FRENCH NEWS - in English of course. Politics, sports, reviews, travel, a slice of life in France and stories you might not necessarily be able to find elsewhere on the Net.
Remember back in 2012 during the televised debate between Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, the two candidates in the second round of the presidential elections?
That moment when former TF1 news anchor Laurence Ferrari asked Hollande what sort of president he would be if elected and the response he gave?
It was a brilliantly written and perfectly delivered speech in which the repeated phrase, "Moi président de la république".
In giving his answer Hollande clearly attacked Sarkozy's style in office saying how he would be less omnipresent in the running of the country and allow the government to do exactly what it had been elected to do.
And he began each point with, "Moi président de la république", repeating the phrase to show he clearly saw himself in the job.
Moreover, he would "lead by example" and "his behaviour would be irreproachable" - a clear reference to how public Sarkozy's private life had been during his presidency.
Ho hum.
Given recent revelations (yes yawn) about Hollande's alleged relationship with French actress Julie Gayet, the weekly satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo just couldn't resist "joining in the fun" in its own inimitable style.
Its front cover this week shows just how different Hollande really is from his predecessors.
"Normal" - it's a word that was heard a lot during the run-up to this year's presidential elections in France: François Hollande's proclaimed desire to be a "normal" president or at least introduce an air of "normalcy" into the role.
Fine perhaps as a campaign slogan, but now he's in office is it a realistic possibility?
Come to that, what the heck is "normal"? Is it even possible for the president of any country - let alone France - to be regarded as such? And is it really something to which a political leader should aspire?
Take a look at the non-exhaustive list of synonyms for "normal"; ordinary, average, typical, run-of-the-mill, middle-of-the-road, conventional, mainstream, unremarkable, unexceptional...the list goes on.
Yep, that's exactly what the French and the rest of the world needs. Blandness personified.
Of course Hollande probably means being in touch with the folk, a man of the people, uniting the French and not alienating them, behaving decently, breaking with the excesses and extravagences often associated with the office of president - in fact anything and everything his predecessor wasn't in terms of actions and comportment.
That has to be a good thing. It's honorable and admirable.
But he's the president now, and there's nothing "normal" about the office. It's one the French have traditionally regarded with a certain reverence and his role is perhaps that of a democratically-elected monarch with real political power.
He meets other world leaders, takes decisions that will effect our lives, sets the political agenda for the country,...heck he's the flippin' leader.
Sure, it was endearing to see him getting drenched in the ceremonies immediately following his investiture as he brought a certain dignity to the proceedings, and that photo' on the cover of this week's edition of Le Point raises a smile.
He's human in the way the rest of us are.
But come on François, enough already with the "normal". Stop trying to pull the proverbial wool over our eyes and assume what it is you have become - M. le Président.
Did you spend it as reportedly more than 17 million others did in France, in front of the box watching Le Débat, the long-awaited televised duel between François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy four days before the country goes to the polls?
Well did you?
And what about those loo breaks - did you manage them? Because there were no commercials and the two kept going and going and going for almost three hours.
If you did manage to stick with it, the chances are that you'll have found something to confirm your opinions on both candidates - be that positive or negative - and their relative claims to be the country's choice when the French vote on Sunday.
It probably also depends on where you stand - politically speaking.
But surely everyone must be agreed on one thing.
What the heck happened to the two journalists who were supposedly moderating the debate?
Laurence Ferrari, TF1's nightly news anchor, and her counterpart from France 2, David Pujadas, were there.
You could see them on the screen and occasionally hear them try to get the two "political pugilists" either side of them back on the agreed track in terms of subjects to be discussed.
Somehow though they just seemed to get lost in the crossfire; a fact that didn't go unnoticed by political commentators and viewers alike.
The magical kingdom of the Net of course provided a playground for those not only wishing to parody what Hollande and Sarkozy had to say but also what Ferrari and Pujadas didn't manage to do.
There's a great selection of them on Tumblr for you to peruse at your leisure - it's worth looking through and will certainly raise a smile or two.
But perhaps the best was the one depicting Ferrari and Pujadas as the subjects of an Alerte enlèvement or Amber Alert with the cruelly accurate, "We're currently looking for two journalists who should be chairing the debate between Sarkozy and Hollande. One is wearing a wig and the other makes eyes at Sarkozy. The last time they were seen was playing Scrabble on
TV."
Well it is thanks to the trusty Le Petit Journal on Canal + which, rather tongue-in-cheek, helpfully reproduced in the studio exactly how the figure could have been reached.
Because given the space available and the number of people claimed, it would have allowed just one square metre of space for every nine people.
Entirely feasible?
Well not quite given the demonstration on Le Petit Journal which showed just how impossible it would have been for that many people to have stood still in such cramped conditions let alone wave flags and applaud as could be seen on television footage of the event.
Oh well, what's the odd 100,000 plus between friends.
It was possibly only a slight exaggeration and an event, after all.
Something, which along with hyperbole, seems to have become a trademark of the 2012 French presidential election campaign.
Ah the French president (but for how much longer?) Nicolas Sarkozy makes himself such an easy target for opponents when it comes to a slip of the tongue in an effort to show how well read he is and how much he appreciates and understands culture.
On Monday he appeared at a rally in the French city of Avignon and in front of thousands of supporters came up with a reference that, for a moment at least, seemed to puzzle and confuse those attending.
A smiling Sarkozy wanted to tell the assembled throng how happy he was to be there in a region which was also the burial place of one of the country's greatest 20th century writers, the late Albert Camus.
The winner of the 1957 Nobel prize for literature lived and is buried in Lourmarin, a village at the foot of the Luberon Massif just over 60 kilometres away from Avignon.
So perhaps it wasn't unexpected that Sarkozy would want to make reference to such a monumental figure of French culture to show how in touch he was with the area.
Except it didn't quite come out the way Sarkozy intended as he expressed how happy he was to be there.
"It's always a pleasure for me to come here," he said.
"I feel - how can I say - really Mediterranean," he continued.
"I don't know why. It's perhaps (wait for it) STÉPHANE Camus."
Er.
Of course it didn't take long for the blunder to be picked up by those with a malicious sense of humour, and in particular on Twitter, as comments came thick and fast.
The references to one of Camus' most famous work L’Étranger (The Stranger or The Outsider, which also translates from French to English as the foreigner) were among the most frequent with, "Stéphane Camus, isn't he the one who wanted to give foreigners the right to vote?" and "I've re-read the Immigrant by Stéphane Camus. It's really good."
Oh well. Let's hope there aren't too many other cultural references from Sarkozy during the televised debate with his Socialist party rival François Hollande on Wednesday evening.
It seems to be catching: the problem French some television journalists have with the names of the two candidates in the second round of the presidential elections.
On Monday Ariane Massenet successfully managed to muddle and combine Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande into a not-so-inappropriate compound perhaps of "François Sarkozy".
Appearing on Le Grand Journal on Canal +, Massenet managed the composite presidential candidate not once, but twice.
And a couple of days later it was the turn of BFM TV anchor Mathieu Coache to add another dimension to the naming of the candidates.
It came during an afternoon bulletin on the all-news channel as Coache and co-anchor Florence Duprat rounded up the day's campaign trail agenda for the two candidates.
Sarkozy was in the eastern French town of Cernay "exalting the values of France" in the region of Alsace in which, although he had finished top of the pile in the first round just as he had done five years ago, also witnessed a drop in his support (32.92 per cent in 2012 compared with 36.19 per cent in 2007- and massive gains for Marine Le Pen (22.12 per cent in 2012 and 13.56 per cent in 2007).
He might apparently be ruling out any deal with the far-right Front National, but you can probably draw your own conclusions as to what he's up to by insisting that those who voted for Marine Le Pen in the first round "should not be demonised."
Meanwhile Hollande, was taking journalists' questions at a news conference in Paris.
And it was after a clip showing the Socialist party's candidate in action that Coache almost came a cropper with a slip of the tongue that might just have revealed how he thinks the second round is likely to turn out.
"Pendant cette conférence de presse, François Hollande a une nouvelle fois attaqué sans jamais le nommer Nicolas 'sortant'...'Nicolas sortant'- Nicolas Sarkozy - pardon."
Was it just a simple "lapsus linguae" on Coache's part or a matter of wishful thinking combined with presentiment?
Thankfully Duprat was on hand to clarify (as if it were needed) that her colleague had in fact meant to say "candidate sortant".
"Francois Sarkozy" and "Nicolas Sortant".
Of course Massenet might have been thinking of Sarkozy's younger brother who in indeed called François.
But who is Nicolas Sortant?
Are French TV journalists trying to tell the voters something?
How could anyone imagine for one moment that the French would feel that way about opinion polls?
After all in the run-up to the first round in this year's presidential elections there were only 375 according to the Commission des sondages, the regulatory body which, as its name suggests, oversees opinion polls.
One of many, many opinion polls (screenshot BFM TV)
That figure is a record (surprise, surprise) far outstripping the total number in both rounds during recent presidential elections; 293 in 2007, 193 in 2002 and 111 in 1981.
And the commission sure has its work cut out with newspapers, television and radio constantly turning to the likes of BVA, CSA, Harris, Ifop, Ipsos, Opinion Way and TNS-sofres to question French voting intentions.
In a world that's far from being perfect those conducting opinion polls seem to be...well even less perfect.
Oh yes they might be congratulating themselves at the moment on getting it "almost right" but several of them underestimated by a couple of percentage points the support for the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and others overestimated for the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The numbers aren't so dramatic according to pollsters who always give themselves that all so important "margin of error" but that doesn't stop the French from being fed up with the frequency of published polls and the perceived impact they have on voting intentions.
That's according to - of all things of course - a poll.
You just can't get away from them can you?
Even though talking to anyone on the street in France would probably give you much the same result, that would only be anecdotal of course and lacking the "objectivity" of the poll conducted by Ifop.
Anyway, according to this, in a manner of speaking, "poll of polls" 63 per cent (of those questioned) think the media publish too many of them and 60 per cent believe they have an influence on the way people vote.
But here's the thing.
By and large those questioned only consider polls can influence the way other people vote; only 15 per cent say their choice can be swayed.
As far as Frédéric Dabi, the general deputy director of Ifop is concerned, that's proof that polls have a value without distorting the outcome.
(you might need to read the following quote a few times because it seems like a classic case of doublespeak)
"Even if that percentage (believing polls can influence the way people vote) isn't negligible, the fact that the overwhelming majority believes that the surveys do not affect their vote undermines the whole discussion about the influence of polls," he says.
"It's the sort of debate that occurs every time a party or a candidate is in trouble."
Right. Understood.
So 375 opinion polls which reflect (more or less) voting intentions without having an impact on the outcome in the first round and more - many more - to follow in the second.
So the first round in the presidential elections is over with French voters unsurprisingly choosing the Socialist Party's François Hollande to go head-to-head with the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy on May 6
The media is now in post first round overdrive with analysis and interpretation of Sunday's results and speculation over the outcome in a fortnight's time.
As such, one of the invited guests on Monday morning's edition of La Matinale on Canal + was none other than Rachida Dati.
Rachida Dati (screenshot from Canal + La Matinale)
You remember her - the woman brought in to Sarkozy's government as justice minister at a time when diversity - both ethnic and gender - was his buzzword, and then when the honeymoon was long over, dispatched to the country's version of sending someone to Coventry (apologies to that UK city, but it is an expression) and made to stand in the European elections.
Having "served her time" without creating too much of a media stir in France, Dati was brought back into the fold as Sarkozy's official campaigning got underway.
And in spite of herself perhaps she has been something of a non-contraversial star in so far as she didn't draw too much attention to herself for off-the-cuff and misplaced remarks.
Well, let's face it, Sarkozy had Nadine Morano for that.
But the day after the night before - and things look to have gone a little wrong for Dati - at least in the vestimentary department.
On Monday she appeared on La Matinale, the breakfast show on Canal +, to put the inevitable positive spin on Sunday's results.
And as she was talking, answering questions put to her by journalist Caroline Roux, the camera kept showing her from the back.
Why?
Well emblazoned on the back of her top was a pattern which looked for all the world to be that of a giant cannabis plant leaf.
La Matinale's presenter, Maïtena Biraben, couldn't resist asking Dati about it at the end of the interview and the least that can be said is that the former justice minister floundered.
"There have been several messages on our Facebook page wondering whether your top is smoking," said Biraben to a non-plussed Dati.
"So what is the design on the back of your top - Cannabis?"
Looking rather uncomfortable and probably realising how this could play out later in the day, Dati denied that it was a cannabis plant leaf.
"Hemp?" suggested Biraben with a smile.
"No, not that either," replied Dati. "It's something else."
"Eucalyptus," said Biraben in a pretend Euruka! moment.
"Exactly," affirmed Dati, followed by some insincere laughter.
"But you can smoke eucalyptus too," chirped Biraben
"Yes...er...no, perhaps but eucalyptus makes you calmer," was Dati's final response...er - this obviously wasn't going the way she had planned.
Neither Biraben nor the viewers were prepared to leave it there though and later in the programme the production team provided a picture of a cannabis plant leaf side by side to one of the pattern on the back of Dati's top.
Rachida Dati (screenshot from Canal + La Matinale)
Draw your own conclusions but as one viewer wrote, "If it's not cannabis, what have I been smoking for the past 20 years?"
It's the final stretch as far as campaigning in the French presidential elections is concerned.
And before voters go to the polls in the first round of voting, those kind folk over at the daily satirical puppet show Les Guignols de l'info on Canal + have provided us with some much-needed and surely heartily welcome relief.
Hosted by (the puppet of) Nikos Aliagas (of Star Academy and now The Voice fame) it was a collection of sketches in which four political parties and their candidates were portrayed bemoaning their fate, offering their apologies and airing their fears.
The Top 10 countdown was simple, highly amusing and very affective.
In each case a well-known song was used, the lyrics changed and the scene set to explore themes central, as far as Les Guignols were concerned, to the campaigns of Eva Joly, François Bayrou, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande.
First up were the Greens in a reworked version of "Le temps des cathédrales" from Notre-Dame de Paris, the 1998 French musical somewhat cruelly described by the Independent when it opened in London a couple of years later as a "load of old bells".
Had the party chosen the wrong candidate in Eva Joly rather the potentially more popular TV documentary maker and environmentalist Nicolas Hulot?
In a version of French singer Bénabar's 2011 song "Politiquement correct", François Bayrou appeared alongside his sidekick Philippe Douste-Blazy proclaiming his centrist values but admitting that he (polite interpretation) "annoyed voters".
To the strains of the 2010 hit "Désolé" by French rappers Sexion d'Assaut, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the rest of his UMP party, apologised to the French and blamed any/all of the country's ills on the international financial crisis.
There's a wonderful moment at the end when a seemingly hyperactive Nadine Morano cannot resist having the last word.
And finally, topping the lot, was François Hollande and the rest of the Socialist party in their version of Belgian singer-songwriter Stromae's monster hit "Alors on danse" in which Hollande fears his campaign could go belly-up in much the same way as his former partner Ségolène Royal's did in 2007 and even worse Lionel Jospin's in 2002.
Just to add to the fun, it's all done karaoké-style so, if you know the tune and feel like joining in, you can.
Yes it might seem like a rather strange headline given that the French have been bombarded with politics for the best part of a couple of months (and more) now.
But campaigning in the two-round presidential elections has now officially begun with television advertising spots and posters on approved local authority notice boards up and down France.
Local authority notice boards - ready for posters (screenshot BFM TV)
And the rules are very strict - if somewhat antiquated.
As far as TV spots go, each of the ten candidates has a fixed amount of airtime - 43 minutes in total - rigorously enforced and controlled by the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA), the country's broadcast watchdog.
The contents of what they can and can't talk about during their allotted 18 slots is also subject to the most "polite" and perhaps anachronistic rules with no banging the drum for donations allowed and an interdiction on "denigrating opponents".
Broadcasters have already had to provide equal airtime to all 10 candidates no matter how big or small since the wise men on the Conseil constitutionnel (Constitutional council) validated their eligibility to stand back on March 19.
Posters, which started appearing on most local authority notice boards on Tuesday, are also subject to the most stringent of rules.
They mustn't be printed on a white background because that's only reserved for official announcements, and woe betide candidates who try to use any combination of red, white and blue, the colours of the French tricolore. It's against the rules and if broken will result in a fine.
French presidential election 2012 posters - against the rules (screenshot BFM TV)
And those posters - two for each candidate - are only allowed to appear on the notice boards put in place the local authority specifically for the election - although that's not always a rule to which party supporters adhere.
The French can also expect to hear pamphlets and letters plopping through their letter boxes as the postal campaign to woo the 45 million registered voters is now also allowed, but again size and format have to be the same for each candidate.
And as "officially" as the campaigning starts, so it will end...at midnight on April 21, the day before the election, together with a ban on candidates making public statements and opinion polls being published.
Ah the wonders of those so-called crowd-powered news sites where members from around the world contribute stories on what's making the headlines.
First up of course is the paradox that those providing their own particular take on what's happening more often than not use the very sources for stories for which they frequently show such contempt; the mainstream media.
And of course the "reporting" often amounts to little more than a simple compilation or re-write of what is already available elsewhere on the Net.
Just to spice things up, mistakes are often made because the author simply doesn't have sufficient knowledge of the facts, hasn't checked them properly or has relied on information that wasn't entirely accurate in the first place.
There's one such story at the moment on Digital Journal, a site which purports to be, "a global digital media network with 34,000+ professional and citizen journalists, bloggers, photographers and freelancers in 200 countries around the world."
200 countries?
Really?
More than are represented at the United Nations (193) and exceeding the number most generally recognised as being the correct one (196) according to other sources available on the Net.
Clever (albeit exaggerated) innit?
Whatever.
Little wonder then that readers of the site are being treated to some suitably inaccurate "reporting" of the French presidential elections at the moment.
Getting it wrong - Digital Journal piece on France's presidential election (screenshot from Digital Journal)
In a story which takes a look at one of François Hollande's proposals, the one to tax the very rich at a rate of 75 per cent (if elected), the author finishes with a flourish maintaining that, "French voters head to the polls between Apr. 23 (???) and May 6" and that," Five candidates are vying for the presidency."
So the French will be able to vote non-stop between the two dates given - right?
Wrong.
As anyone who's keeping track of political events in France will know, the French will actually be voting on April 22 in the first round and May 6 in the second round run-off between the "top two".
Nothing in between - apart from debates (probably) and endless additional polls.
All right semantics perhaps when it comes to "between" and "on" although the exact dates should have been checked.
But as for the number of candidates...well it's just plain wrong. There are 10.
Yes there are the five quoted but - just to set the record straight - there are also another five so-called "smaller" candidates all declared and validated by the "wise men" on the country's Constitutional Council to take part in the first round.
They are Eva Joly (Europe Écologie Les Verts), Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (Debout la République or Arise the Republic, a self-proclaimed "traditional Gaullist party") Nathalie Arthaud (extreme left Lutte ouvrière) , Philippe Poutou (the far left Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste, NPA or New Anticapitalist Party) and Jacques Cheminade (the rather mish-mash Solidarité et progrès party which espouses the ideology of US political activist Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr)
But perhaps they don't count.
The piece was written and published on April 3 and live on the site "informing" readers until...well it might still be there as nobody seems to have noticed that the information given is incorrect.
There again, perhaps nobody is particularly interested.
On Monday, the wise ones on the Conseil Constitutionnel (the Constitutional court) officially approved the 10 candidates in this year's French presidential elections.
Among them of course were all the usual suspects including Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande as well as virtual political non-entities in terms of nationwide support such as Philip Poutou and Jacques Cheminade.
Still it's all good for the cause of "democracy" isn't it? Although the presence of Cheminade in particular, his somewhat batty ideas and links to US political activist Lyndon LaRouche (do the search - it's weird and dangerous) might seem somewhat disconcerting.
Especially as two seasoned politicians, former environment minister Corinne Lepage and former prime minister Dominique de Villepin, failed to gather the 500 signatures from mayors and/or regional councillors necessary to stand.
Anyway, before the gloves really come off (haven't they done so already?) and the 10 contenders get even more mean and serious about their intentions, perhaps it's time to take a step back and see the whole shebang through the eyes of those who delight in parody.
And it comes in the shape of "2012, mission Elysée", a "web series relating the adventures of our presidential candidates in 2012," from Staiff. fr.
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?
French president Nicolas Sarkozy might have gained a lead for the first time over his main opponent, the Socialist party's candidate François Hollande, in the first round of the presidential elections is April.
Nicolas Sarkozy's speech at Villepinte rally (screenshot from YouTube video)
That's what the most recent of many (many) polls, this time carried out by Ifop.
But that didn't impress the writer of an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal who launched a scathing assessment of Sarkozy's campaigning tactics and in particular his recent remarks on TV that France had "too many foreigners" and his threat during a rally at the weekend to suspend this country's participation in Schengen, if elected.
"Cynical", "xenophobic"and 'ugly" were just a few of the words used to describe a policy which the opinion writer said - not surprisingly probably for those who've been watching event unfold here - was an ill-disguised attempt to woo those who might feel inclined to vote for Marine Le Pen's far-right Front National.
Some within Sarkozy's supposedly centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) would doubtlessly leap up in public defence of his tactics.
But surely there must be a seemingly silent number among UMP ranks who are privately horrified by the lengths to which their candidate will go to be re-elected.
Politics doesn't have to be so disgusting, does it?
It's French presidential election year - just in case you hadn't noticed.
That of course means a chance for each of the candidates to outline where they stand on certain issues and that includes a whole raft of social policies.
They have their differences of course. That's only to be expected.
And one area where those divergences are perhaps most marked is when it comes to the subject of same-sex marriage and parents of the same sex being allowed to adopt.
Neither are currently allowed in France, but that could all change. It depends on who wins the presidential elections.
Broadly speaking, the main candidates fall into three camps.
First of all there are those who are against same-sex marriage (Nicolas Sarkozy and Marine Le Pen) or would perhaps be willing to consider modification to the existing civil partnership law (in the case of Sarkozy) and are opposed to same-sex couples being able to adopt (both Sarkozy and Le Pen).
Then there are those who are in favour of equal rights on both issues - François Hollande, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Eva Joly.
And finally there's François Bayrou, who of course manages his own particular mix of being against same-sex marriage but for a change in the civil partnership laws and in favour of same-sex couples being able to adopt.
To make things clearer on the subject, the weekly women's magazine Femme Actuelle interviewed six women; five of whom represent each of the main candidates and the sixth, Marine Le Pen, who is of course standing for the far-right Front National.
Here's what some of them had to say.
Speaking for the candidates (screenshot from Femme Actuelle video)
Claude Greff (for Sarkozy), the junior minister for family said that Sarkozy had proposed a change in the civil union in 2007 to create one that would be "specifically for same-sex couples" but it was ruled anti-constitutional.
As far as same-sex marriage is concerned, Sarkozy is against it because it "opens the door to sam-sex couples being able to adopt" and the existing laws which allows single people to adopt is sufficient as it also gives homosexuals the right to adopt.
Anne Hidalgo (for François Hollande) a member of the Socialist party's election campaign team says the belief that both should be made legal is a "right" that has been close to Hollande's heart for some time.
"It's time for politicians to catch up with public opinion and what actually happens in society," she says.
"The two issues have to be treated in the same parliamentary session and Hollande's pledge is to do that by the end of this year."
Civil union should be an absolute right for everyone as far as Bayrou is concerned. And on the question of adoption, "He is a humanist", says Marielle de Sarnez, the vice president of MoDem.
"These children (of same-sex couples) exist," she says. "
Of course adoption needs to have a judicial basis which protects the needs of the child."
Finally speaking for herself, Marine La Pen says quite categorically that she's against both.
"I think a child should have a mother and a father," she says.
While she doesn't intend to reverse the PACS, as far as same-sex marriage is concerned, it's a no-go.
"I think it's just the wishes of an extreme minority," she says.
"I know plenty of homosexuals and not one of them has spoken out in favour of wanting to get married.
Femme Actuelle also interviewed two other women; Clémentine Autain (for Jean-Luc Mélenchon), a member of the Front de Gauche campaign team, and Dominique Voynet, a spokeswoman for the Europe Écologie Les Verts candidate, Eva Joly.
On the subject of same-sex marriage and same-sex couples being allowed to adopt, they were, not surprisingly, both in agreement with Hollande.
Take a look at the remainder of the interviews if you can.
Wednesday sees the launch of a campaign by the L'Association pour le droit de mourir dans la dignité (ADMD) to persuade some of the French presidential candidates to rethink their positions on euthanasia.
In what the French media is describing as a campaign meant to shock, the association uses retouched images of three presidential candidates, all of whom are opposed to legislation which would, in the words of ADMD, "allow active assistance to those who wish to die".
François Bayrou, Marine Le Pen and Nicolas Sarkozy are all featured, ill in hospital beds and each of them is asked the question, "Do we have to put you in such a position to change your views on euthanasia."
While the images are definitely striking, the campaign is not one meant to shock but to change the opinion of the three candidates on the issue of the right to die, according to the president of ADMD, Jean-Luc Romero.
"We're all going to die at some point, but sometimes politicians behave as though they don't know that," he told RTL radio.
"There are millions of French who are regularly confronted with seeing someone in a hospital bed and they don't find it shocking," he continued.
"We wanted to choose the three candidates who were quite adamant that they were against introducing legislation that would allow people to die with dignity."
The campaign is part of an attempt by ADMD to raise an issue, which as far as Romero is concerned, has its place as part of the presidential debate.
At the end of the month the association will hold a rally in Paris and a conference to which it will invite all the presidential candidates.
Is the campaign really going to change the minds or policies of politicians who have already explained why they're against euthanasia?
Is it shocking and perhaps in bad taste?
Or is it a reminder that, if you believe an Ifop poll carried out for ADMD last year, politicians in France are well behind the current thinking of the population at large when it comes to legislation.
Ah it must be wonderful to have your spokesperson seemingly contradict not only what you've said, but also a statement made by one of your closest political allies.
Such was the case on Sunday when Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, who's thankfully more commonly known in France by her initials NKM, seemed to distance herself from one of the ideas expressed by interior minister Claude Guéant on the reasons for not extending the right to vote to non-EU residents in France.
Remember what he said? And in particular the sort of "threats" such a move would pose to society.
"We don't want foreigners becoming elected local councillors and then making halal meat obligatory in workplace canteens or public swimming pools being segregated according to sex."
Well, the link Guéant made between the reasons for not extending the right to vote to non-EU residents and faith-based meals in canteens, wasn't one NKM particularly appreciated.
She doesn't approve of either it appears, but also thinks the connection between the two is an "unnecessary" one.
And she said as much during an extended interview with Anne-Sophie Lapix, the presenter of the weekly political magazine Dimanche + last Sunday (of course) on Canal +.
Asked by Lapix whether she had the same fear that extending the vote would also lead to halal food in canteens, NKM took quite a somewhat different approach to that of Guéant - and indeed seemed to criticise him.
"I think there are enough reasons to be against extending the vote to foreigners in terms of it being the right of citizenship, and I think there are enough reasons to be against faith-based meals in canteens," she said.
"It's not necessary to make a link between the two."
(You can hear her say that at around nine minutes into the video)
That's all well and good: NKM not agreeing with Guéant, the man, who until he became interior minister in February 2011 had been a close political advisor to Nicolas Sarkozy for nine years.
In other words, Guéant rarely says something without having had it green-lighted by Sarkozy.
But worse, as far as NKM's comment was concerned, Sarkozy had made exactly the same link between the two as Guéant during a lengthy interview in Le Figaro just days before he officially announced he would be running for re-election.
"If non-EU foreigners could vote in France today, just think what would happen at a local level," he said.
"Questions would start being asked about whether halal food be introduced into school cafeterias and public swimming pools being segregated," he continued.
"Is this what we want? My answer is no. Voting must remain linked to citizenship."
You see?
Precisely the same ideas and argumentation linked in a way which NKM said was "unnecessary".
Oh well.
Perhaps NKM hadn't been briefed sufficiently well as at the time she was still the minister for ecology, sustainable energy, transport and housing, only stepping down once she had been appointed spokesperson for Sarkozy during his presidential campaign.
Of course there's absolutely no substance to the report in the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel that some European leaders have agreed collectively "not to meet the French Socialist party's presidential candidate, François Hollande, when he comes to their respective countries."
The agreement, according to the magazine, is between Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime minister of Italy and Spain, Mario Monti and Mariano Rajoy.
They've apparently promised to snub Hollande because of "his plans to renegotiate the treaty on tighter budget discipline for the euro zone."
And just for good measure, the United Kingdom's prime minister, David Cameron is also party to the alleged "pact", even though he didn't sign up to the treaty.
But it can't possibly be true because Berlin has denied the suggestion of the existence of an anti-Hollande pact as the German news channel n-tvreports.
A government spokeswoman told the channel that, "It's up to each individual government leader to decide whether to meet Hollande. So far in Germany, there has been no date fixed."
Aha. That's all right then.
Everyone can forget about that appearance Merkel made with the French president Nicolas Sarkozy on French television's prime time news as a sign of solidarity for the work the two had put in to saving Europe.
After all, Sarkozy wasn't officially a candidate at the time - that came a matter of days later - and Merkel seemed happy to throw her weight behind a man who is, after all, more-or-less in the same broad political family.
Nothing untoward or inappropriate there then.
And David Cameron not meeting Hollande when the Socialist party candidate was in London recently to woo the many French voters who live on the other side of the Channel and put the minds of the City at rest - well, once again that was completely understandable.
In theory at least, Cameron is on the same political wavelength as Sarkozy, so it's obvious he would support the current French president in his bid for re-election and to paraphrase, it's "just not cricket" (or goes against protocol) to meet candidates during an election period (although it's quite all right to offer support as he did to Sarkozy in an interview with Le Figaro a couple of weeks ago).
So it's not snubbing Hollande by any means. Merkel and Cameron et al are quite at liberty to decide who they support and meet; there's absolutely no obligation to even to appear diplomatic and objective.
But wait.
Is that a murmur of disagreement and a word or two of caution from someone highly placed within Merkel's own government?
Surely not.
Yes it is.
And it comes from none other than the German foreign minister and the former leader of the Freie Demokratische Partei (the Free Democratic Party, FDP) currently Merkel's coalition partner in government, Guido Westerwelle.
In an interview with the Sunday edition of the German national daily Die Welt, Westerwelle, while not directly addressing the reports of an implied pact, had a few words of advice for his own country's politicans.
"I would advise all German parties to exercise restraint," he said.
"The party-political debate in Germany is not one that should be transferred to France and the government is not part of the French election campaign," he said.
"We've worked very well with the current French government but we also should also make it clear that we would work closely with any government French voters choose."
It can hardly have been anything more than a coincidence of course.
Just a day after the leader of the far right Front National (FN), Marine Le Pen, announced that she only needed 48 more signatures to be guaranteed being able to stand in the first round of the presidential elections, up pipes interior minister Claude Guéant.
He can always be relied on to appeal to voters who might be considering switching allegiances from the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, Union for a Popular Movement,UMP) party of Nicolas Sarkozy for Le Pen's FN.
And on Friday he took up a theme recently introduced by La Pen who claimed there was a cover-up over the quantity of halal meat being distributed in the Paris region without consumers being aware.
Guéant gave the subject his own special but equally xenophobic touch by linking it to one of the policies put forward by the Socialist party's candidate François Hollande - giving foreigners (ie non-EU citizens resident in France) the right to vote.
"Giving foreigners the vote is a way of opening the door to communalism (the idea of there being a stronger loyalty to an ethnic group rather than society as a whole)," he said during a speech in the eastern French city of Nancy.
"We don't want foreigners becoming elected local councillors and then making halal meat obligatory in workplace canteens or public swimming pools being segregated according to sex," he continued.
"Foreigners must accept our rules, it's up to them to adapt. Everyone knows if we have fewer immigrants, things will be better."
Yes, it was a government minister speaking!
Little wonder that in the past Le Pen has, not-so jokingly perhaps, offered him honorary membership of her party.
Guéant was of course laying out a policy direction clearly designed to appeal to Le Pen voters and just as importantly he was preparing the ground for extreme views to become more acceptably mainstream to members of his own party.
Because guess what?
On Saturday during a campaign rally in Bordeaux, some of those very themes were taken up as part of a speech given by Nicolas Sarkozy, especially the fear of the power (non EU) foreigners would wield if given the vote
And his words fairly echoed those of the interior minister.
"It would amount to an attack on the Republic by opening the door to communalism (there's that word again)," he said.
"And it would put mayors under the threat of blackmail of communalism."
Do you think the UMP campaign agenda is being defined by Le Pen?
Watching the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, making his way around the annual Salon d'Agriculture in Paris on Saturday was more than just a little surreal.
Surrounded by a heaving scrum of journalists armed with microphones and cameras, Sarkozy spent over four hours at the show in his official capacity but, this being an election year, much more was riding on his presence and of course his behaviour.
Few will forget his now infamous 2008 visit to the show and the "Casse toi, pauvre con" mark he left on it.
And, on several occasions since, he has not exactly endeared himself to France's farmers with some of his comments.
He's also a devout towny - born and bred - who, according to political journalist Michaël Darmon, has always insisted that when he has been zapping around the country in his official capacity, he manages to avoid, in so far as possible, staying overnight in "the provinces".
But Darmon says Sarkozy's advisors have done their work and he also seems to have realised the importance of appearing to be a friend of the country's farmers, to such an extent that a recent opinion poll showed him to be well ahead in their voting intentions.
Farmers may have apparently been won over, but does anybody else really believe that Sarkozy actually enjoys nibbling on the smelliest of cheeses, watching cows being milked or having to pat a handsome horse?
Nicolas Sarkozy at the Salon d'Agriculture (screenshot TF1 news)
Somehow it just all seems to be too contrived and so very far from the obvious enjoyment displayed by his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, who always appeared to be at ease taking a healthy swig of whatever was pressed into his hand or tucking in to regional produce.
Still, four hours of pressing the flesh and proving to the French electorate that he is every much a child of rural France as the next man or woman is an essential part of Sarkozy's road to re-election.
And it's one all the other candidates will have to endure or enjoy if they wish to replace him at the Elysée palace.
The day after Sarkozy's visit, it was the turn of François Bayrou, leader of the centrist Mouvement démocrate (Democratic Movement, MoDem) party and there was no real difficulty for the "son of a farming family" as he is always eager to point out.
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