- Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Fogelman82

France's crisis of national identity

Fogelman — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:35:35 +0000

Just before the France-Ireland football match in Paris, I met my charming, gentle, retired, 60-something, French neighbour on the stairs of our Paris apartment building. “No,” he said. “I’m not watching the match. I never watch France play football. The team disgusts me because they are not really French.”

What did he mean, I asked (although I knew exactly what he meant). My neighbour mumbled something about not liking the team because they didn’t sing the Marseillaise before matches (something that has not been true for more than a decade). What he really meant was that there were too many non-white faces in the line-up (seven out of 11). I pointed out that every single France player in the now infamous main de Dieu World Cup qualifying team was born in France and mostly in Greater Paris. He looked embarrassed, made a “so what” hand gesture and walked away.

Reburying Albert Camus: A Political Ploy by Sarkozy

Fogelman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:53:14 +0000

Given the Panthéon’s function as the final repose for France’s greatest heroes, it’s perhaps not surprising that efforts are now afoot to relocate the ashes of writer and philosopher Albert Camus to a site beneath the 18th century Paris building’s cupola. But rather than earning plaudits from intellectuals and ordinary French people alike, the move to honor the man some call France’s most influential postwar thinker is sparking controversy. Some pundits and historians say that Camus’ legacy is being exploited for political gain, while others argue that glorification of the philosopher by the French government would make a mockery of Camus’ deeply individualist convictions.

Rape, Murder sparks demands for chemical castration in France

Fogelman — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:50:38 +0000

France is considering the compulsory “chemical castration” of sexual criminals after a woman jogger was murdered in a forest south of Paris by a convicted rapist.

The “voluntary” use of drugs to destroy or limit the libido is already available to male sex offenders in France. The Prime Minister, François Fillon, has now announced that he will consider ways of making the law “more obligatory”.

An anguished debate about chemical castration has been raging since the murder of Marie-Christine Hodeau, 42, who was kidnapped while jogging near the forest of Fontainebleau, 30 miles south of Paris, last week. After she was bundled into a car boot, Ms Hodeau called police on her mobile phone and gave them the make and registration of her attacker’s vehicle. Her presence of mind failed to save her life but led to her killer’s rapid arrest and confession. He took police to woodland where they found Ms Hodeau’s body hidden beneath branches.

Sarkozy under fire over claims he paid for opinion polls

Fogelman — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:50:58 +0000

The main French opposition party, the Socialists – delighted to have an issue to distract from their own internal back-stabbing – have accused the President of “scandalous collusion” with parts of the media.

The Elysée Palace, dismissing calls for a parliamentary inquiry, has rejected the cries of scandal as far-fetched. “We order opinion polls. If newspapers buy the same ones, what can we do?” said M. Sarkozy’s chief aide and secretary general, Claude Guéant.

The revelations, made by the official financial watchdog, the Court of Auditors, are nonetheless deeply embarrassing. In the past two years, M. Sarkozy’s office has paid €1.5m for private opinion polls, almost half o

Banks hit worldwide by US fraud

Fogelman — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:45:55 +0000

Some of the world’s biggest banks have revealed they are victims of an alleged fraud which has lost $50bn (£33bn).Bernard Madoff, who was arrested on Thursday, has been charged with fraud in what is being described as one of the biggest-ever...

France working to free yacht crew taken hostage off Somalia

Fogelman — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:50:40 +0000

French authorities were hostageworking Saturday to free a luxury cruise yacht and its 30-member crew taken hostage by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

“The defence and foreign affairs ministries are working to act as quickly as possible, I hope in the minutes or hours to come, to try to obtain the release of the hostages,” French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said late Friday.

“We have relatively large military means in the area,” he added.

The 32-cabin, four-deck yacht the Ponant, was sailing between Somalia and Yemen when it was boarded by pirates on Friday.

The three-masted yacht was carrying 30 crew but had no passengers on board at the time, according to a French military spokesman.

Sarkozy allies brace for setback in local polls

Fogelman — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:54:38 +0000

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s rightwing party is bracing for a disappointing weekend in the final round of local polls expected largely to favour the left-wing oppostion. A look ahead to the consequences of Sunday’s election, which could see the...