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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Beer, George Clooney and France on the barricades

This week in France conversation has been dominated by the highly controversial decision of president Emmanuel Macron regarding pension reform, and the reaction that followed, but we've also found time for beer, street art and celebrities in our weekly newsletter Inside France.

Published: 18 March 2023 15:28 CET
Inside France: Beer, George Clooney and France on the barricades
Mural La fille des remparts (the daughter of the ramparts) in Angouleme. Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

To the barricades

A tumultuous week in France – a last-minute decision from Emmanuel Macron to ram through his highly controversial pension reform without giving MPs a vote, followed by predictable outrage and street protests.

Macron’s view is that he won re-election in 2022 on a platform that includes pension reform, which gives him a mandate to do this. The view of almost everyone else in France is that putting through a measure as controversial as this without allowing parliament to vote on it is deeply undemocratic.

It will definitely have an effect that reaches far beyond this bill, and even beyond the inevitable strikes and protests in the days to come, affecting the whole of Macron’s second term as president. One thing we can always say about France is that it’s rarely dull . . .

OPINION Macron, the government and France itself all lose from the pensions debacle

Street art

Also this week, I’ve been in the south west, visiting the town of Angoulême. Picture-postcard pretty (it’s used as the backdrop for the Wes Anderson film The French Dispatch) it’s also a cool town, hosting major festivals of film and comic books (bande dessinée) and boasting some seriously impressive street art.

It also has some good bars, including several serving beers from the Nantes brewery Little Atlantique. Although north-east France remains the beer heartland, the west coast and Paris both have a rapidly growing number of microbreweries providing some lovely brews for beer fans to taste. 

I’m a fan of the beers from Brasserie Melusine near Cholet and Gallia, Paname and La Parisienne – all based in the northern Paris suburb of Pantin. 

Celeb tie-in of the week

Hollywood star George Clooney and his wife Amal are reportedly funding an organic fruit and vegetable farm in the southern département of Var, which will be used to provide ingredients for local school lunches.

The Clooneys own property in Var and, according to the local mayor, are “very involved” in the community. If you want to subscribe to The Local’s newsletter for second-home owners George, just drop me a line . . .

Podcast 

This week’s Talking France of course discusses the latest political turmoil, as well as free chickens, swimming in the Seine, hijab rules and France’s ‘backwards language’ of verlan. Listen here or on the link below.

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Violence, QR codes and stuffed animals

From violent unrest in a French territory to the QR codes required at the Paris Olympics, via D-Day and weird taxidermy, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Published: 18 May 2024 07:38 CEST
Inside France: Violence, QR codes and stuffed animals

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

High tension

After a relaxed week with a double holiday and most of the country taking a break, it seems that the news has come roaring back this week – first a highly dramatic jailbreak that left two prison officers dead and a fugitive at large, then the worst rioting in 30 years on the French island of Nouvelle Calédonie which left five people dead, and finally a man shot dead by police while apparently trying to set fire to a synagogue in northern France. It seems that there’s barely been time to breathe. 

These three things are, of course, not connected and in the case of Nouvelle Calédonie have followed years of political and ethnic tensions on the Pacific islands.

But it’s not surprising that people feel a bit punch-drunk at this series of events. Already right-wing parties are attempting to make capital out of this ahead of the European elections – a favourite tactic of the far-right in recent years has been trying to portray France as in the grip of an uncontrolled wave of crime and violence.

While no-one would deny that France has crime and that there are problems with violence, the statistics do not bear out this image of a ‘lawless’ country’. 

QR codes

Talking of security, the big topic in Paris this week has been whether we need QR codes to get around the city during the Olympics, after the security plan for the Games was unveiled in detail.

For many people this will bring back bad memories of Covid restrictions, attestations and health passes – although once you dig into the detail of the Games QR codes you realise that they won’t actually affect all that many people.

The areas that they cover are limited and the most onerous restrictions are only in place for the week leading up to the Opening Ceremony. You can find a complete guide to whether you need a code, and how to get one if you do, HERE.

Talking France

We look at the QR code situation on this week’s Talking France podcast, as well as France’s economic reality, the quirks of the French health system and the new ‘drive like a woman’ campaign.

Plus John Lichfield talks about his involvement in projects to commemorate D-Day in his Normandy home, and why the 1944 landings still hold such a special place in French hearts. Listen here or on the link below. 

Get stuffed

But my biggest question about France remains unanswered – why is weird taxidermy furniture so popular? If you’ve spent time at a French brocante you will likely have come across stuffed animal parts made into a variety of items from coathooks and ashtrays to – as below – chairs or stools.

Answers on a postcard, please.  

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

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