François Hollande renames Kobane, "Konabe"

Even if you're not especially interested in what's making the news, the chances are that you've heard of Kobane.

The town on the border of Syria and Turkey has been the scene of fighting between Islamic State militants and Kurdish defenders for the past month and has received extensive coverage internationally.


So you would think that leaders from around the world would not only be familiar with what's happening there but would also be able to say the town's name properly.

All right, there might be differences in spelling, accents and stress between different languages (and those helpful people at Wikipedia provide a few alternatives) but there's surely consensus as to the order in which both the letters and the three syllables come.

Right?

Wrong.

Not, apparently, if you happen to be the French president, François Hollande.

François Hollande at the Institut du monde arabe (screenshot from Le Petit Journal on Canal +)

Proving once again that he is a verbal law unto himself, Hollande managed to mangle the town's name not once, but twice, during and after a speech he gave at the Institut du monde arabe (Arab World Institute) on Tuesday.

Kobane in Hollande-speak became Konabe.

And both he and his advisors seemed oblivious to the fact that he couldn't pronounce the town's name correctly.

You can hear Hollande's gaffe from 12 minutes 45 seconds until 13 minutes 45 seconds - the  "L'instant président" segment of the "Le Petit Journal" on Canal + with host Yann Barthès broadcast on Tuesday evening.

Classic Flanby...unless, as Barthès pointed out, Hollande really was referring to the village of Konabe in Japan (yes, it exists).

Now that brings back memories.

Wasn't it in Japan back in June 2013 that Hollande, while wanting to pay tribute to the 10 Japanese nationals who had died in the Algerian hostage crisis in January of the same year actually expressed his condolences to the Chinese?

Valls en déplacement pour un parking - Le Petit Journal du 14/10

Sarkozy's Villepinte campaign speech allows Bernadette Chirac forty winks

Le Petit Journal has been up to its usual tricks on Canal +, treating viewers to a different sort of look as to what happened at Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign rally last weekend at Villepinte, a town in the northeastern suburbs of Paris.

The programme is of course irreverent and certainly doesn't take either itself or the subjects it chooses to "investigate" too seriously.

But it certainly provides a refreshing, if somewhat cynical, look at political news stories and what's behind them.

Monday's edition, introduced as usual by host Yann Barthès, decided to take a look at THE political event of the weekend; Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign rally at Villepinte.

You know the rally: the one at which, among other things, he threatened to suspend France's participation in Schengen if re-elected.

Sarkozy spent over an hour addressing an adoring crowd of activists who, as Le Petit Journal showed viewers, had been put in the mood by the appropriate warming-up beforehand.

Yes it was a grand show.

While the event's cameras were trained on Sarkozy, Le Petit Journal decided to concentrate on the reactions of those Big Cheeses seated in the front row, some of whom would also be addressing the masses.

They included prime ministers, past and present, Édouard Balladur, Alain Juppé and François Fillon; not a facial muscle moving as they listened (and inwardly groaned).

Much larger than life actor Gérard Depardieu was there, looking decidedly flushed and first lady, Carla-Bruni-Sarkozy, and Jean-François Copé, leader of the governing Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party seemed to be having quite a natter - perhaps they had already heard the speech too many times.

Bernadette Chirac (screenshot from Le Petit Journal)

And then there, true to her word, was Bernadette Chirac, the woman who had in a recent interview with RTL radio said that she would be a "fervent supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy" during his campaign.

But at 78, the effort was beginning to show as the former first lady bravely fought to shake off the descending eyelid syndrome which overcomes many of us when unable to concentrate or simply not that interested.

It was the most courageous of attempts but...not surprisingly, she lost.

Well until the applause stirred her, that is.

Now what's her husband, former president Jacques Chirac, up to?

Le Petit Journal du 12/03 - People attitude à Villepinte