Inside France: A smoky surprise and the Macrons' marital moment

Local France

31-05-2025

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.
Le slap
I've been very amused at the cascade of articles, especially in the anglophone press, on what the Macron slap/shove tells us about the couple. In truth it tells us nothing about them unless you a) know exactly what happened - which isn't possible from viewing the video - and b) have personal knowledge of their relationship. These articles do, whoever, tell us a whole lot about the authors and about their notions of France and French clichés.
I've seen several British and American journalists contend that the video 'barely raised comment in France' and er, no. At one point Le Parisien had five separate articles on this topic on their homepage while other news outlets had multiple articles, analysis and comment pieces.
The French, like everyone else, love a good gossip and the fact that many people strongly dislike the president means that there was a fair amount of glee at the thought of him getting some kind of comeuppance.
Talking France
We discuss the Macron's marital moment - and what it tells us about France and Russia - on the latest episode of the Talking France podcast, along with farmer and taxi driver strikes, the worst French cities to be in during a heatwave, plus some Paris expo recommendations. Listen
here
or on the link below.
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Stubbing it out
We also had a little bit of speedy policy making this week - with not much in the way of debate or discussion, the health minister has announced
a ban on smoking in outdoor areas
"where children may be" such as beaches, parks and bus shelters, effective from July 1st.
In truth this is perhaps less radical than it appears, since many local authorities have already enacted such a ban, but the law standardises the rules across the country, and introduces the idea of smoking bans in outdoor spaces, albeit only some.
Specifically excluded from this rule, however,
are café terraces
, almost certainly due to lobbying from café and bar owners who fear that such a ban would damage their business. Café terraces have been something of a smoking battleground since the indoor smoking ban was introduced in 2007, especially in winter when many café owners erect temporary walls and a roof to create a sheltered smoking area for their customers.
Such spaces are sometimes hard to distinguish from a fully indoor space, but this is the working compromise that has crept up in the last 20 years, although the recent ban on terrace heaters (albeit for environmental, not health reasons) is the latest blow to the indoor/outdoor smoking space of the terrace.
I think that the ubiquity of smoking on café terraces is the reason that many foreigners think that France is smokier than it really is - although it remains above the European average, the number of smokers
has in fact declined
quite drastically in recent years and there are
significant regional variations
.
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Another thing that I notice often surprises foreigners, especially Americans, is how common it is to see characters in a French film or TV show light up. Unlike widespread bans from Hollywood studios, French film has no restriction on the depiction of smoking.
Having said that, I'm not sure that French TV would today screen this completely bonkers Serge Gainsbourg tribute from a group of schoolchildren - all dressed up as the iconic singer and puffing away at fake versions of his ubiquitous cigarette.
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Party of the week
There was only one place to be in France this week if you like days-long celebrations - Bordeaux where the Bordeaux-Bègles rugby club won the Champions Cup for the first time in the club's history.
The party - both in dressing room at Cardiff after the match and on the streets of Bordeaux in the following days - threw up a lot of very fun images, but I think my favourite is this one, in which the prop Ben Tameifuna finds himself down a side street cradling the trophy and also somehow wearing a police stab vest (which looks like a crop top on his massive frame).
🗞️ BREAKING NEWS 🇹🇴🍇 Hearing reports that Big Ben Tameifuna will be unavailable for UBB for the rest of the season. He is said to have retired with immediate effect and has joined the Bordeaux Police Force 👮‍♂️
[image or embed]
— Rosbifs Rugby (
@rosbifsrugby.bsky.social
)
May 27, 2025 at 11:16 AM
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.