according to the regional daily Ouest-France, that had taken off early on Saturday morning from Oudon, 30 kilometres east of Nantes.

It belonged to Nantes Montgolfières, which describes its flights over the Loire valley as "unforgettable".

An apt description indeed - not so much for the journey the eight passengers and one pilot undertook - but the landing they experienced just as they were about to touch down in a field.

Apparently, caught off guard by a stronger-than-expected wind, the pilot wasn't able to prevent the balloon's fabric from becoming entangled with a nearby 25,000 volt overhead power line.

"There could have serious consequences," Captain Patrice Bongibault, a high-ranking police officer told regional France 3 television news.

"But only two of the passengers were slightly injured."

(source - Wikipedia)

And that was a point stressed by the director of Nantes Montgolfières, Géry Liagre.

"We take thousands of people into the air over the Loire Valley and such an incident is very rare," he said.

"Of course it shouldn't have happened, but nobody was seriously injured and in fact there was nothing dramatic: we just disrupted SNCF for a couple of hours."

Oh well that's all right then.

And anyway, train passengers are used to experiencing delays for one reason or another.

210511 - Une montgolfière sur une voie de chemin de fer Vidéo Fred-Lille sélectionnée dans Actualité

French man who claimed Glaxo drug made him "gay sex addict" wins case

It might appear to be an April Fool, but rest assured it's genuine.

On Thursday a French court ordered the pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to pay Didier Jambart more than €117,000 in damages.

Didier Jambart (screenshot from TF1 news report)

Jambart had taken the company to court claiming that its drug, Requip, had led him to become addicted to gambling and sex, changed his personality and caused him psychological damage.

The 51-year-old father began taking the drug in 2003 to treat Parkinson's disease and a year later, after initial positive signs, his doctor increased the dosage, which was when the side-effects kicked in.

He began gambling, losing more than €70,000, stole credit cards from friends, became addicted to sex with men, cross-dressing and exposing himself on the Internet.

In his own words, Jambart was out of control and attempted suicide eight times.

It wasn't until a specialist took him off the drug in September 2005 that the link between Jambart's behaviour and the side effects of his treatment was established.

His lawyers had argued that GSK had known of the rare but potential hypersexuality and compulsive gambling in some patients as early as 2000 and certainly by 2003, but hadn't officially recognised the possible side effects or included a mention of it on the packaging until 2006.

"It's a great personal victory for all those victims of Requip," Jambart said after the court in the western French city of Nantes had handed down its ruling.

"The fight will go on for all those other people who have suffered similarly from such side effects and haven't dared to speak out."

Jambart's is far from being an isolated case in France. He and his lawyers, Gérard Marot and Antoine Béguin, say they in the past week they have been contacted by others now apparently willing to come forward.

It could get expensive for GSK. Still, the company can probably afford it.

Didier Jeambart demande 450 000 euros de dédommagement

Spend a night at the French hamster hotel

Here's a story that might have passed you by: the opening recently of a so-called "hamster villa" in the French city of Nantes.

For an introductory offer of just €99 a night guests can enjoy the experience of what it's like to live like a hamster.

That means they can run themselves breathless in a giant wheel getting nowhere quickly, eat organic grains (yum yum) and drink water from a specially made fountain, all the time wearing special hamster hoods - should they so wish.



The creators of the full-on hamster "experience" are interior designer Frédéric Tabary and set designer Yann Falquerho and the idea is, according to Tabary, "to give people the real feeling of what it's like to be a hamster."

"They're are supposed to come here for fun and to mess around," he says.

"We want them to smile and relax from a society which is often so rigid."

The room currently comes equipped with a conventional shower, a bed and even a most unhamster-like microwave oven, and there are plans to provide a Wifi connection and squeeze a flat screen TV into the 18 square metre space.

And why a hamster house? Well it's something of a personal childhood thing if Falquerho is to be believed.

"When I was small I had a real passion for hamsters and I was never allowed one," he says.

"Now I'm getting my chance."

The pair are no strangers to what even they admit is the slightly bizarre, although another room in Nantes they currently rent out is perhaps a little less strange in that the decor of "Captain Nemo's hut" is inspired by French novelist Jules Verne's fictional character of the same name.

But their next concept promises to make the hamster villa look positively "normal" in comparison, as Tabary says they're currently in discussion with investors for a project which will give people the sensation of "sleeping in their mother's womb."

Enough said perhaps.