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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Lawyers, avocados and Macron’s fish face

Our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Published: 14 October 2023 09:40 CEST
Inside France: Lawyers, avocados and Macron's fish face
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte in Hamburg. Photo by FABIAN BIMMER / POOL / 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.

Naturally, Friday’s terror attack has been the main topic of conversation in France – find the latest here – but here’s a look at some of the other talking points from the week. 

Sunshine and TV

Autumn has now finally arrived in Paris with cooler temperatures and grey, rainy skies – and honestly it feels like a bit of a relief after the freakish late-summer heatwave that meant we were still wearing T-shirts and having BBQs well into October. 

The unusually warm autumn temperatures are also apparently responsible for making TV signals go haywire in about half of France – although I must confess that I still don’t actually follow the TV company’s explanation of exactly how that happened . . .

Bedbugs go dark

In good news, some of the international bedbug hysteria now seems to have calmed down, but not before the story took a few fairly dark turns, as we explore in this week’s Talking France podcast (along with Corsican terrorism, tips for picking wine and France’s doomed effort to colonise Florida). Listen here or on the link below.

Face-pulling of the week 

This week I have been enjoying the memes created from the unimpressed looks of Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron when they visited Hamburg and were given the local speciality Fischbrötchen.

According to my German colleagues, it’s similar to a fish-finger sandwich, and really who doesn’t love a fish-finger sandwich? Best hangover cure ever.

AI translation?

And something tells me this photo search website is using an internet based translation tool . . . Search ‘lawyer’ and get a load of pictures of avocados (avocat being the word in French for both lawyer and avocado. You can only make a tasty salad out of one of them, though).

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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