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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Streets on fire, Alpine lakes and accidental insults

From violent protests to insouciant French people, via Alpine scenery and rude songs, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Inside France: Streets on fire, Alpine lakes and accidental insults
French President Emmanuel Macron (C) speaks to journalists upon his arrival in Savines-Le-Lac, southeastern France. Photo by Sebastien NOGIER / 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.

Burning question

In what is, I suspect, a common experience for foreigners living in France, in recent days I’ve been getting an increasing number of messages from friends and family overseas saying ‘are you OK? I see Paris is burning?’.

Although there have been some violent clashes at the ends of demos in Paris, Bordeaux and Rennes I can confirm that the French capital is not on fire and life pretty much continues as normal.

I had to factcheck the below video because it seemed almost too perfect – but it is in fact real, filmed in Bordeaux, and just goes to show that you shouldn’t let a tiny bit of arson come between you and a nice drink and a chat on a cafe terrace . . .

Risky business

I’m interested in the difference between the perception of ‘risk’ in France though, so really enjoyed speaking to the professional risk and crisis management adviser who told me how travel alerts and advisories are decided on (before telling me that she’s coming to Paris next week and isn’t worried at all).

Business as usual

The government too seems to have decided on a ‘business as usual, everything is fine’ approach, although in their case it might be more of a pretence.

In recent days we’ve seen a flurry of new announcements and initiatives on everything from regulating online ‘influencers’ to dealing with drought. France’s water reduction plan was announced by Emmanuel Macron, standing in front of a beautiful lake in Hautes-Alpes, eastern France.

According to journalists who covered the event, however, the location was picked less for the scenery and more for the fact that it is extremely inaccessible, therefore lowering the risk that the president’s announcement would be disrupted by protests.  

Language fails

All language-learners have embarrassing stories to share, and we’re grateful to all The Local readers who shared their tips on things they wish they had known about the French language before moving to France, but one really stuck out . .  I was sweating in embarrassment for poor Seb in Montpellier, who accidentally told his son’s teacher to “go f*ck yourself” by getting his sa and ta mixed up.

Musical moments

We are of course talking about protests – and how the current demos link to France’s history of violent protest – in this week’s Talking France podcast, as well as practical jokes, after-dinner tipples and whether France is a good place for women to live. We also sing some of our favourite French protest songs and chants. 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: French lose the plot, sports stars speak out and Paris prices fall

From the latest on the increasingly crazy French elections to the powers of a president, the influence of sports stars and the lustre of the Olympics, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Inside France: French lose the plot, sports stars speak out and Paris prices fall

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.

Losing the plot?

Welcome to another crazy week in French politics – I’m not saying that this election is getting to me, but the other night I dreamed I was having an argument with far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon. I think I need a holiday.

France might need a holiday too – the political discourse is getting increasingly wild, leading to our columnist John Lichfield to declare that the country has “taken leave of its senses”

Latest polling suggests that Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National party would take the biggest vote share at 33 percent, followed by the increasingly fragile leftist coalition Nouveau Front Populaire with 29 percent and then Emmanuel Macron’s centrist group with 22 percent. Those figures would give none of the blocks an overall majority, instead leading to a total parliamentary deadlock.

French election breakdown: All the latest from the campaign trail

Earlier this week ‘Article 16 of the constitution’ was trending on French Twitter; this is the one that lays out the powers afforded to the president versus the prime minister, as people tried to work out what – if any – decisions Macron would be able to take in the final three years of his mandate.

READ ALSO: What does a French prime minister actually do

The satirical magazine Le Canard Enchâiné perhaps sums it up best in its cartoon, showing a man about to shoot himself in the head with a gun labelled ‘Rassemblement National’ and saying “We never tried this before”.

The Canard Enchainé’s cartoon as posted on Instagram

Sports stars engaged

On a more positive note, it’s been nice to see France’s biggest sports stars use their platforms to encourage people to vote, and speaking out against hatred and intolerance and in favour of diversity and inclusion.

I could not disagree more with the Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon, who criticised Kylian Mbappé’s call for people to vote against the far right, saying that footballers should “leave politics to other people”.

The whole point of living in a democracy is that politics belongs to everybody. As Mbappé said: “The Euros are very important in our careers, but first and foremost we are citizens and I don’t think we can be disconnected from the world around us.”

And I admit I’m biased about this – I’ve been a fan ever since I saw him make his professional debut at the age of 18 in my then-hometown of Castres – but I was also pleased to see French rugby legend Antoine Dupont taking a stand on another social issue, appearing on the front cover of LGBTQ magazine Têtu to decry homophobia (although the cover photo did rather make him look like he had forgotten his shades and was squinting into bright sunlight).

Talking France

We of course discuss all the election latest with John Lichfield in the latest episode of the Talking France podcast – and in what was perhaps linked to my need for a holiday we’re also discussing places to visit in France this summer.

Amid warnings of over-tourism we’re taking a look at the places predicted to be most crowded this summer – and suggesting some alternatives. Listen here or on the link below.

Fun and Games

It was thought that people might avoid Paris this summer – but the combination of good deals on the Olympic ticket resale site plus travel and accommodation costs dropping back to seasonal norms has seen a flurry of people booking a last-minute trip to the Games.

Personally I always thought the ‘everyone fleeing the capital’ narrative was a little over-played, but it’s been interesting to see that attempted price-gouging has also largely failed – at the start of the year there were Airbnb listings for frankly insane prices (I saw one that was €7,000 for two weeks), while now costs are largely at the summer average.

Paris travel deals to take advantage of as prices fall ahead of Olympics

Wrestling 

If you’re a Games fan I highly recommend the temporary exhibition at Paris’ Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration (a strong contender for the capital’s best museum, in my opinion) on the history of Olympics and their politics.

It also includes this statue which we’re told depicts ‘wrestling’ at the Olympics in antiquity. If you say so . . .

Photo: The Local

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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