Contrary to those punching the air and heaving enormous sighs of relief, it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about the recent legislative election in France. The ecstasy felt by many at seeing the National Rally (RN) fall far …
Macron has dynamited French politics
“Live dangerously!” was Nietzsche’s advice to his followers, those “good Europeans”, the “legislators of the future”. He wanted them to send their “ships into uncharted seas”, to “live at war” with their peers and themselves. That was the secret, as …
Is Macron’s gamble actually working?
A 10-second clip from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi has been doing the rounds on French social media. In it, a hooded, decaying Emperor Palpatine arrives on the “fully operational” Second Death Star, cackling “Everything is proceeding as I …
Jordan Bardella is no radical
It’s been a long time coming, but after a triumphant showing at the European elections, and then such a strong result in the first round of the French parliamentary elections, it looks like National Rally, a Le Pen party, is …
The EU’s economic war on Le Pen
With France bracing itself for the first round of its snap parliamentary election this Sunday, the near-certain prospect of victory for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) has sent French and EU elites to their panic stations. Reeling from their …
Can France’s dauphin hold his nerve?
In 1792, the last Frenchman to be honoured with the title of dauphin was thrown in Paris’s Le Temple prison. The young Louis XVII was never freed; he died aged just 10.
More than two centuries later, the nickname had …
Can Jordan Bardella seduce France?
If you asked an AI-powered robot to generate a new star for France’s hard-Right National Rally (RN), it would probably produce someone just like Jordan Bardella. The MEP and head of the party’s ticket for June’s elections to European Parliament …
As France burns, the far-Right rises
What the street barricade was to France in the 19th century, the burning car has become in the 21st: a preferred means of violent protest, and a key theatrical symbol of political defiance. In 2005, after two boys named Zyed …
The resurrection of Marine Le Pen
Three months ago, Marine Le Pen’s political future seemed smashed into irrelevance by the rise of Eric Zemmour. She was past it, a tired war horse with no project and a quasi-bankrupt party, watching her closest National Rally associates being …