The atrocity exhibition
To be in Paris on the night of 13 November 2015, when 130 people were killed by an Islamist commando group, who within a few hours launched attacks on the Stade de France, the café terraces of the...
View ArticleCan Michel Barnier save Emmanuel Macron?
At the end of a long summer of whispers, rumours and stalled negotiations, Emmanuel Macron has pulled off yet another dramatic surprise by announcing that the 73-year-old Michel Barnier will be his...
View ArticleHas the French civil war crossed the Channel?
Watching the recent riots in England from France has been a strange experience. The similarities between the violence erupting on the provincial streets of England and the anger that convulsed over all...
View ArticleHow the far right seduced France’s Gen Z
In France, the youth far right has its own neologism: the Fachosphère. Not unlike the manosphere and online alt-right communities across the West, the term denotes a subculture of young influencers who...
View ArticleThe rotten heart of the French republic
The atmosphere in Paris on Sunday 2 July was subdued. It was a serious contrast to the previous five nights, when escalating violence and disorder spread across the country following the 27 June...
View ArticleLetter from Marseille: the lawless metropolis
The best place to take in Marseille is from the esplanade of the Notre-Damae de la Garde basilica. The church, crowned by a golden statue of the Virgin Mary, stands nearly 500ft high on a limestone...
View ArticleHow a bestselling novel reveals French sympathy for Putin
One of the more extraordinary literary successes in France last year was a debut novel called Le Mage du Kremlin (“The Wizard of the Kremlin”) by the political scientist Giuliano da Empoli. The book...
View ArticleParis is an open prison
These recent weeks have been the strangest in the nearly two decades I have lived and worked in Paris. This includes the terrible year of 2015, which began with the massacre at the offices of the...
View ArticleEmmanuel Carrère: “I need to be honest about myself. Otherwise, why write?
One of the most persistent themes in the writings of Emmanuel Carrère is the elusive strangeness that lies never too far below the surface of everyday life. One of the best examples of this is...
View ArticleThe new Spanish civil wars
A few months ago I took a high-speed train from Madrid to Córdoba, and then travelled by bus through the mountains to Granada. My ultimate destination was the Alhambra, the exquisitely designed fort...
View ArticleThe last true Gaullist: how Jacques Chirac charmed France
The death of the former French president Jacques Chirac on 26 September has hardly shocked France. He was 86 and had been absent from public life for some time. Depending on your sources, he was...
View ArticleThe French elites against the working class
A standard taxi ride from my flat in southern Paris to Place de la République in the north usually takes no more than 20 minutes. But on this unexceptional early summer morning every corner and...
View ArticleThe making of a messiah
Until now, Isidore Isou has largely been forgotten or ignored by historians of culture. This is partly because he believed something which was absurd and impossible. He was a fanatic who believed that...
View ArticleHow France’s provocateur-in-chief became part of the establishment
Recent events in France have seemed inexplicable to observers outside the country. The rise of the “gilets jaunes” movement has proved difficult to define or understand, partly because of the shocking...
View ArticleEmmanuel Macron doesn’t understand his own people
The first time that I caught a glimpse of the anger that has convulsed France in recent months was during a street demonstration in the 14th arrondissement of Paris at the end of October. I wasn’t...
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The return of the repressed: the bitter legacy of the Algerian War
If you ever visit Algiers, you are bound to find yourself at some point in the Place Maurice-Audin, a modest square in the centre of the city. At first sight it’s quite a nondescript spot, flanked by...
View ArticleMacron’s black September: how the French president fell to Earth
The autumn, to put it mildly, has not begun well for the government of President Emmanuel Macron. In France, this time of year is known as la rentrée, the moment when most French people return from...
View ArticleFrance and the fatwa
The near-fatal stabbing of Salman Rushdie in the US on 12 August dominated the headlines in France as soon as the news broke. From the television networks, major newspapers and magazines to local...
View ArticleEmmanuel Macron’s win can’t hide a fractured France
Although the outcome was entirely predictable, by the time the decisive results were announced at 8pm on Sunday 24 April, the re-election of President Emmanuel Macron was still a historic event. This...
View ArticleThe evolution of Marine Le Pen
I watched the first-round results of the French presidential election come in on Sunday night (10 April) in an Algerian-owned bar in southern Paris. The prelude had been the thrilling Premier League...
View Article![Mac Miller – The Divine Feminine (10th Anniversary) [iTunes Plus M4A]](http://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music211/v4/a5/f7/d9/a5f7d909-56a4-813b-15ce-fc50e32afb7d/093624817154.jpg/296x296bb.webp)
