Coronavirus Roundtable: Toulouse Foreign Correspondent Ben Mirzoeff describes his experience of being in France at the time of the crisis and how it has affected him The city of Toulouse itself was not noticeably affected by COVID-19 before the strict national lockdown was enforced by the government. Stockpiling was not an issue at all and […]
France
Home is where the heart is: a Parisian Year Abroad cut short
Home is where the heart is: a Parisian Year Abroad cut short Sammy Cole, Foreign Correspondent in Paris, reflects on her curtailed year abroad and her bittersweet return Since returning from my year abroad in Paris about three weeks ago, my daily life has considerably changed. I am hugely grateful to be back with my […]
Witnessing Gilets Jaunes Protests in Toulouse
Foreign Correspondent in France, Ben Mirzoeff, gives an account of Yellow Vest protests in Toulouse, arguing that protests have now become normalised in the eyes of protesters and police.
A Parisian question
Bettina Latuff Hualde talks about the Parisian tourist trail and what it’s like to live in the French capital; translated by Carole Henry. «La vie en rose» pour les uns, la métropole chaotique pour les autres. Au sujet de Paris, ceux de l’Hexagone se trouvent divisés en deux camps: les amants de la capitale, et […]
Pension Strikes in France: What is Going on and Why?
Foreign Correspondent in France, Katie Fox, explains the country’s latest strikes and outlines why people have decided to protest the government’s pension reform plans.
Climate Crisis: Where do the French stand?
Isabelle Drage writes on French attitudes towards and current action on the Climate Crisis; translated by Marion L-Huillier-Hunsinger. Il existe de nombreux stéréotypes sur les Français, mais ils ne sont pas forcément connus pour rester silencieux quand ils sont mécontents. La France a la réputation d’être une nation de manifestants ; une tradition qui découle de […]
The Price Tag of Notre Dame
Natalie Tongue discusses the after-math of the burning of Notre Dame and where the donations for it’s re-build have originated.
Macron’s Start-up Nation: The cloud hanging over France
With Britain tormented by its decision to leave the European Union, France waits, anticipating Brexit’s fall-out whilst also fantasising over a society full of unicorns. Emmanuel Macron’s pledge in June 2017 to make France a ‘start-up nation’ follows the growing trend of startup creation around Europe, and the appetite to produce startup companies valued at […]
Racism, Revolution and Resistance: France’s current political turmoil
The cleansing wave of ‘Pasokification’ (the process whereby traditional European social democratic and conservative/Christian democratic parties lose their support base) crashed in France in the 2017 election, leaving three populists on the shore with their heads above the water. Macron, the election winner and self-declared ‘Jupiterian’ sun-king, was a populist only in loose terms. He […]
What Links The Three Colours?
I arrived at the Three Colours Trilogy late. For years it had adorned my watchlist and been the gaping hole in my small smug cabinet of European art house. Trilogies are often the result of a more cynical, franchising side of cinema, so for cinephiles disgruntled with this fact emphasis is often put on spiritual successors […]