22-03-2025
Inside France: Playground politicians, French unions and a banana split
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.
Playground politics
This week in France-US relations we
moved to the level of the very childish
- a French centre-left politician saying that France should demand the Statue of Liberty back, and the White House press secretary responding by saying 'without us you'd all be speaking German'.
That last line was particularly low-rent - and let's not pretend that Karoline Leavitt is the only one to sink to this level; the UK's Brexit 'debate' was also characterised by ridiculous takes on World War II.
In fact it seems that this is the main function of that great global conflict in modern discourse. The defining fight of the 20th century, when millions risked everything to defeat fascism - now reduced to a punchline for idiots. How very depressing.
Talking France
We discuss the latest transatlantic spat in the Talking France podcast, as well as looking at what France gave the USA (although I think that claiming France is responsible for US independence is a bit of stretch). We're also talking about France's earthquake risk, ETA scams and the south-west France département that is aiming to make water out of air. Listen
here
or on the link below.
Advertisement
Conclave (not the film)
'French unions walk out of conclave' is a headline that might have given a few people pause this week.
No, French unions are not involved in electing a new Pope (the imagination boggles) - in fact 'conclave' is the name given to the consultations on France's 2023 pension reform, which included raising the pension age from 62 to 64.
With the breakdown of these talks France could be heading, once again, for protests and/or strikes over pension reform - I'm all for the workers having a strong voice in France, and for the right of ordinary people to express their views through demos, strikes or other peaceful protest actions. But dare I say that another round of pension protests feels a little self-indulgent with everything else that is going on right now?
This is the view of John Lichfield, who looks at the latest pension row, and whether it might bring down another French government,
in his column this week
.
Although if you want to talk about self-indulgence, the (male) minister
who threatened to resign
over the issue of what women wear to play sport is also right up there.
Incidentally the choice of Conclave as a title for the pension consultation has
proved mildly controversial in France
, for secularism reasons.
Advertisement
Terrible French pun of the week
If you're a fan of bad puns, then French media really is a paradise - witness this example from Le Parisien ahead of the Croatia-France football match in Split.
In French
'avoir la banane'
means to be happy or to be smiling (although France were not smiling by the end of the match). It's a phrase that I learned last summer at a training day for Paris Olympics volunteers when they kept telling us to
'gardez la banane'
- I was very confused about why fruit was so important and needed guarding, until I looked up this phrase and realised they were really saying 'keep smiling'.
And it seems this is a common francophone trait, when I put this on BlueSky someone told me that in Brussels there is a shop called La Bande Des Six Nez (the gang of six noses) . . . say it out loud and you'll realise it sounds like La Bande-dessinée, and the shop does indeed sell
comic books and graphic novels
.
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.
