Donald Trump renews his France bashing line

Not content with alienating many groups at home, US presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has turned his attention to foreign affairs (again) and in particular France (again).

Donald Trump (screenshot from Fox News video)

“France is no longer France” he said at a campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina on Tuesday.

“I have friends who go to France every year. They love it,” he told the audience.

“I say, How do you like it this year? They say, we don’t go to France anymore. France in no longer France.”

(The first video below is silent...which, for many, might well be the best way to listen to Trump)



Wow. That’s an astute and shrewd analysis.

And one that Trump has made before. Yes, he’s a repeat “offender” of French feelings. Evidence that he has a complete understanding of a country he clearly knows and appreciates so well.

Back in July, after a terror attack in Nice on Bastille day left 87 people dead and the killing of a French priest, Father Jacques Hamel, 10 days later in a suburb of the north-western city of Rouen, Trump came up with his perceptive and incisive analysis that “France is no longer France.”

His source - an unnamed “friend” who apparently wouldn’t go to France because…yes, you’ve guessed it…”France is no longer France.

Interesting,  isn’t it, (not really) that within the course of a few weeks the singular friend has become plural…and even though they apparently no longer set foot in France, they are knowledgeable enough to proclaim that, “France is no longer France”.

So, M. Trump (and friend/friends) if “France is no longer France” what is it?

Let’s have the benefit of your undoubted wisdom. It’s bound to be enlightening…if not completely skewed.

And in the meantime, perhaps you could take a look at this piece in "Le Monde" (just FYI, that’s a French daily newspaper) by journalist Olivier Ravanello.


It’s short and to the point and suggests that when you’re French bashing so "eloquently", you’re actually talking about your own country.

Take a read - do.

Hervé Morin's historic error - a trip back in time

Fancy a spot of time travel? Then French presidential candidate Hervé Morin seems more than willing to oblige.

Hervé Morin (screenshot from announcement of candidature video)

Morin isn't making life easy for himself.

His campaign launch squeaked into gear last November much to the annoyance of the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) which has been urging the leader of the smaller centre-right Nouveau Centre (NC) to put aside any stately ambitions he might have and throw his weight his behind the current president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Morin, who served as Sarkozy's - sorry that should of course read prime minister François Fillon as he's supposed to be the head of the government - defence minister from May 2007 until November 2010, was having none of it though and has so far doggedly stuck to his proverbial guns (ooh a bit of a pun there).

Not that it seems to be doing him much good as his poll ratings rarely climb above one (that really need to be spellt out) percent, as impersonator Nicolas Canteloup is of so fond of reminding listeners to his radio slot in the mornings on Europe 1 and viewers to his TV sketch in the evenings.

Then there's the case of François Bayrou - who used to be a buddy of Morin when both were members of the (not quite, but to all intents and purposes now defunct or at least on paper) centre-right Union pour la Démocratie Française (UDF).

Are you following? This is French politics where allegiances are built on the shiftiest of sands.

Morin supported Bayrou when the latter became the so-called Third Man in the 2007 presidential race, but the two men fell out shortly afterwards with Morin joining the government and Bayrou setting up a new centre party Mouvement démocrate or MoDem.

In stark contrast to Morin, Bayrou's announcement of his candidature in December was judged by most political pundits as a success in terms of pushing him up the polls and into double figures. Bayrou was on a roll and for some still is, faring better than he did at the same stage last time around.

Not content with being an also also-ran (will he last the course and is anyone really bothered?) Morin has now made a complete fool of himself and provided everyone with a classic bit of political nonsense.

It happened at a meeting last weekend in the southern French city of Nice with Morin coming over all emotional as he recalled the Allied landings on the Normandy coast in 1944.

Only during his speech the 50-year-old (important bit of information that) managed an HG Wells kind of moment as he literally travelled back in time to give the impression that he had been present when the Allies landed.

"You, some among you, with grey hair, witnessed the storming of the Provence beach," he said.

"I saw the landing of allied troops in Normandy," he continued without hesitating at the absurdity of his statement.

Morin was born in 1961.



Journalists, humorists and of course Internauts were quick to pick up on the mistake and Twitter was abuzz with moments from the past at which Morin could claim to have been impossibly present.

Cruel.

But at least Morin had the guts to face up to his mistake (did he have any other choice?) by Tweeting his own "Congratulations on your humour" and saying that "The French were full of creativity."

SNCF report on "Hell on wheels" delay but not everyone is happy

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet is not a happy bunny - at least not when it comes to France's state-owned railway company, SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français).

The French minister of transport (among other things) has threatened the company with sanctions and said that she had not been told the whole truth about the reasons behind that infamous 12-hour plus delay on the overnight train from Strasbourg to Nice and Port Bou just after Christmas.

The 4295 night train (screenshot from TF1 news report)

You might remember the so-called "Hell on wheels" trip on December 27 which saw the 600 passengers on board the 4295 night train endure a delay of 12 hours - the same length of time as the journey was supposed to take in the first place.

SNCF apologised (what else could it have done), offered all passengers a full refund and a free return ticket and announced that it would launch an internal inquiry and release a report on what exactly had caused the delay.

It has now published the 13-page "mea culpa", admitting that given the weather conditions and the number of personnel and logistical problems on the night in question, the train should never have left the platform at Strasbourg.

And at the top of a long list of reasons for the delay according to the report, which SNCF helpfully publishes in French on the English-language version of its site (grab a dictionary perhaps if you want to read all the details) is the time it took to find a replacement driver during a stop just 150 kilometres into its journey in the eastern French city of Belfort.

It was "a failure of planning" admits the report, a simple statement that has earned SNCF the wrath of Kosciusko-Morizet or NKM as she's commonly called here in France.

"That's not what I was told at the beginning," the minister for ecology, sustainable development, transport and housing (to give NKM her full title) said in a radio interview on Tuesday.

"When I was given the reason why it took so long for the replacement driver to arrive (he had to travel almost 350 kilometres from Lyon to Belfort) I was told he couldn't get there on time because of the weather."

As far as NKM was concerned she had been lied to (she used stronger words, but there might be children reading) and she was now going to "find out who was responsible for the error in planning and look into whether there would be sanctions to be imposed."

NKM wasn't the only person unhappy with the report.

Not surprisingly perhaps the unions were less than tender with SNCF's explanations with Sud-Rail saying in a statement that "The report is nothing more than hot air."

And a regional branch of the passengers association, Association des Usagers des Chemins de Fer de la Région Ouest (Avuc) has launched a petition "Fed up with SNCF".

So a bad PR end to 2010 for SNCF has hardly been helped by an equally miserable attempt to offer a mea culpa at the beginning of 2011.

Things can only get better - surely

SNCF 4295 - a French train journey (almost) "without end"

Snow and freezing temperatures throughout much of Europe have been taking their toll on those trying to travel and especially those choosing to take to the skies.

Cancelled flights, long delays, unscheduled overnight stays at airport concourses and the inevitable tales of luggage gone astray have been the stuff of headlines.

Rail travel has also been disrupted but, with some exceptions such as Eurostar, not quite to the same extent.

Until this past weekend that is, when passengers on the 4295 night train from Strasbourg to Portbou and Nice took a trip they're unlikely to forget in a hurry.

SNCF 4295 night train (screenshot TF1 news)

It was, as the national radio station RTL called it, a "journey without end". And even if that was perhaps a little bit of journalistic hyperbole at its best, it certainly must have seemed that way to those on board.

The train was supposed to leave the eastern French city of Strasbourg on Sunday for its 12-hour trip to Portbou, a town on (the Spanish side of) the French-Spanish border, and the city of Nice on the Côte d'Azur (obviously it was scheduled to split at some point).

Instead the 600 passengers arrived at their destinations with a slight delay of just 12 hours following what French national railways SNCF admitted had been "a succession of exceptional incidents".

In other words a series "cock-ups" with the weather playing a handsomely helping hand.

From the start the outlook wasn't particularly propitious as the train was late in setting off, but quickly what was to become something of a leitmotif for the whole trip clicked into motion (or rather lack thereof) as after just 150 kilometres the train stopped in Belfort to change drivers as the one who had been been aboard the train as it left Strasbourg had been working for three consecutive days (poor thing) and security regulations stipulated that he had to be replaced.

Except his stand-in was in Lyon - 342 kilometres away - and he only arrived at six o'clock in the morning.

When the 4295 eventually continued its journey, it wasn't long before it stopped for a second time as a regional train had broken down ahead of it just a few kilometres along the line at Montbéliard.

Another two hours were added to the trip in Tournus in Burgundy where the train was forced to come to a halt because of a problem with its own engine.

"We've done 300 kilometres in 17 hours," Ralph Lydi, one of those on board, told journalists by 'phone (the whole journey was followed by reporters from the comfort of the studio and of course covered in real time on Twitter).

"Some food was handed out but the drinks machines are no longer working and we have the impression that SNCF is just making fun of us," he added, saying that there had been little or no information provided as to what was happening.

Of course all good things - and bad - must come to an end, and the train eventually chugged in to Lyon at five o'clock on Monday evening, where those bound for Nice switched trains while those going south-west remained aboard.

SNCF apologised for what has been called the "hell on wheels journey" (BBC hyperbole this time) and (hurrah) as Didier Cazelles, a director of the company told TF1 news, offered all passengers a full refund and a free return ticket, which is probably exactly what they want!

While SNCF has put the whole sorry tale down to a combination of technical problems and weather conditions, the unions have a rather different interpretation of what happened.

"What the passengers have gone through is symptomatic of the cutbacks that SNCF has been making both in terms of rolling stock and personnel," Julien Trocaz of the Sud-Rail union told RTL radio, seeming to imply that the weather had not played any sort of role.

L'interminable voyage du train Strasbourg-Port-Bou

Moscow-Nice express train back in service

Last weekend saw the arrival in the southern French city of Nice of the first direct train in almost a century linking Moscow with the Côte d'Azur.

Moscow-Nice express leaving the Russian capital (screenshot from YouTube clip)

Passengers disembarked after more than 50 hours aboard the Moscow-Nice express which left the Russian capital on Thursday, passed through five different countries and made 29 stops en route before reaching its destination just 30 minutes behind schedule.



Waiting for them was "a heroes welcome, a fanfare and official speeches" to mark the arrival of a service which, in the words of a BBC report, harked back "to the days of the tsars, when Russian nobility holidayed on the French Riviera."

http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2010/09/26/01016-20100926ARTFIG00229-un-train-de-luxe-relie-desormais-moscou-a-nice.php

The decision to relaunch the route was taken two years by Vladimir Yakunin, the president of the president of the state run Russian railways, as part of a plan to strengthen its continental lines.

Prices for the trip begin at €306 for an adult travelling one way in second class to €459 in first.

For those to whom money is no object, there's also the luxury tariff of €1,050 for a single ticket allowing passengers to travel in a compartment sleeping two people, complete with a shower and a flat screen TV.



For the moment the service operates once a week leaving Moscow on Thursday afternoon and arriving in Nice on Saturday evening and making the return journey on Sunday, arriving on Tuesday.

For those of you who don't like flying and have plenty of time on your hands, it's perhaps the perfect way to travel.

The story of the French couple who spent a year living in a public toilet

The Côte d'Azur, or French riveria as it's often known in English, is internationally renowned as being one of those places that is a playground of the rich and famous.

It's home to a host of cities and resorts that, on paper at least, conjure up images of sun, sea and the good life: Nice, Cannes, Antibes, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Saint Raphaël, Saint Tropez...and so the list goes on.

But of course life in spite of the climate - sunny, hot and dry in summer and relatively mild in winter - is not so wonderful for all that live there.

Such as in the case of 62-year-old Marie Rolin and her 69-year-old husband, Jeannot, who have spent the best part of the past year living in a public toilet in the town of Menton.

The story of how they came to find themselves living in less-than-desirable conditions began after Jeannot fell ill; his diabetes worsening to such an extent that he was hospitalised and had to have one of his legs amputated.

The couple's landlord reportedly took advantage of the situation to repossess their apartment and - to cut a long story short - Marie and Jeannot found themselves homeless.

And without anywhere else to go, they turned to the public conveniences, the place Marie had been cleaning and looking after for around 12 years.

"Some days I spent the whole time scrubbing and trying to get rid of the smells," she told the regional newspaper, Nice Matin, which first broke the story last week.

"And we built a room where we stored household products and somewhere for Jeannot to sleep," she continued.

"For my part, I managed with a camping bed, and to cook, we set up a small kitchen area," she added.

It wasn't as though the couple were resigned to their fate though, and they certainly didn't want to spend the rest of their days living in a public toilet.

"We made housing applications but it was complicated," she told the newspaper.

And in spite of the couple earning about €1,000 a month and being able to pay a modest rent, local authorities didn't appear in any sort of a rush to rehouse them.

Until last week that is.

Their story made it into the national media, being picked up by a radio station, and was heard by Pierre Charon, an advisor to the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

"I heard their daughter interviewed on the radio and found it disgusting that they were living in a public toilet and nobody was doing anything," he said.

"I asked myself what I, as just an advisor the the president, could do to try to get things moving, so I rang Francis Lamy, the prefect (or state representative) in the département of Alpes-Maritimes, who told me he was unaware of their situation," he continued.

"Just three hours later I had a call telling me that a room had been found for the couple in a hotel where they would stay until the authorities had found permanent accommodation for them."

So a happy - if only temporary solution - to the couple's plight has been found with the promise of a more permanent result to come.

But what does it say about our society that their predicament went unnoticed for so long by so many, and that nobody seemed to be in a position to be able to - or to want to - help them out until their story made the headlines?

The debate on French national identity and the election of Miss France

Er yes there is a connection between the two and it's a little less tenuous than might at first appear.

And that's especially true in the light of comments made last week by the doyenne of the Miss France competition, Geneviève de Fontenay, who seemed to give the nod to the sort of candidate she would like to see carry off the crown on Saturday.

While France is in the midst of a debate launched by the immigration minister, Eric Besson, at the beginning of November over "national values and identity", de Fontenay has in a way added her two centimes-worth by declaring how much she would like to see a woman of North African origin lift the Miss France title.

"I really hope that before I die I'll get to see a Miss France of North African origin," the 77-year-old said.

"And I really believe it could happen," she added.

"It would also be great for the organising committee and would prove to everyone that we're not so old fashioned."

Hold on to your hats, just as de Fontenay - never seen in public without her trademark headwear - might well be doing this coming weekend, as millions are expected to be in front of their small screens to watch the annual jamboree that is the Miss France competition.

To be held in the southern French city of Nice, this year's hunt for a successor to the 2009 winner, Chloé Mortaud, will see 37 pretenders strut their stuff and pout appropriately.

Without pushing a point too far the Miss France comeptition is a little like a mini version of Miss World that takes place in a week's time in Johannesburg.

Indeed Mortaud, who won last year as Miss Albigeois-Midi-Pyrénées , and will be carrying this country's hopes in South Africa next week, holds dual French-American nationality.

And among this year's contestants for Miss France, there will of course be competitors from its overseas departments and territories; Misses from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique; from Guyana in South America and Saint Pierre and Miquelon in North America, the Indian ocean islands of Mayotte and Réunion, and Pacific ocean representatives from New Caledonia and Tahiti.

Anyway back to de Fontenay's remarks.

Could she have had anyone in mind when uttering them?

Perhaps. Because lo and behold there is one woman who would fit the bill as the 19-year-old Miss Picardie, Juliette Boubaaya, (you can see her photos here) is of North African origin and according to de Fontenay is "a ravishing young woman."

Slightly kinder words than she had recently for Mortaud, who, although she admitted was "very pretty" remained for her "a girl who wasn't particularly charming."

Could there yet again be a whiff of handbags at dawn in the air?

The French postcard that took 72 years to arrive

Lame excuses - at one time or another we must all used have used them to try to wriggle our way out of an uncomfortable situation with something, that even to our own ears, sounds rather as though it's bordering on the preposterous.

Perhaps that's how a young man felt back in 1937 when he sent a postcard to his fiancée in Monaco from the mountains of Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée in the department of Alpes-Maritimes in southeastern France.

The distance, as the crow flies, 103 kilometres.

But of course crows don't deliver and the postcard had to go through a sorting office in the southern French city of Nice.

The postal service at the time probably wasn't up to modern day standards, but there again likely as not neither was the volume of mail, but but Fernande Robéri, an apprentice hairdresser at the time, never received the card.

And how do we know? Well, it has turned up - 72 years after it was sent.

The postcard apparently arrived at the post office in Monaco last week from the sorting office in the nearby French city of Nice.

Dated 11 August 1937, it had been sent by a certain J.A Achierdi to his fiancée with the less-than-brief and certainly far-from-romantic greeting "Bon souvenir".

It seemed to have made the 89 kilometres from Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée to Nice with the minimum of delay, but the same cannot be said for the final 20 kilometres to Monaco.

"The only explanation is that the card somehow fell behind a desk or a piece of furniture at the sorting office," said the director of the post office in Monaco, Jean-Luc Delcroix, which for sure let's the postal service off the hook.

Sadly Fernande Robéri will never know either the length of time the postcard took to arrive or the way her fiancé had with words. She died in 1969.

But on Tuesday, the card will finally be handed over to a member of her family - 72 years after it was sent.