Friday's French music break - Julien Doré, "Chou Wasabi"

Friday's French music break puts paid to the myth that contestants, let alone winners, of TV  talent shows have a limited appeal after their 15-minutes of small screen fame, lack originality and are simply a product of prime time television.

That might well be the case of the vast majority of wannabe warblers, but there are exceptions to the rule.

When Julien Doré won the fifth edition of the once-defunct but since-revived "Nouvelle Star" (the French version of Pop Idol) in 2007 he had spent a season interpreting other people's songs and doing so with a refreshing touch of creativity.

Julien Doré (screenshot TV5 Monde "Acoustic" - September 2014)

Few, who followed his progress through the competition, will forget his rocked-up rendition of Alizée's "Moi...Lolita", the debut single in 2000 from the then Mylène Farmer managed 15-year-old. .

Doré went further later in the competition with another unlikely rocked-up (but this time acoustic) version of a pop giant when he transformed Britney Spear's quintessential international Disney break-out teen hit "Baby One More Time" into...well, something else.

OK OK so most definitely not his genre, but it got Doré noticed and it was clear that he had a talent, was prepared to take risks  and didn't appear to take the whole talent show experience too seriously.

Plus he had stage presence, charm, charisma and his very distinctive style and musicality.

And that has served him well ever since, with each of his three albums - "Ersatz" in 2008, "Bichon" in 2011 and most recently the critically acclaimed "Love" (guess the theme) in 2013 - reflecting his musical eclecticism

Just as important, in interviews, Doré doesn't appear to come across as having been bitten by the star bug, his concerts (see a list here for upcoming dates) are a treat for fans as the "master of the ukele" (the instrument with which he auditioned for "Nouvelle Star") draws in a crowd of all ages.

If the excellent "Paris-Seychelles" - the first track to be lifted from "Love" as a single - whetted your appetite, then ""Chou Wasabi" si probably its natural successor - lyrically and melodically - as well as the video which features the same "young Doré double".

Australian-born Micky Green joins Doré for the duet which "evokes a relationship reaching its end"

And its quite simply hauntingly beautiful.

Enjoy.

French finance minister says government policies "bearing fruit" as Fitch lowers France's rating to AA - say what?

You don't need to be an expert in economics to know there's something not quite right about two pieces of news that broke towards the end of last week.

First up ratings agency Fitch reduced France's credit grade from AA+ to AA saying that the country's "efforts to trim its fiscal deficit have fallen short to avoid a downgrade."

Or in ratings speak, "The weak outlook for the French economy impairs the prospects for fiscal consolidation and stabilising the public debt ratio."

Not exactly a resounding endorsement of France's efforts to its tackle its public debt or the measures put in place to boost the economy.

But hey ho. This is France, the country in which successive governments seem to believe faithfully in the power of La méthode Coué or autosuggestion and positive thinking.

In other words, if you say something often enough, you'll come to believe it - even if all the evidence points to the contrary.

So up popped the French finance minister, Michel Sapin, to share his response in a statement which...well almost defies belief.

Michel Sapin screenshot from RTL radio interview, October 2014

"Government policies are beginning to bear fruit as companies benefit from cuts in levies and that'll continue in the coming years," he said.

"In Europe's difficult economic environment in Europe , we're going to maintain the course we've already set with the implementation of planned economies , and the continuation of reforms needed to boost growth and make companies more competitive."

In other words, an ostrich head in sand style, "We're not taking any notice of what any ratings agency says as we know best how to (mis)handle our own economy".

Oh...by the way M Sapin, Father Christmas isn't real.

Closer magazine "outs" Front National's Florian Philippot

So a prominent member of the far-right Front National (FN), Florian Philippot, is apparently  gay.

Florian Philippot (screenshot i>Télé interview November 2014)

It's not exactly a secret, although not a story with which the media the rest of the French media has been prepared to run.

Until, that is, the weekly celebrity news and gossip magazine, Closer, decided "to break the silence" by publishing photographs in its latest edition of Philippot and his partner, on a break in Vienna.

Yes, Closer - that bastion of first-rate journalism whose credo seems to be that "scandal and sauciness" are newsworthy and has made its mark by publishing unauthorised long lens photographs, is proving true to its reputation.

Remember back in 2006 those photos of Ségolène Royal clad only in a bikini on a beach?

Or in 2012  the shots of the Duchess of Cambridge, topless while on a private holiday in the south of France?

And more recently the French president, François Hollande, snapped on a scooter as he made his way to a late night liaison with actress Julie Gayet?

Those were all "stories", complete with photographs published by Closer.

The magazine's latest "target", in what it presumably once again hopes will help boost sales, has been the subject of "rumour" for quite a while.

In fact a "gay lobby" within the FN was was suggested by the far-right weekly newspaper Minute in January 2013 when it claimed on its front cover that "le lobby gay s'introduit partout" - the media, all political parties and even the FN.

At the time, Philippot accused the newspaper of "stigmatising homosexuals and spreading rumours".

Such tittle tattle certainly seemed to put the party's leadership at odds with its declared position at the time of being against gay marriage as the bill to make same-sex marriage legal made its way through parliament with accompanying demonstrations of those opposed to the government's proposals.

The party's  leader, Marine Le Pen, said she was against the reform, but left it open to individual members to decide whether they would join the demonstrations.

So it's perhaps not a surprise that Le Pen "defended" Philippot when the news that Closer had outed him.

"This is a very serious violation of individual freedoms.," she told Europe 1 radio.

"This type of behaviour is unacceptable for Florian Philippot just as much as it was for François Hollande.  Private life is sacred."

Le Pen's reaction has been mirrored by other politicians  across the political spectrum and Tweets (what else) of outrage that what was essentially a private matter should, as far as Closer is concerned, be of public interest.

Proof that the real "scandal" is not that Philippot is gay - that's neither relevant to his political ideas nor particularly interesting.

Rather that a magazine such as Closer should be allowed to continue to "sell" based on publication of unauthorised photos.