26th January 2014

So, Miss Trierweiler has been dumped, no longer 'first lady of France' - but was she ever? Where's the responsibility necessary in a head of state when Hollande can't even sign a marriage contract?  I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at his recent talks with the Pope. I almost feel sorry for the poor Valérie, who now is officially homeless, losing all presidential trappings of limousines, private planes and staff - even her Paris flat was owned by Hollande. The wonderful French language has it right, the official communique affirming that the 'chef de l'etat et sa compagne mettent fin a leur vie conjugale'. I suppose the split was inevitable after the revelation in the mag Closer, photos showing the 2-year liaison of the president with the comedienne Julie Gayet, Hollande dashingly arriving as a helmet-clad motorcyclist to a secret flat owned by a gangster! Daily I've been expecting a resignation, visualising a Profumo-like scenario. Valérie as Christine Keeler, Julie as Mandy Rice-Davis. Maybe 'Profumo' willl soon be replaced by a more-charismatic 'Napoleon' (i.e. Sarkozy). Certainly 'Mandy' will need plenty of humour as she waits for her turn to be told 'Not tonight Josephine'! Him indoors: 'can't see any 'arm in it'..