SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Pigs, politicians, wine rules and the patriarchy

From French health reforms to wine consumption, via pig-spotting and complaints about the Paris 2024 Olympics, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Inside France: Pigs, politicians, wine rules and the patriarchy
A wine-tasting in Condom, France, in 1945. These days, women are allowed to pour their own wine. Photo by 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.

Health check

The French government is preparing a major reform of the health service to try and deal with the increasing problems that it faces. This is always an interesting topic for me, since my own perspective (and the perspective of many other foreigners in France) is that French healthcare is fantastic – but the French themselves will often tell you that the service is a disgrace and on the brink of collapse. 

One thing is clear though, that services are increasingly a postcode lottery, with those who live in ‘medical deserts’ with GP shortages struggling to find care, while those in areas with plenty of doctors generally receive an excellent service.

ANALYSIS How sick is the French health system?

But to be honest my main takeaway from a meeting with the French health minister this week was that I don’t know how the man gets any work done when he has such a spectacular view from his office window.

Bottoms up 

This week on the Talking France podcast we are talking wine and why French people are drinking less of it – listen here.

While I’m a big fan of France’s viticulture, I’m less enthusiastic about some of the frankly quite pompous ‘rules’ that seem to accompany it. While some French wine rules have a good practical basis, I’m happy to ignore those that dictate when or how you should drink a certain wine. I think that you should drink the wines that you like, when you like (and I know plenty of French people who think the same).

And as for the patriarchal bullshit about ‘women should wait for a man to pour their wine’ – to that I say je m’en bats les couilles.

Ticket chatter

Here in Paris talk is increasingly turning to Olympics tickets as the draw opens – every social interaction now seems to start with a discussion of who has been picked for the draw, what events they managed to get and how much the tickets were.

There have, of course, been plenty of complaints from people who weren’t able to get the events they wanted or could only find the expensive tickets – but there are still two more opportunities in the Olympics draw, while tickets for the Paralympics (the best events, in my opinion) don’t go on sale until autumn. Nil desperandum!

Events of the week

And if you’re in the vicinity of Paris this week (until March 5th) I highly recommend the Paris Salon de l’agriculture – it’s a great farm show and a very fun day out with lots of opportunities to spot cows and taste French regional produce.

It’s also acquired a political importance over the years – basically anyone who has ambitions of becoming president one day must demonstrate that they are a ‘man/woman of the people’ by going to the farm show, chatting to farmers and petting cows. So you might spot the next head of state lurking next to the prize-winning pigs.

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.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Political farce, far-right fears and sharks under Paris

This week in France has been heavily focused on politics due to the surprise election, from the soap opera and the memes of the right-wing parties to grumpy faces among the Macronists, plus some light relief in the form of the weird stuff underneath Paris.

Inside France: Political farce, far-right fears and sharks under Paris

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.

Ciotti chuckles

Anyone who says that the French have no sense of humour has clearly not spent any time on French social media this week as the jokes and memes came thick and fast in response to the ridiculous election shenanigans of the once-mighty right-wing Les Républicains party.

You can find the full details here but to cut a long story short, party leader Eric Ciotti announced an election alliance with the far-right, his fellow party bigwigs were horrified and attempted to expel him, Ciotti locked himself inside the party HQ and refused to allow anyone in, leaders held their meeting elsewhere and voted to expel him from the party, Ciotti refused to accept their verdict and posted a video of him showing up at work as normal the following day, insisting he was still in charge.

The whole thing was a gift for anyone with a Twitter account and a sense of humour. 

Sense of humour

The whole idea that ‘the French aren’t funny’ is an oddly enduring trope. I think it’s to do with the fact that French humour is often highly referential, making it hard for foreigners to get if they don’t understand the references.

READ ALSO 5 tips for understanding French humour and jokes

Far right

Funny as the whole Ciotti episode was, it didn’t quite distract from the widespread horror in France at the prospect of a far-right government, and bafflement over Emmanuel Macron’s high-stakes election gamble.

His announcement on Sunday night of a snap election took the country and the media entirely by surprise and seemed to catch plenty of his own party members off guard too.

The election is a gamble – un pari – Macron is banking on the country to reject the far-right at the polls and hand his party back an absolute majority in parliament. This could happen, or Marine Le Pen’s party could win and Macron would then go down in history as the man who handed the keys of government to the far-right. Or – and most analysts think this is the most likely scenario – no party could win an absolute majority and the parliament could be plunged into an even more messy deadlock.

READ ALSO What do the snap elections mean for France?

One of the most outspoken critics has been Gabriel Attal, the 35-year-old prime minister often described as a Macron protege. This photo of him with a face like thunder has become another meme, embodying all those who think that this election is a very bad idea. 

Talking France

We of course talk about the elections in a special episode of the Talking France podcast – listen here. During the election period we will be releasing the podcast on Mondays, and we will also be doing a bi-weekly election breakdown for anyone who wants to stay in touch with the latest – sign up here.

Sharknado

And if you want something to help you switch off from all the politics, I highly recommend the new Netflix film Sous la Seine (Under Paris). Not because it’s good – it’s not, in fact it’s terrible but it’s so bad that it’s actually hilarious. 

One thing that you might write off as dramatic licence is the idea of an enormous underground lake beneath Paris – but this is actually true. In fact, there’s a lot weird shit under Paris . . .

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.

SHOW COMMENTS