Valérie Trierweiler's travails - and the price of fame

She might have written a best-selling warts and all score-settling book, "Merci pour ce moment", published at the beginning of September 2014 and politely described as a "political memoir" but that doesn't seem to have endeared France's former first lady, Valérie Trierweiler, to the nation as a whole.

Valérie Trierweiler  (screenshot BFM TV report on release of "Merci pour ce moment")

Indeed, given a recent poll, she's giving her former partner, the French president, François Hollande, a run for his money in the unpopularity ratings

Yes another poll.

Clearly someone at le Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France thought it would be interesting to discover what the French felt about their former first lady...and then tell them what they probably already knew.

Namely that 69 per cent of those questioned (a representative sample of the population as a whole of course) had a "bad opinion" of Trierweiler and 59 per cent thought she had been wrong to write her book.

(screenshot "Merci pour ce moment" front cover)

On the other hand, while some might not agree with what she wrote and others might not like her (if the survey is to believed) Trierweiler still elicits a great deal of interest.

Or is it simple curiosity?

Because on Saturday (the day before the poll was published) the Paris Match journalist (yes she still works for the magazine) had to beat a hasty retreat while out and about.

Trierweiler was in the Barbès area of northern Paris - shopping (for cassava and plantain, as she would later reveal) with a friend -  and being the celebrity that she has become was quickly recognised by people eager to have their photo' taken with her.

But it all threatened to escalate out of control and a plainclothes policeman (who just happened to be around) apparently directed her into one of the shops while he waited for reinforcements to allow her to drive away from the adoring throng.

Making light of the "incident" Trierweiler later took to her preferred method of communicating with fans and followers - on Twitter, of course.

"Thank you for the welcome very very warm welcome in Barbès . Neither panic nor the need to go to the police station. But cassava and plantains. And a lot of selfies."

Ah. The price of fame.

Whoopee! Another week in French politics with best buddies, Manuel Valls (again) and Inspecteur Gadget

The political week in France began with the Socialist party holding its annual summer shindig in La Rochelle.

Well strictly speaking it was last weekend, but hey ho. Give a guy a little temporal (as related to time rather than spiritual) break please.

The great and the glorious were there, including the party's new best friends, the interior minister Manuel Valls and the justice minister Christine Taubira.

We know they're now best buddies, in spite of the former recently trying to tell the latter how to do her job properly, because Valls said so, insisting that they were both "working hand in hand to achieve the same thing - a fair and effective policy."

Valls was certainly good value for money.  Up there on the podium, he looked ready to implode (he so often does, don't you think?) as he seethed, spluttered, yelled and sometimes cooed his way through 20 minutes. There's no doubting, he sure can orate.


Valls: "L'immigration doit être régulée et... par BFMTV

Sadly the same could not be said for his immediate boss, the prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who closed the conference on Sunday.

Sure he tried to bring the whole shebang to a conclusion with a speech showing who was in charge (and don't say "nobody") and a warning that, "Personal games could ruin the collective efforts."

http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/politique/la-rochelle-quand-jean-marc-ayrault-prend-les-commandes_1275780.html

But really. Even if he thought anyone was listening and taking note, did he honestly believe they were taking any notice?

A far less apoplectic Valls (yes that man again) popped up on the revamped "Le Grand Journal" on Canal + on Monday evening.

He was the guest of honour as the show's new anchor, Antoine de Caunes, and his team went on the attack.

That photo spread with his wife in Paris Match, his own personal crusading Tour de France over the summer, and the media love-in for a man who clearly knew where the cameras were.

"Wasn't it all a bit too reminiscent of a certain former French president," he was asked.

The interior minister more than held his own - and kept his cool. But it was a little like watching a double of the real thing (Nicolas Sarkozy, just in case you were wondering) in action.

LE GRAND JOURNAL du 26/08/13 - Part. 2 Valls, la star de l'été

The programme would probably have been a good deal more interesting had another guest not been disinvited.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit had also been slated to appear, but the invitation was withdrawn at the last moment because "Valls wanted to be the only one on the programme" according to Cohn-Bendit who is now a political commentator on Europe 1 radio.

"It's not important. In fact it's rather amusing really," he said. "But it's symptomatic of what I call a 'presidential virus' in which he (Valls) is trying to project a presidential image."



Tous candidats à l’élection présidentielle ! par Europe1fr

Nothing of the sort, according to the show's production team.

It was simply that the same sort of editorial decision had been taken as similar programmes on other channels: namely to concentrate on a debriefing after the conference in La Rochelle.

http://www.jeanmarcmorandini.com/article-309004-cohn-bendit-affirme-avoir-ete-deprogramme-du-grand-journal-a-la-demande-de-manuel-valls-la-reponse-de-la-production.html

Ho hum. We believe you.

Back to Ayrault for a moment, and the prime minister finally unveiled the government's proposals for pension reform...or non-reform as the "reformettes" have also been described.

Although it's an important subject, pensions can also appear terribly tedious stuff and successive French governments have shown a talent for regularly tinkering with a complex system and making it even more incomprehensible.

The current government is no exception.

But just in case you want to try to understand what is being proposed, here's a link to a piece in the Wall Street Journal.

Finally, the French president, François Hollande, came out of his hidey hole this week to deliver an impassioned speech on the situation in Syria.

"France is ready to punish (ooh puhleeze, who the heck was his speechwriter?) those who took the heinous decision to gas innocents," he told an annual meeting in Paris of French ambassadors from around the world, undoubtedly striking fear into the very heart of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

And while Hollande waits for other international leaders to decide what, if any, action should be taken, the weekly news magazine Le Point was once again poking fun at him with a very telling front cover of its latest edition.

It features a head and shoulder shot of a half-smiling Hollande, left hand held aloft and the gloriously appropriate headline "Inspecteur Gadget"...described by that online bible of all that is true and factual, Wikipedia, as "a clumsy, dim-witted cyborg detective".

Gadget, that is. Not Hollande.

Or there again.

That's all for this week folks.

Have a great weekend.

screenshot front cover Le Point

Valérie Trierweiler - the French president's "first bodyguard"

Valérie Trierweiler hasn't had an easy time with the media since François Hollande came to power.

And finding the right title for a woman filling a role which, although it doesn't officially exist, has in the past been one whereby the spouse would most likely devote herself to philanthropy and charity work all the while steadfastly supporting her husband, has been equally difficult.

The image - at least the one portrayed by her puppet in the popular satirical programme "Les Guignols" - is one of a dominating woman who doesn't suffer fools gladly and has her buffoon of a better-half firmly under her thumb.

It might be an exaggerated and not entirely accurate representation, but it's one that sticks.

Valérie Trierweiler (screenshot from "Les Guignols")

As does a term coined during campaigning for the presidential elections last year, when a member of the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP), Lionnel Luci, dubbed her "Rottweiler".

Perhaps Trierweiler hasn't helped herself, either in terms of how she's perceived or what she is supposed to be called.

The weekly news magazine, L'Express, nicknamed her the "minister of jealousy" back in June 2012 when she made that infamous Tweet in support of Olivier Falorni, the rival to Ségolène Royal in the parliamentary elections.

CNN didn't know quite how to describe Trierweiler when she accompanied Hollande on his first official trip to the United States shortly after taking office. The couple aren't married and there's no sign from either of them that the knot is going to be tied any time soon (if at all).

In the end the channel plumped for "first girlfriend".

In October last year Trierweiler announced she would be involving herself more in that catch-all term "humanitarian affairs" - mainly with children - and that it would take precedence over her work as a journalist.

She continues to write for Paris Match - but only on culture rather than politics.

Everything seemed to be settling into a more-or-less familiar "first lady" pattern.

Except last weekend there was an "incident" which brought back memories of why Luca's "Rottweiler" insult still resonates.

Trierweiler accompanied Hollande to Tulle, the town in which he used to be mayor and member of parliament.

It was the chance for the French president to gather his thoughts - albeit briefly - from the previous week's revelations in the Cahuzac affair and recharge the batteries in a place where he's apparently still liked.

At one point Hollande, complete with security detail of course, decided to go walkabouts and meet and greet.

Trierweiler was there too - not so much to smile sweetly and press some flesh: more to show how heavy her hand could be when the cameras got a little to close (for her liking) to her other half.

Keep a close eye on what happens at 40 seconds on the accompanying video from Monday evening's "Le Petit Journal" on Canal +.

It's surely Trierweiler at her "bodyguard" best.

Florence Lamblin - Eco Sex toys and money laundering

No the title is not a piece of political faction.

But there again the alleged truth is often stranger than anything that could be dreamt up by a scriptwriter with even the most preposterously imaginative pen.

The deputy mayor of the 13th arrondissement of Paris, Florence Lamblin is back in the news again.

Florence Lamblin (screenshot BFM TV)

You might remember that last weekend Lamblin hit the headlines after being arrested for her alleged involvement in a ring suspected of laundering €40 million of drug money.

The - until-then - little-known (outside of political circles perhaps) Europe Écologie Les Verts - or Green party to the rest of us - politician suddenly found herself a household name as the media and political opponents had a field day "finding her guilty".

There were calls for Lamblin to resign, not only from the opposition but also from the party's presidential candidate this year, Eva Joly and just as importantly perhaps the Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë.



Lamblin did just that - sort of - following that time-honoured French political tradition of announcing that she would be, "suspending her activities and political duties until there had been a full investigation into her financial records."

In other words she'll probably be back.

That was last weekend's news and of course the investigation into her alleged involvement is still ongoing.

But when the proverbial "merde" hits the fan for a French politician, you can rely on the weekly satirical newspaper, Le Canard enchaîné, to keep everyone entertained with a slightly different angle on matters.

And that's exactly what it did on Wednesday following up on a story that had appeared the day before in the weekly "news" magazine Paris Match, revealing that Lamblin, apart from being a politician, was also a partner in an eco-friendly sex toy website

Sexecolo.com, which for the most peculiar of reasons currently seems to be unavailable, thereby surely missing out on a great marketing opportunity, has as its enticing tag line “pleasure, naturally”.

(screenshot sexecolo.com)

It tells potential buyers, says Paris Match, that ecology should be "fun and not make people feel guilty",  and offers (or should that be in the past tense now?) a range of (amongst other things) "natural massage oils, organic lingerie (the edible variety?) and sex toys free from potentially harmful plastic additives."

Um.

No comment perhaps - but feel free to come up with your own interpretation.

Keep them courteous, please.

More incomplete faction: Valérie Trierweiler and the weekend TF1 stand-in anchor job

France's first "journalist", Valérie Trierweiler, has refused to respond to uncorroborated speculation that she has been passed over for a job as a news anchor at TF1.

Instead there are equally baseless suggestions that she withdrew her name at the last minute, giving up a golden chance of carving out a new professional role in life.

Yes, the anagramatical enigmatic Trierweiler or "Eerier Twirl" had apparently been rumoured to be on the shortlist for the part of "joker" or stand-in for TF1's weekend news while the regular anchor, Claire Chazal, was away on her hols over the summer.

But last week the channel announced that the job had been given to Anne-Claire Coudray.
And there are conflicting reports as to whether Trierweiler pulled out at the last moment or was in fact rejected in favour of a younger woman.

Anne-Claire Coudray (screenshot LCI)

Speaking on assurance of anonymity, a member of the news team said that Coudray had got the job over Trierweiler because of a marginally more impressive level of experience in the world of broadcast media.

"She (Trierweiler) is clearly an outstanding reporter with a penwomanship that is virtually unsurpassed by any other active press journalist, and is widely recognised as being at the forefront of her profession," said the source.

"But in the end, TV executives plumped for the younger in-house Coudray probably because she was a familiar face with viewers, having joined TF1 and its sister channel LCI in 2004."

A close friend, who has absolutely no inside knowledge or personal contact with Trierweiler, offered up a rather different explanation of events though, implying that it had been her personal decision to stand aside, thereby magnanimously handing the job to 35-year-old Coudray on the proverbial plate.

"Valérie wanted to get away from the inaccurate and unfair image of her as a somewhat bitter and twisted woman as portrayed by some cruel critics over the past few weeks," the friend said, referring to the low profile Trierweiler seems to have been keeping ever since the so-called anti-Seggers Twittergate affair.

"And she also realised taking a job at a channel whose major shareholder is a company owned by one of (former president) Nicolas Sarkozy's best buddies (Martin Bouygues) wouldn't exactly be helpful to François Hollande (her partner and the current French president) or sit well with the public in general," the pseudo friend continued.

"That's just the kind of woman she is. Always placing the interests of others before her own."

Instead, in an effort to remain the independent working woman she has maintained she wishes to be, Trierweiler is expected to continue thrilling readers of the award-winning weekly international news magazine Paris Match with her entertaining and deeply researched culture pieces.

So political intrigue at Sarkozy TV TF1 and/or Trierweiler genuinely trying to curry favour with Hollande and diminish any damage done after her "nuclear Tweet".

You be the judge.

Perhaps to help you, time for a song.

Cue the late Yvonne Fair's 1976 hit, "It should have been me".

Any excuse for a blast from the past hey.

Valérie Trierweiler's Tweet of support for Ségolène Royal's opponent

It was probably too good to last; the self-declared "normal" presidency of François Hollande.

He, his party and France have now been treated to the sort of celebrity-cum-politics behaviour reminiscent of the days of his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.

And it's largely thanks to Hollande's partner, Valérie Trierweiler.

Valérie Trierweiler (screenshot YouTube video)

While the leader of the Socialist party, Martine Aubry, was on a "Save Ségolène Royal" mission to help the party's chosen candidate in her battle to win a seat in the second round of parliamentary elections, Trierweiler was putting her best stiletto heel foot forward and in the process carving out a new role for herself.

That of, in the words of L'Express magazine, the "minister of jealousy".

Trierweiler Tweeted (or should that be Twat) a message of support - for Olivier Falorni, the man running against Royal.

He has been a long-time Hollande supporter, even apparently at a time when it wasn't particularly fashionable, and as a loyal and experienced "man on the ground" had expected to be the party's candidate in the safe constituency of La Rochelle in the département of Charente-Maritime.

But the party decided differently, parachuting in Royal to contest the seat which would be the first step towards her eventually playing an important role and one she covets, as the president of the national assembly.

Farlorni, who's no fan of Royal, refused to withdraw his candidature, was suspended by the party and was only narrowly beaten in last Sunday's first round.

He's staying in the race for next weekend's second round and  presents a real threat to Royal's ambitions.

Enter stage left, the non-elected "minister of jealousy", Valerie Trierweiler, with a Tweet in which she wished Forloni "bon courage" and recognised his "years of selfless commitment (to the party)."

Just 146 not-so-innocent characters guaranteed to have an impact as the Socialist party was left jaw-to-floor, the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) enjoyed the distraction from its own problems and the media - well, went wild with a story in an otherwise rather - er - dull election campaign.

So why did she do it?

Why did Trierweiler send that message of support using a social network knowing full well that it would be out there for everyone and anyone to read?

After all she's an experienced journalist, knows what she's doing, and is far - very far - from being daft.

Maybe, after all, there's something in that headline in L'Express and Trierweiler, even though she's now first lady, still resents Royal, the woman who was Hollande's partner for 30 years and with whom he had four children.

Jealousy - really?

Why not?

Trierweiler is on record as saying she didn't vote for Royal in the first round of the 2007 presidential elections and abstained in the second.

After reading in Paris Match - the magazine for which she writes - a piece on Thomas Hollande in which he was described as the oldest child of the "couple Royal-Hollande", Trierweiler sent her colleague a terse text message saying "The ex-couple Royal-Hollande. What are you playing at?"

And that moment at the victory celebrations at Place de la Bastille in Paris after Hollande had beaten Sarkozy in last month's presidential elections was surely a sign of what was to come.

Did you notice it? Trierweiler - and many others - certainly did: Hollande giving Royal a peck on the cheek.

How did she react? With an "order" so easy to read from her lips that Hollande kiss her on the mouth - now - in front of everyone.

The "Nicolas and Carla" show might no longer be centre stage as far as the celebrity gossip magazines and certain sectors of the mainstream media are concerned, but it looks as though a worthy replacement has been found, albeit so far, just a one-woman show.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy furious as French magazines publish baby photo

After the French weekly "news" magazine Paris Match published a long-lens photo in it most recent issue in which five-month-old Giulia Sarkozy's face is clearly visible, two other French celebrity rags have followed suit.

Paris Match cover (screenshot AFP report)

And France's first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is livid.

It doesn't really matter what you think of Bruni-Sarkozy's past - or her present come to that.

You might well regard her as a somewhat laughable and/or incongrous presence alongside her husband Nicolas Sarkozy as he seeks a second term as French president.

But put aside whatever you think about her previous relationships, her career as a top model and the delightful strains of her raspy voice as a singer for one moment and concentrate on her role as a mother.

And surely you have to admit that she has a point in being furious at the French media for not respecting the rights of her five-month-old daughter, Giulia.

Voici cover (screenshot Voici magazine)

Even before she was born in October 2011, Giulia was the focus of more media attention than probably even your average famous adult could handle.

When Bruni-Sarkozy went into hospital for the birth there was a virtual media pack camped outside the hospital, waiting, ready to report ...well what usually happens after a woman has been pregnant for nine months: she gives birth.

Bruni-Sarkozy - or rather Giulia, kept the hungry "newshounds" waiting a while, but then she popped into the world becoming and remaining for the moment, arguably one of the world's most famous babies.

All of course because her parents are who they are.

So that makes her fair game doesn't it? The paparazzi should be able to take whatever long-lens photos they like and magazines publish them regardless.

After all Giulia is newsworthy because her parents are. They survive and thrive partially through exposure so they should expect their children to...well learn to cope with fame.

That's far from being how Bruni-Sarkozy sees it and she insisted from the moment her daughter was born that the French media cut her, and in particular Giulia, some slack and not invade what are very private moments for both of them

So her wrath - measured to say the very least - after the French weekly magazine Paris Match published a photo of the two of them in its last issue, was perhaps more than understandable.

"Because I believe in the principle of the freedom of the press, I have always accepted without any problem the publication of photographs or unauthorised information, even when it's erroneous, concerning my private life," she writes on her official site.

But I deplore any use made ​​of images of children as well as any reporting which might touch on their private lives," she continues.

"I have repeatedly expressed my views on this subject. My position has not changed."

The call though, seems to have fallen on deaf ears as far as the French media is concerned - at least the celebrity and gossip sector of the magazine market.

Paris Match has already featured a photo of Bruni-Sarkozy with Giula on its front cover; one in which the face of the five-month-old is clearly visible.

And two other French magazines are set to follow that example this week with Voici and Closer both planning to publish the photo as a "scoop".

Vanity Fair's best-dressed woman - Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

So that arbiter of taste and supplier of news on pop culture, fashion and current affairs, the monthly magazine Vanity Fair, has released its 72nd annual best dressed list.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (screenshot from trailer for Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris")

And as far as the women are concerned the winner is...the former top model-cum singer/actress and France's current first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

Yes she of the finely chiselled features, raspy voice and elegantly increasing girth in expectation of a happy event has managed to beat out stiff competition from Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned (the second of the three wives of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar) and the recently-wed Duchess of Cambridge, aka to many still as Kate Middleton.

Perhaps not surprisingly the French media was fawningly quick off the mark to revel in the news.

"French chic - you've heard of it?" trumpeted the weekly glossy Voici.

"Well just to make matters easy, it can be defined in three words, 'Carla Bruni-Sarkozy'," it continued (un)imaginatively.

For fellow celebrity gossip magazine Gala it came as little surprise that Bruni-Sarkozy had made it as Vanity Fair's best dressed women as she had been among the "sartorially superior" for the past four years.

And let's face it, she's not exactly a stranger to the world of high fashion and GLAMOUR.

"She's known for having that refined distinction inherited from being from the upper middle class," it wrote.

"And she has been the flawless hostess at the l’Elysée (palace) with assured taste and a figure allowing her to show off to perfection clothes from some of the greatest fashion designers."

The magazine also delighted in the timing, remarking that while the "Mother-to-be might recently have given up on her Dior dresses and Louboutin shoes, she had also managed to dazzle through her natural beauty at the G8 summit in June where she appeared in her her simple Rogier Verdier-designed wardrobe."

And so it continued with the emphasis being put on Bruni-Sarkozy's "simplicity and elegance" (TF1) or "Vanity Fair having succumbed to Bruni-Sarkozy's charm" (Le Parisien)


But as much of the French media was equally at pains to point out, Bruni-Sarkozy was not the only woman on the list to "embody French style".

Because there at number six was the recently-appointed head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde.

You can see the full list - of best-dressed women and men - as well as what Paris Match calls "Vanity Fair's 'ovation' to a certain Kate Middleton'," over on the magazine's site and check out the comments.

They just about say it all.

Adriana and Christian Karembeu separate

It's official. What the French daily France Soir calls, "One of the most glamorous couples of French showbiz" are to separate.

Adriana Karembeu (screenshot from interview with Belgian daily La Dernière Heure/Les Sports in Feb 2011)

After almost 13 years of marriage the model Adriana Karembeu and her husband, the former French international football player Christian, are to split, according to an interview Adriana gave in Thursday's edition of the weekly magazine Paris Match.

The news doesn't exactly come as a surprise says France Soir, "Especially not to readers of celebrity magazines," as rumours had been circulating for some time that the Slovakian-born model was not happy with their lifestyle, her husband's hectic schedule and "the fact that they didn't appear to have a life together."

"I wanted to makes things clear," she told Paris Match.

"We have always been a very high-profile couple and in recent weeks I've been upset to see photographs of me with other men appearing in the press and speculation that I had a lover," she continued.

"The truth is I've never cheated on my husband but we haven't been together for a couple of months now."

While Adriana maintains in the interview that she had informed her husband about her decision to "go public" his version of how he found out is quite different.

Christian, a member of France's 1998 World Cup winning side has recently published a book (together with journalists Anne Pitoiset et Claudine Wéry) "Kanak" in which he recounts his childhood in New Caledonia and the story of his family.

He has been giving a series of interviews to promote the book but, "Had not alluded to the separation," Adriana told Paris Match, "Because he didn't know what to say. When I 'phoned him to tell him that I had granted you an interview, he seemed relieved."

But that wasn't quite the story Christian told on RTL radio on Wednesday.

"I think she's quite simply going to announce our separation," he said when asked for his reaction to details that had been leaked of the interview that was to appear in Paris Match the following day.

"I'm not in the habit of talking about my private life in public," he continued.

"But I didn't know about this interview when it happened, I was told about it afterwards."

Whatever the case their separation is official and marks the end of a relationship which began, as the French daily Aujourd'hui en France - Le Parisien says, "In the most romantic of manners aboard a Paris-Milan flight in 1996".

They were married in 1998.

Yael Naïm wins Best Female Artist at France's Victoires de la musique awards

Tuesday evening saw part two of Les Victoires de la musique awards, the French equivalent of the Grammys, broadcast live from Paris on France 2.

"Part two" because, in their infinite wisdom, organisers decided viewers probably weren't up for several hours of tra-la-la-ing and thank you speeches to all and sundry and split the ceremony in two.

Yael Naïm (screenshot from YouTube video)

February 9 was dedicated solely to newcomers and "revelations" with the public getting to vote in each category and the whole shebang being broadcast live from the northern city of Lille on France 2's (much) smaller sister station France 4.

Meanwhile Tuesday saw awards handed out to the "more established" artists with industry professionals getting to determine who got what.

Of course the voting procedure is more complex than that; but by and large the heavyweight awards were decided by those "in the know" who had already whittled the nominees in each category down to four and, apart from the Song of the Year which was left to a public vote, determined who got the gongs.

Perhaps the most interesting category of the evening was that of Best Female Artist because it had, in a real sense, a truly international flavour to it.

Added to that, there were some stunning performances although only three of the nominees were present.

Canadian Cœur de pirate (otherwise known as Béatrice Martin when she's not performing) who won the award in 2010 for Best Song gave a simple voice and piano rendition of "Francis" from her self-titled 2009 album.

Nigerian-French singer-songwriter Aṣa (pronounced Asha), trademark big specs and velvet timbre of a voice, treated the audience and viewers to a groovy "Be my man" taken from her 2010 album "Beautiful imperfection".



And French-Israeli singer-songwriter Yael Naïm added a touch of soul and jazz as well as a heap of gospel to her pop-folk rock "Come home" from her "She was a boy" album.

Phew!

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Only Vanessa Paradis - French model-actress-singer and partner of Johnny Depp (or should that be the other way round?) was missing.

Perhaps she had guessed she wouldn't be picking up an award this time around but she already has a heap of them to her name.

And the winner is...Yael Naïm.

In the night's other categories awards were picked up by Gaëtan Roussel for both Best Male Artist and Best Album, M (full name Matthieu Chedid) and veteran Eddy Mitchell jointly for best concert/show/tour and Philippe Katerine (love him or hate him) for his splendidly as-usual off-the-wall "La banane" as Best Video.



The last award for Best Song - and the only one on the night left to the public vote - went to "Je veux" by Zaz.

As Paris Match said, "A lively evening and a long way from the seemingly interminable hours of poorly paced entertainment" viewers were subjected to last year.

The death of Jocelyn Quivrin and the rise of the "new monsters"

The omnipresent mobile 'phone complete with camera capability can capture moments that many, and not just those in the media spotlight, might wish to forget.

A quick "click" and the damage is done with videos and pictures making their way to a wider audience via the Net as everyone and anyone becomes a "photojournalist".

But sometimes there has to be a limit, as would hopefully appear to be the case in the recent death of the French actor, Jocelyn Quivrin.

Just over a week ago Quivrin was killed in a road accident as he apparently lost control of his car at the entrance to a tunnel on a motorway in a western suburb of Paris.

Quivrin, who most recently appeared in the French film LOL (Laughing out loud) alongside Sophie Marceau, was just 30 years old.

Initial media reports suggested that he had been driving his Ariel Atom, a high performance sports car, well in excess of the speed limit especially as the vehicle's speedometer had been blocked on impact at 230 kilometres per hour (143 mph).

Police however were more circumspect and their caution seemed to be warranted according to a report in the daily newspaper Le Parisien, which said that experts' analysis indicated that he had been travelling at 97 kilometres an hour before the accident happened.

But the exact circumstances around Quivrin's death remain unclear even though police have called for eye witnesses, and this is perhaps where the tale takes a more than slightly macabre turn with the presence of a mobile 'phone.

Because someone on the scene shortly after the accident occurred and before the emergency services arrived decided to use their 'phone to take some images of what had happened and then try to sell them to the highest bidder.

Thankfully though the French media didn't take the bait. In fact among those offered the film there was outright condemnation.

"Pure voyeurism," headlined the French news website, Le Post, which also informed readers that a deputy editor-in-chief of a weekly magazine had turned down the pictures saying they had "been taken minutes after the accident, but there's no question of our buying them and to be quite honest it's appalling."

And from Jean-Claude Elfassi, one of this country's most notorious paparazzi and therefore no stranger to controversy himself, came equally strong language and the description of such behaviour as that of 'the new monsters".

"This person is sadly like so many others," he wrote.

"He tried to negotiate (payment) for these pictures with my friend, Guillaume Clavières, the head of photography for Paris Match, a magazine that has published some of the biggest scoops of the century," he continued.

"But Guillaume didn't want to sell his soul to the devil, and I can understand that."

While the pictures haven't yet surfaced in the pages of a magazine, maybe it's only a matter of time before an editor somewhere decides that it's worth paying a euro or two in an effort to boost circulation figures.

Let's hope not.

French polls: Rama Yade's popularity and Sarkozy's poor showing

Another week another poll or at least so it seems here as the French have been asked yet again to name their most popular political figure.

And topping the list is none other than the junior minister for sports, Rama Yade.

The poll comes courtesy of the weekly news magazine, Le Point.

Once a month it publishes its ranking according to a survey conducted on its behalf by Ispos "to measure the popularity of the major players in the political arena".

In the latest poll, Yade has a 61 per cent approval rating. Just behind her is the Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, (59 per cent) and in third place another Socialist politician in the shape the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (54 per cent).

All right so opinion polls are open to interpretation and they are perhaps just snapshots, if you will, of current popular opinion rather than giving the full picture.

But Yade's obvious and sustained popularity must be giving her bosses the proverbial food for thought especially as it's the fourth month in a row that the Ipsos-Le Point poll has had her topping the list.

It almost seems as though Yade's popularity among the public increases as often as, and in parallel to, the criticism she receives from government and her centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party colleagues for refusing to toe the line or be a team player as in the recent example of her opposition to a government policy to abolish tax breaks for sportsmen and women.

As the French media puts it, "The more she is the target of criticism, the more popular she is."

One dark cloud perhaps for the 32-year-old is that her popularity among supporters of the UMP party is apparently on the decline.

So Yade on the up and up - or at least enjoying a high level of support among the general French population - but what of her big boss the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy?

Well, the latest poll appears to confirm the slump in his approval ratings over the last month at just 39 per cent.

But the news probably won't come as too much of a surprise to him.

After all just last week in another poll carried out this time by Ifop on behalf of the weekly news and celebrity lifestyle magazine, Paris Match, only 39 per cent of those questioned thought he was doing a good job, compared to 45 per cent at the end of September.

And the French president, who reached the mid-point of his five-year mandate last week also admitted in an interview that he had made a number of mistakes during his presidency.

They included his highly criticised break just after his election aboard the yacht of his millionaire friend Vincent Bolloré, which he conceded had been an "error of taste", the choice of Patrick Devedjian to head the UMP party in 2007 and most recently support for the candidature (now withdrawn) of his second son, Jean, for the top job at l'Etablissement public d'aménagement du quartier d'affaires de la Défense (Epad), the development agency for business district of La Defense on the outskirts of Paris.

It wasn't the first time during his tenure that Sarkozy has acknowledged mistakes or publicly expressed his "mea culpa".

And perhaps the more humble approach will see an improvement in his approval ratings when the next slew of opinion polls, of which the French media seems to be so fond, are published.

Watch this space.

Fallout in France following Taliban interview

There has been outrage from many quarters here in France following the publication on Thursday of an interview with the leader of a faction of the Taliban, who launched an ambush on French soldiers in Afghanistan in August, killing 10 and injuring 21.

But the outcry has not been so much at the content of the piece that appeared in the weekly magazine, Paris Match, as much as over the photographs published alongside it.

And it has left many with more than a bad taste in their mouths questioning how and where journalists draw the line in offending the sensibilities of others over a subject that is bound to stir controversy - and increase circulation figures.

The photographs in question accompany an exclusive interview conducted by the two journalists for the magazine, and they show some of the Taliban, their faces covered by scarves, dressed in the military uniform of the dead soldiers, as well as some personal effects taken from the victims.

"It's objectionable and hurts to see these killers parading around in the clothes of French troops," Joël Le Pahun, the father of one of those who was killed told Agence France Presse.

And he wasn't alone in his views. Similar sentiments were echoed by many, including Michel Stollsteiner, the French general who commands the region of Kabul.

Interviewed on a national radio station here on Thursday morning, Stollsteiner said that he had been "revolted" by the publication of the photographs and that in his view they had added nothing but pain to families back in France already trying to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones.

Speaking on another national radio station, the French defence minister, Hervé Morin, commented that the Taliban had clearly grasped how to do battle in the "communications war".

"They have understood that public opinion in the West is probably the Achille's heel of the international community present in Afghanistan," he said.

"Should we be actively helping promote the views of those who have completely understood the power of communication?"

Hervé Morin, French minister of defence

(from Wikipedia, credit US Department of Defense)

For an answer to that question of course, it's important to understand why Paris Match decided to publish the photographs.

And the magazine's management has defended its decision by saying it "understands" how upsetting the photographs might be to many in France, but insisting that it "has a duty to cover both sides of the war."

It also denied charges that the Taliban had been able to manipulate the circumstances and way in which the interview was conducted, maintaining that it was the responsibility of journalists to "show life as it is."

One of the journalists who made the report, Véronique de Viguerie, was also interviewed on French national radio on Thursday and tried to shed some light on her motivations.

"I absolutely do not want to appear as though I am without heart, or without feelings," she said.

"I thought I was just doing my job and I hope that wouldn't bring hurt to anyone."

De Viguerie also said that she knew of the existence of a video that had been taken during the ambush on the French soldiers, but Paris Match, has insisted that there was no way footage from that video would be shown in the magazine.