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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Riots, visas and tea-drinking Brits

From the French government plan to prevent riots to the ingrained problems of police violence and racism, via visas for second-home owners and what the French really think of the British, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Inside France: Riots, visas and tea-drinking Brits
Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / 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.

Anti-riot measures

Four months after the rioting that convulsed much of urban France in June, the prime minister has unveiled a plan intended to prevent future urban violence – the result, apparently, of months of careful consideration.

The measures include joint police-social work teams in tense areas, fines and parenting courses for the parents of juveniles who cause trouble, extra civics classes in schools and some (vague) plans for ‘military schools’ for delinquent youths.

The reason that so much of it focuses on parents and schools is the striking youth of the rioters in June – three quarters of these arrested were under 25 and a fifth were still at school. 

While these plans might help cut anti-social behaviour, I can’t imagine that the type of wild anger and orgy of destruction that we saw in June would be halted by the thought of your parents possibly having to go on a course. 

The summer riots were sparked by the actions of one police officer – who shot a 17-year-old boy and then lied about it – but the roots of the trouble were simply that this type of thing happens too often and a wider sense among many young people of colour that they will never be accepted as truly French.

Their feelings were confirmed in the aftermath of the riots but the politicians who blamed ‘foreigners’ or ‘immigrants’ for the violence and who – when it was pointed out that the majority of the rioters were born in France – said: “OK, they’re French, but these are French people in their official identity, and unfortunately for the second and third generations (of immigrants), there is a sort of regression towards their ethnic roots.” That quote comes from the Senate leader of Les Républicains party.

France is far from the only country to struggle with ingrained racism and police violence, of course, but it seems particularly hard for the country to have an honest conversation about its problems. 

Talking France 

In this week’s Talking France we’re looking at the latest travel situation after bomb alerts at French airports, plus how easy it is to retire to France and whether the second-home visa is likely to become a reality (quite frankly, I’m telling my second-home owner friends not to get too excited about this). Plus museum and Halloween recommendations and ‘buttergate’. Listen here or on the link below.

Les rosbifs

And yes, I know that Google autocorrect is not hard science, but I still had some fun looking at the most commonly Googled questions onpourquoi les anglais/britanniques . . .’  Along with the expected questions about loving tea and Dordogne, one of the queries was ‘why don’t the English have shutters?’.

And honestly, that’s a great question. After six years in France I can’t imagine why anyone doesn’t have shutters – they keep your place warm in winter (far more efficient than curtains), cool in the summer and your bedroom dark enough for a lie-in. Plus there’s something unfailingly satisfying in throwing open the shutters and discovering that it’s a beautiful morning. 

Sort it out, England. 

French pun of the week 

Indeed, Je m’appelle Gemma Pell would be confusing for all concerned. 

But it’s still not as bad as as boys/men called Ken (in French a slang term for having sex), Peter (péter means to fart), Colin (a type of tasty white fish) or Connor (sounds perilously like connard – dickhead).

READ ALSO 9 boys names that sound very different in French

One of The Local’s readers recalls one of her son Connor’s school-friend calling out hello to him when they met on the street, only to receive a clip round the ear from his grandmother for his ‘foul’ language!

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: 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.

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