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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Water clashes, shorter showers and Mbappé memes

From the future of the country's water supplies to memorials at the 'martyr village' via endless discussions on career plans of footballer Kylian Mbappé, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at the news and talking points in France that you might have missed.

Inside France: Water clashes, shorter showers and Mbappé memes
Photo by Gabriel BOUYS / 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.

Low on l’eau 

This week the French government wants us to spend less time in the shower – part of the water-saving campaign as temperatures rise and France faces another summer of drought. 

After a record-breaking drought last summer, an unusually dry winter means that 60 percent of the country’s water tables are below seasonal norms and already more than half the country is on some level of drought restriction.

But beyond this summer, the issue of water looks set to become a major battle in France – and not only France – as the planet continues to heat and drought conditions spread.

The violent clashes at Saint-Soline in western France – site of a project for huge underground ‘mega-basins’ for water collection – seems to be a foretaste of a conflict that is only going to get more intense. 

I’ve noticed more and more ‘méga-bassines, non merci‘ graffiti around Paris as the conflict comes to be seen as less of a local planning issue and more of a fundamental question for the future; how to balance the needs of farmers with the protection of the environment, and who should control the vital asset that is water? 

Martyr village

This week has seen France mark the anniversary of the massacre at the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in the south-west. On June 10th, 1944, 643 men, women and children who lived in the village were massacred by Nazi soldiers.

After the men were shot, the women and children were herded into the village church, which was set on fire – along with the rest of the village.

After the war, the government decided to leave the burned-out village as a permanent reminder of the horrors of war. These days it’s still preserved and is open to visitors, with an excellent visitor centre which put what happened into the wider context of World War II. I really cannot recommend it enough – unforgettable barely covers it. 

Decathlon dispute

This week’s episode of Talking France looks at the big news events – from the horrific attack at Annecy to the furious reaction to the destruction of prehistoric standing stones at Carnac in order to build a DIY store – as well as some more perennial questions, like why are the French so keen on philosophy. There’s also a mild dispute about Decathlon, and I must admit I don’t really understand my co-host’s love for the French sportswear chain. Maybe I’m missing something . . . Listen here or on the link below

Football

You might think it’s only a game, but footballer Kylian Mbappé’s decision to (maybe) leave Paris-Saint-Germain at some point in the future has dominated the front pages this week, and not only in the sports press.

Even Emmanuel Macron has given his view on this apparently vital topic and as you would expect, that led to a lot of memes and jokes. 

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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