Le dernier mot on the French Election
Yes, really. Thank you for the forbearance of those who have been bored to tears by this.
However, having passed on the thoughts of the intellos during the campaign, I'm pleased that Bernard-Henri Lévy has deigned to wade in and make 'Hommage à Ségolène Royal'.
Before cutting to the chase, savour if you will, how very different our Gallic neighbours are, in that not only do they have public intellectuals, but their thoughts get reported on candidate websites without said candidate thinking this in any way odd. For a taster of BHL, consider this:
"Lévy is, with his third wife, actress Arielle Dombasle, a regular fixture in Paris Match magazine, wearing his trademark unbuttoned white shirts and designer suits. Lévy's reputation for narcissism is legend. One article about him coined the dictum, "God is dead but my hair is perfect."He once said that the discovery of a new shade of grey left him "ecstatic." . Source
Anyway, onwards:
"'Not having anything to say' while she actually took the time to listen to the electorate, 'scandalous' when she broke the silence (the 35 hour week) or broke orthodoxies (her stances, so brave, on a nuclear Iran or on Darfur), Bécassine (1) before the debate with Sarkozy and Cruella after, and by committing the lèse majesté of interrupting, challenging, not letting anything pass on the nod and pinning him down. She's no longer a woman, went the rumour, she's a witch".
.....
"But one has to recognise that Nicolas Sarkozy was good. Really good. He rode the Zeitgeist with a mixture of talent and cynicism, neither less remarkable than the other".... Who could have guessed that the trauma of May 68 remained so acute that he would call, repeatedly, "to liquidate" - what a word! - the heritage of the "party of the hooligans and the wreckers" and make him spout such geysers of gall, schadenfreude and resentment?".
Crikey.
(1). This is Bécassine:
Bécassine is an antique cartoon creation, a Bretonne peasant somewhat overwhelmed and confused by Paris where in the original tales she was a maid / nanny etc. (Note that Sego's home turf of Deux-Sèvres is not in Brittany, but *is* in the north west and a largely rural département). So, an innocent abroad, basically. She continues to circulate as a character in French popular culture, but irks Breton separatists, nationalists etc no end. Imagine how our friends on the other side of the Irish Sea feel about stereotypes of thick paddies and the like for a parallel of sorts.
However, having passed on the thoughts of the intellos during the campaign, I'm pleased that Bernard-Henri Lévy has deigned to wade in and make 'Hommage à Ségolène Royal'.
Before cutting to the chase, savour if you will, how very different our Gallic neighbours are, in that not only do they have public intellectuals, but their thoughts get reported on candidate websites without said candidate thinking this in any way odd. For a taster of BHL, consider this:
"Lévy is, with his third wife, actress Arielle Dombasle, a regular fixture in Paris Match magazine, wearing his trademark unbuttoned white shirts and designer suits. Lévy's reputation for narcissism is legend. One article about him coined the dictum, "God is dead but my hair is perfect."He once said that the discovery of a new shade of grey left him "ecstatic." . Source
Anyway, onwards:
"'Not having anything to say' while she actually took the time to listen to the electorate, 'scandalous' when she broke the silence (the 35 hour week) or broke orthodoxies (her stances, so brave, on a nuclear Iran or on Darfur), Bécassine (1) before the debate with Sarkozy and Cruella after, and by committing the lèse majesté of interrupting, challenging, not letting anything pass on the nod and pinning him down. She's no longer a woman, went the rumour, she's a witch".
.....
"But one has to recognise that Nicolas Sarkozy was good. Really good. He rode the Zeitgeist with a mixture of talent and cynicism, neither less remarkable than the other".... Who could have guessed that the trauma of May 68 remained so acute that he would call, repeatedly, "to liquidate" - what a word! - the heritage of the "party of the hooligans and the wreckers" and make him spout such geysers of gall, schadenfreude and resentment?".
Crikey.
(1). This is Bécassine:
Bécassine is an antique cartoon creation, a Bretonne peasant somewhat overwhelmed and confused by Paris where in the original tales she was a maid / nanny etc. (Note that Sego's home turf of Deux-Sèvres is not in Brittany, but *is* in the north west and a largely rural département). So, an innocent abroad, basically. She continues to circulate as a character in French popular culture, but irks Breton separatists, nationalists etc no end. Imagine how our friends on the other side of the Irish Sea feel about stereotypes of thick paddies and the like for a parallel of sorts.Labels: Elections, France, Media
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 08, 2007 at 9:47 am.
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Yes this blog is becoming la petit france
Snap out of it man.
Consider me well and truly snapped out of it.
What shade of grey? Be precise.
HG - I have been trying to find out, thus far with no success.
Grey is its own complement. Apart from this unique characteristic there is all the grisaille stuff to consider.
Mr C, grey could be the new way to look at and through everything, of course he was ecstatic.
Peregrinating to the back of beyond and then some temporarily abandoned and, happily, having en route seen nothing of the English or French elections hoohaa,I return to see you, Mr C, still in fine fettle.
On your reply at 12.33 to HG, may I perhaps suggest you direct your enquiries to the original Spitting Image puppet eminence grise (no pun intended!)ex-PM John Major who might be able to help with your grey matter problems...
En passant, surely le dernier mot should be "Voila!" ?? N'est-ce pas?
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