Vive le sexisme - Cécile Duflot as France's new political fashion icon

A shamefully sexist headline for sure.

But it makes a point; namely women politicians - and not just in France perhaps - are much more likely to be judged on how they look than what they say, believe in or do.

Sure there are the occasional examples of this country's male politicians making the news for their dress sense - or lack thereof: from the crumpled untidiness of former environment miniser Jean-Louis Borloo to the dashing and suave "best dressed politician" in the shape of ex-prime minister Dominique de Villepin.

By and large though, little comment is forthcoming about the grey suitedness of the largely male-dominated national assembly.

For women in French politics however - it's far from being the case.

Take Cécile Duflot.

Cécile Duflot (national assembly screenshot)

Like her or not - she's a young, ambitious and truly talented politician.

At just 37, she has had a fast track trip to power. She rose relatively quickly through the ranks of the green political party, Europe Écologie – Les Verts, becoming its leader in 2006, a post she held until a few months ago.

She was the "chief negotiator" if you will of the party's pact with Socialists for June's parliamentary elections, securing herself a safe seat in the process and - lo and behold - being offered the job of minister of territorial equality and housing in the current government.

Not bad going by anyone's reckoning.

Aside from her comments on the legalisation of cannabis - a personal view it was later stressed, just to ensure that the government appeared to be singing from the same proverbial hymn sheet (namely that of the interior minister Manuel Valls) when it came to official policy - what has Duflot made the headlines for since she took office?

Yep, you've guessed it: the way she looks - or more specifically dresses.

First there was the apparent fashion faux pas when Duflot wore jeans to the new government's inaugural cabinet meeting, with opposition politicians - and most notably former minister Nadine Morano (who else?) - leading the assault and criticising the housing minister for her lack of respect for her new position.

"Personally speaking, I think that when you're a representative of the French people you have to differentiate between what you wear to a cabinet meeting and the sort of dilettante look more appropriate for the weekend," Morano said during an interview on RTL radio.

"I think it's important to to make that distinction."

The appearance of a jean-clad Duflot at that cabinet meeting and on the official government photo' op' afterwards was reported as "causing a sensation".

Go figure.

And this week Duflot has hit the vestimentary headlines once again while answering questions in parliament.

She was wearing - shock horror - a dress (with a blue flowered pattern for those of you who really care about these sorts of things).

Duflot's choice of outfit clearly wasn't to the liking of some opposition centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) parliamentarians who began jeering even before she had begun to answer questions.

She managed to laugh it off, "Ladies and gentlemen...but above all, clearly, gentlemen", she began.

The speaker of the house, Claude Bartolone, intervened to call the house to order, but the episode of course demonstrates much more about the macho nature of French politics as Béatrice Toulon points out in the columns of le Nouvel Observateur, where suit and ties - and the ideas that seem to go with them - dominate.

It's a world in which women are clearly still outnumbered in France, accounting for just 155 of the 577 members of the national assembly.

So Duflot and the other 18 women in the so-called gender parity government will probably have to face more of the same during their time in office.

That's progress for you.

Morandini Zap: C.Duflot huée à cause de... sa robe! Vidéo jeanmarcmorandini sélectionnée dans Replay TV

A blockbuster action film spoof video trailer on the French presidential elections

So they're off.

On Monday, the wise ones on the Conseil Constitutionnel (the Constitutional court) officially approved the 10 candidates in this year's French presidential elections.

(screenshot from "2012, mission Elysée")

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.

Blockbuster action time indeed.

Enjoy!!??

French presidential candidates - a quick trivia quiz

Now that Nicolas Sarkozy, has declared himself a candidate in this year's French presidential elections, the real campaigning is officially underway.

Nicolas Sarkozy - candidate (screenshot from TTF1 news)

In honour of the most humble and definitely unexpected confirmations of his candidacy and the equally surprising (all right, enough with the irony already) withdrawal of former defence minister Hervé Morin from the race, perhaps it's time to lighten things up a little before the debate gets too serious.

So here's a simple quiz - not to be taken too seriously.

The questions are the kind that provide answers of seemingly useless bits of information which might - or might not - come in handy.

The format used is multiple choice, so the chances are you'll get at least one of them right.

And if you don't, it either means you've not been paying attention or you have had far better things to occupy your time and mind!

So here goes.

No cheating.

The answers are at the end, after the video of Sarkozy declaring his candidacy.


1. Marriage

An easy one to begin with.

Who, in his capacity as mayor, officiated at the wedding of his second wife to her first husband?

a) François Bayrou
b) François Hollande
c) Nicolas Sarkozy


2. ENA

Which two candidates completed the French graduate school École Nationale d'Administration in the same year?

a) Marine Le Pen and François Bayrou
b) Nathalie Arthaud and Philippe Poutou
c) François Hollande and Dominique de Villepin


3. Miss

Now here's a tricky one - maybe. Who was a former beauty pageant contestant, finishing third in the national "Miss" competition?

a) Nathalie Arthaud
b) Eva Joly
c) Marine Le Pen


4. Government

Which of these candidates has never held a government ministerial position?

a) François Bayrou
b) François Hollande
c) Jean-Luc Mélenchon


5. Candidate

Who has never run for elected political office before?

a) Marine Le Pen
b) Jean-Luc Mélenchon
c) Dominique de Villepin


6. Childhood stutter and Irish roots

Which candidate used to stutter as a child and is related to the Irish poet Theo Dorgan?

a) François Bayrou
b) François Hollande
c) Marine Le Pen


7. "Capitaine de pedalo"

Just to show how fickle French political loyalties can be, which candidate who used to be in the same party as another one compared his now rival to a "Captain of a pedal boat in a storm"?

a) François Bayrou about Nicolas Sarkozy
b) Jean-Luc Mélenchon about François Hollande
c) Dominique de Villepin about François Bayrou


8. Young

Which of these candidates is the youngest?

a) Nathalie Arthaud
b) Marine Le Pen
c) Philippe Poutou


9. Twins

Which candidate has three children including teenage twins?

a) François Bayrou
b) Marine Le Pen
c) Dominique de Villepin


10. Height

And finally just to introduce an "international" element into an otherwise domestic quiz, if the current president, Nicolas Sarkozy were in a room with the following leaders - past and present - who is the only one over whom he would...well not exactly tower, but at least not require high heels or shoe inserts to appear taller.

a) Silvio Berlusconi
b) Angela Merkel
c) Dmitry Medvedev



Answers

1. Marriage

The answer is c) of course, Nicolas Sarkozy. In 1996 he was mayor of the swanky Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sir-Seine and as such married (confusing verb that) his later-to-be second wife Cécilia to her first husband, radio and television presenter Jacques Martin in 1996.


2. ENA

Another easy one, c) François Hollande and Dominique de Villepin. It was the class of 1980 "Voltaire". Another alumnus is Hollande's former partner and the 2007 Socialist party presidential candidate, Ségolène Royal. But you knew that, didn't you?


3. Miss

The answer is - and it's not something you'll find on her official website - b) Eva Joly. As an 18-year-old Joly (under her maiden name of Gro Eva Farseth) who is of course Norwegian by birth, entered the Miss Norway competition "just for fun", finishing third.




4. Government

Answer b) François Hollande has never held a ministerial position in government although he was of course First Secretary of the Socialist party from 1997-2008.

François Bayrou has been a government minister twice; from 1993-1995 he was minister for education under prime minister Édouard Balladur and again under Alain Juppé from 1995-1997, the first year of which only, also included higher education and research in his portfolio.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon was the junior minister for vocational education from 2000-2002 under prime minister Lionel Jospin.


5. Candidate

The answer is c) Dominique de Villepin. Although he has been interior minister, foreign minister and prime minister, de Villepin has never run for political office.

Le Pen, currently a regional councillor, and Mélenchon, a former senator, are both members of the European parliament.


6. Childhood stutter and Irish roots

It's a) François Bayrou. No surprises here perhaps if you're familiar with Bayrou's past two bids to become president in 2002 and 2007 as the stuttering, which he "famously overcame as a child", and his being related to the Irish poet Theo Dorgan through his maternal grandmother, Amélie, both featured in profiles run in the British and Irish media.


7. "Capitaine de pedalo"

It was of course b) Mélenchon about Hollande in an interview last November for the Le Journal du dimanche. Mélenchon also accused Hollande of pandering too much to the centre and forgetting his Socialist principles when he said, "He uses witticisms and jokes like a stubborn little social-liberal."

If only there were televised first-round debates. These two should make excellent entertaining sparring partners.


8. Youth

They're all in their 40s but Arthaud at 41 (she'll turn 42 on February 23) is the youngest. Poutou is 44 (he'll turn 45 on March 14) while Le Pen is 43.


9. Twins

The answer is b) Marine Le Pen. Unlike her politics, Le Pen pretty much keeps her personal life out of the media limelight. She's the youngest of three girls and in turn has three children; her oldest daughter was born in 1998 and her twins, a boy and a girl, in 1999.

De Villepin also has three children, two daughters and a son. His eldest child, Marie, is a model actress and singer who has used the name "Marie Steiss" professionally, had a small role which never made it past the cutting room in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" and also sings in the group Pinkmist.

Bayrou is a father of six.


10 Height

Yes height is apparently a sensitive issue for Sarkozy who is said to measure in at around 1.65 metres.

That's exactly the same as the German chancellor Angela Merkel (the two do quite literally see eye to eye) and the former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

So the answer is c) Dmitry Medvedev who is just 1.62 metres.

France's "sexiest" presidential candidate

Yes, another one of those ridiculous polls to spice up campaigning and distract from the endless political tit-for-tat point scoring in the run-up to the first round of the presidential elections in April.

It's a survey released this week which reveals who the French think is the sexiest candidate in the presidential race.

It was carried out online (says it all, doesn't it) by Harris Interactive on behalf of M6 television and RTL radio, presumably desperate for a new angle before the official announcement (expected on Wednesday evening) by Nicolas Sarkozy that he is going to stand for re-election.

The sample was of "1,025 individuals aged 18 and over and representative of the French population" so it must be credible!

Anyway back to the results and if the French were voting for whom they most fancy, then the winner (at least in the first round) would be...

Drum roll please.

Former prime minister and head of his (virtually) one-man break-out movement République solidaire (United Republic) from the governing centre-right Union pour un mouvement populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP), Dominique de Villepin.

Dominique de Villepin (screenshot BFM TV interview)

And who would he of the finely-chiselled good looks and luscious mane face in a second round run-off?

Yes, this is stretching a survey to its ultimate silliness.

None other than Nathalie Arthaud.

Who?

Nathalie Arthaud (it's perhaps worth repeating) the official candidate of the extreme left Lutte Ouvrière party and the successor to that much-loved seemingly perennial presidential candidate Arlette Laguiller.

Nathalie Arthaud (from Wikipedia author - fepasma)

All right - so the result is about as likely as the poll is in serving some sort of purpose.

But what of the "real" contenders?

Well Sarkozy can still take some comfort before he twitches and grins his way into into the cameras to declare officially his candidacy.

He arrives in a creditable fourth place (Sarkozy sexy? Well Carla obviously thought so, didn't she) just behind the Front National's Marine Le Pen, but ahead of his principle rival the Socialist party's François Hollande.

Just in case you are shaking your head in disbelief at the complete idiocy of such a poll, perhaps you should take some comfort in the fact that 25 per cent of those questioned refused to respond.

There's hope yet!

Former Senate leader Gérard Larcher, and a lesson on how to listen to a political debate - asleep

Bored by politics?

Fed up with the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) trying to justify their past five years in power (well actually more like 10 if the governments of the previous president Jacques Chirac are included with prime ministers Jean-Pierre Raffarin 2002-2005 and Dominique de Villepin 2005-2007. Funny how little mention is made of that) admitting to some errors but basically blaming the global economy, immigrants, or the 35-hour working week (among other things) for the country's woes.

Whoa, a sentence without end...spot the influence of French.

Gérard Larcher (screenshot from Des paroles et des actes)

Or the Socialist party accusing the UMP of rightwing tendencies, pandering to a potential far-right Front National electorate and forgetting that running a country isn't the same as running a business; government has a social responsibility too.

Well guess what. You're probably not alone.

Even politicians - well some of them at least - would appear to have had their fill.

Take a look at this clip from Thursday's edition of the excellent Des paroles et des actes on France 2 television.

The prime minister François Fillon was going jaw-to-jaw with the leader of the Socialist party, Martine Aubry.

It was of course, "Yadda, yadda, yadda this" and "Blah, blah, blah, that" as the pair failed to listen to one another, agree on common ground or solutions to problems that were naturally not of their making.

A jolly good time was had by one and all: at home in front of the small screen and in the audience.

But wait a mo'.

Who's that, thankfully not in the front row, but still captured briefly by the cameras at 23 seconds appearing to catch a few moments shut eye.

Could it be?

Surely not!

Yes it is.

None other than Gérard Larcher a high-ranking UMP politician and until October 2011 the president of the Senate.

Oops.

Bored? Tired? Dozing? Texting? Consulting notes?

Whatever the case, he couldn't have been paying attention. Or could he?

Zzzzzzzzz.


http://dai.ly/wtoPM3


Gérard Larcher s'endort dans le public de "Des... par puremedias

Dominique de Villepin's Rolling Stone is a Beatle

Former French prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, confuses The Beatles with The Rolling Stones during a prime time television show.

Dominique de Villepin (photo from Wikipedia, copyright David Mendiboure - Service photo de Matignon)

Dominique de Villepin is due to launch his own political movement on June 19.

It's the next stage of his possible bid to become the next French president when elections take place in 2012.



As France 24 reported earlier this year, the new "independent political movement" is viewed by many as a challenge to his "bitter rival" the current French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

With the launch fast approaching, Villepin has been multiplying his public appearances and of course has been making full use of the country's media to get his message across.

Last weekend for example, he appeared on Dimanche +, the Sunday afternoon political magazine on Canal +, during which he criticised Sarkozy's foreign policy, saying France's voice wasn't being heard loud enough in the Middle East or Afghanistan,

But just a few days prior to that while on "La boïte à questions" portion of the daily evening news and talk show, Le Grand Journal, on the same channel, Villepin made an error which has more than amused some commentators.

"La boïte à questions" is a short segment of the show during which guests are invited into a room in which they face a screen displaying questions sent in by viewers.

It's a light-hearted affair, obviously meant to be entertaining, but it can at times be quite revealing.

Such was the case with Villepin.

His question and answer session started off well enough.

"Can you say in English, 'I might be a candidate (for the presidency) in 2012'," he was asked.

The former diplomat, one-time foreign minister, and prime minister from 2005-2007 responded with aplomb, albeit it heavily accented.

The next question was one designed to test Villepin's street credibility when he was asked "to show that you're more 'with it' than Benoît Hamon (the 42-year-old spokesman for the Socialist party) can you tell us who Lady Gaga is?

"She's a charming singer, a little eccentric," he replied without flinching.

But it was when the 56-year-old was asked a question about a musical group with which his age would presumably make him more familiar that he came somewhat unstuck.

"If you had been a member of the Rolling Stones, which one would you like to have been?" flashed up on the screen.

"It would have been difficult to have been Mick Jagger," began Villepin in response.

"So probably Ringo Star."

It was a blunder which, as far as the well-known French radio and television presenter Laurent Ruquier was concerned, didn't bode well for the former prime minister.

"It's not by confusing the two (groups) that Dominique de Villepin will appear more intelligent," commented Ruquier during his daily radio programme on Monday.

"Of course it's a mistake that anyone could make as not everyone is familiar with the Beatles" he continued.

"But to try to give the impression that you know something, when you don't, that's not particularly admirable."

French humorist's dream of Sarkozy plane crash

An aeroplane crashes and all aboard are killed.

In total 41 people die in the accident, including the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and all but three of this country's government ministers.

It's a "dream" the French humorist Stéphane Guillon had earlier this week and one he related during his early morning slot on national public radio, France Inter.

Black humour, supposedly, based of course on the accident that took place last weekend in Smolensk in which the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, his wife and several of the country's high-ranking officials were killed.

Guillion begins his piece telling listeners how traumatised he had been by Kaczynski's death and how that was the starting point for him to relate a dream he had in which "Sarkozy had been the victim of a similar accident."

The 46-year-old then throws himself into a description of an imagined commentary on national television of those waiting for the arrival of the president's coffin.

He "treats" listeners to an account of the sight of the two former wives of the French president (Marie-Dominique Culioli and Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz) comforting the current first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy who is "Dressed in black in an outfit made the previous night by designer John Galliano; her face masked as a timely symbol of the country's efforts to pass a law to ban the burqa."

He recounts the arrival of the former prime minister and potential centre-right rival to Sarkozy in the (real) 2012 presidential race, Dominique de Villepin, already "In campaigning mode to succeed the recently deceased" as well as a clutch of possible opposition Socialist party contenders present and waiting for Sarkozy's coffin to be taken off the 'plane.

Among the others who had died in the crash, Guillon tells us, were the interior minister and Sarkozy's long-time friend, Brice Hortefeux (he makes the sign of the cross as he mentions his name), the justice minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, the industry minister Christian Estrosi and the environment minister Jean-Louis Borloo.

A special mention is made of the "sad loss" of one particular target of Guillon's attacks, the immigration minister Eric Besson (again the humorist makes the sign of the cross).

And then the sombre strains of the Garde républicaine strike up as Sarkozy's coffin - the size of a child's - is taken off the 'plane,

It's at his point that the humorist is awoken from his dream "Screaming and convinced that Sarkozy had a twin brother," he said. "Just as the Polish president had."

Guillon has a reputation for hard-hitting humour and he's definitely not frightened to take aim at prominent political figures no matter what their particular hue.

Certainly his spot drove home the enormity of what happened in Smolensk, and especially its impact on Poles, to listeners in France.

After all when the imaginary list of those aboard includes a number of household names (in this country) it's hard not to feel moved.

But was his commentary, all in the name of entertainment with a political edge, appropriate under the circumstances or did it make light of a real tragedy by creating an imagined one?

You can hear and see the full "performance" in the accompanying video - in French of course.

It brought a number of reactions (from those who left comments on the video) ranging from many who found Guillon's chronicle "amusing" or an "essential part of the freedom of expression" to those who felt that he had "overstepped the mark".

Judge for yourselves whether this was indeed "humour" or "bad taste".


Le crash de Nicolas Sarkozy
envoyé par franceinter. - Cliquez pour voir plus de vidéos marrantes.

And France's best-dressed male politician is...?

Oh come on. You know you're interested. After all isn't it the most compelling part of politics...the fluffy celebrity side of things?

Read on, and you'll find out (eventually) who the French think is their best-dressed male politician, which you have to admit makes a change from those endless polls ranking political figures by their popularity.

Actually that in itself seems to be something of a national pastime in France. At least the media would seem to have us believe it matters, with polls coming thick and fast on a monthly basis.

Mind you, it has been fairly quiet on that front recently - probably something to do with much of the country having been on holiday for the month of August.

For sure those polls have been published as frequently as ever, but they haven't really made the headlines lately apart from the odd mention that the former president, Jacques Chirac, is the nation's favourite political figure with a 76 per cent approval rating ahead of the ever-popular foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner (70 per cent) and his former underling, Rama Yade (67 per cent) who was junior minister for human rights until the position was scrapped in June's reshuffle and now finds herself "elevated" (heavy on the irony) to sport.

For his part the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has dropped a point to 47 per cent, but has nonetheless managed to climb a place in the overall listings from July to 27th place.

Anyway back to that "style" survey conducted for the monthly men's magazine Optimum by l’institut Isama and the results of which are prefaced with proof that clothes maketh the man.

"The image of the politicians depends first of all on their position, what they have to say and what they do," runs the introduction helpfully.

"But it's also based on indirect elements or factors that have little to to with politics such as the individual's appeal, way of expressing himself (yes we're talking just male politicians here) or what he wears. In other words 'style'."

There you go, confirmation if you will, that appearances do matter.

And the winner is - (drum roll please) - none other than Dominique de Villepin.

Does the name ring a bell? It should do. He was a foreign minister and then prime minister under Chirac and his is the name on everybody's lips here in France at the moment as he's one of the key players embroiled in the so-called "Clearstream affair".

In a nutshell, de Villepin is a defendant in a trial that has just got underway, and is charged with "plotting to discredit" Sarkozy when the two were ministers under Chirac.

It's a complicated case that has taken up more than a few column inches in newspapers and is pretty much the story coming out of France at the moment.

There's masses of stuff about it out on the Net and to go into detail about it here would rather spoil the flippant tone of this piece, so without further ado let's take a look at who else figures on the list behind the dashing de Villepin.

In second place is the former (Socialist) culture minister, Jack Lang with the name once again of Kouchner (another Socialist - of sorts) popping up in third. They're followed by the prime minister, François Fillon, the (Socialist) mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë and a former (Socialist) finance minister and wannabe president, Dominique Strauss-Kahn who is currently head honcho at the International Monetary Fund.

With four of the first six coming from the ranks of the Socialist party, you could perhaps be forgiven for thinking that if looks really counted for anything supporters of the party would choose one of them as the next presidential candidate in 2012 - even though two of them (Lang and Kouchner) currently at 70 years of age might be considered a bit long in the tooth by then.

So with de Villepin getting the thumbs up for style, what of the plaintiff in that Clearstream affair (sorry to have to return to that) and the man who would least likely be described as his best friend...Sarkozy?

After all the 54-year-old, all action French president is a keep fit fan (we see pictures of him jogging regularly) and he's married to a former clothes horse.

In fact some commentators have remarked on how sharp his dress sense has become since he and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy tied the knot.

Well Sarkozy scrapes into the top 10 - even though he surely won't be pleased once more to find himself behind his prime minister - with a rating of 5,32 and Isama pointing out in its summary that his style appeals to all age groups apart from the 18-24-year-olds, who rank him just 32nd.

There's a message there somewhere isn't there?

So that's the men done and dusted.

We now await with bated breath a similar poll for France's female politicians.