17th March 2013

....when Irish eyes are smiling.....
Why are some national holidays known and celebrated around the world more than others? Is it about respect and national feeling? This last week saw images of Carla Bruni singing her own lyrics about a 'pingouin' -  a characterisation of the current French President. You can't blame her for feeling sore. When Sarkozy first took office, he led Chirac, the previous incumbent, graciously down the red carpet to his waiting car - unlike when Hollande took over and he didn't even bother, preferring to leave the departing Sarkozys to leave toute seule.  All the businessmen I talk to want the statesmanship and respect of Sarkozy back for 'the good of France'.
And me?  My dream is for every country to have a new national day, not based on past atrocities (like Mme Guillotine, or past killings, burnings etc.) but promoting things in their country they are particularly proud of today.  On national days democratic leaders could be invited to sample (and to try to emulate in their own countries) what each place has to offer. An ideal opportunity for greater understanding and respect for each other's cultures.  Him indoors?  Wish I was still working, then I could take the day off!
.....sure they steal your heart away.....

Whilst the British, Canadians and Australians are today celebrating the old colonial traditions of boxing-up presents for the 'poor', I wondered what the French, and in particular the elite, would be doing.
Speaking on her 41st birthday in Brazil, Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy said that now she was married to President Nicolas Sarkozy she had given up her man-eating ways of old, which included a string of former boyfriends from Sir Mick Jagger to Donald Trump. "I can no longer seduce because I love my husband," she told the Brazilian edition of Marie-Claire magazine."I don't want to hurt him. I am no longer a man-eater," she said.
While Nicolas was sealing an £8 billion arms deal with his Brazilian counterpart President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy was 'working hard' to promote her humanitarian credentials. She visited a breast milk 'bank' in Rio de Janeiro that provides sustenance to impoverished Brazilian children and spent her birthday touring a Rio slum.
But, following their official duties, Mr Sarkozy and his wife will stay on in Brazil for a private holiday until Dec 29, staying in a palatial suite in the Copacabana Palace – the preferred hotel of celebrities and VIPs from Marlene Dietrich to Princess Diana. Hardly seeing how the poor live! They have been spending Xmas with the first lady's biological father, Maurizio Remmert, a Brazilian industrialist.
It always gives me a wry smile to see how humanitarian efforts by the great and famous, and even serious political committee meetings, always seem to be booked in beautiful, exotic places away from the winter chills. When there comes a time that such events happen in such places as Scunthorpe, or Wigan or Ladywood - then I'll know they're for real. But until then....

1st October 2008

For most men, the only thing that makes French politics interesting at the moment is its first lady, former supermodel Carla Bruni - heiress to the Italian tire manufacturing company CEAT. I don't know exactly what it is about her, but like Princess Diana in her time, she seems to entice paparazzi around the world by her elegance and that indefinable je ne sais quoi. During a state visit to Britain last March, the 40-year-old singer caused a sensation among publishers and television companies who fought to get an interview with her. Her elegant style received rave reviews from fashion stylists who hailed the Dior outfits she donned for the occasion. So, it's understandable that the French President, not wanting to miss a trick, will take the adorable Carla with him on his visit to Quebec this month. M. Sarkozy will attend the annual Canada-European Union summit in Montreal on the 17th and the Summit of the Francophonie - a club of about 50 French-speaking countries - in Quebec City the following day. Meanwhile, Sarkozy's colourful love life and reforming zeal is to be made into a big screen documentary by an American director, although the President does not yet know it apparently! Maybe Nicolas will agree to it in order to climb back in France's popularity polls. And as for Carla? Since her marriage to Nicolas in February, she has released her third pop album called Comme si de rien n'etait (As if nothing had happened). As if, indeed.

13th September 2008

The Pope is visiting our region of France today. No - not to visit me! (I'm not Catholic). He's visiting Lourdes to celebrate the 150th anniversary of a famous apparition. Until 1858 Lourdes was just an ordinary small town of 4,000 people situated in the foothills of the Pyrenees, until a 14-year-old local miller's daughter called Bernadette told everyone that she had seen a beautiful lady, who directed her to a mountain spring now said to have healing properties. And now the tiny unimportant town of Lourdes has been transformed into the 'Disneyland' of the area, selling tacky over-priced religious souvenirs to the increasingly gullible public. More than six million - mostly Catholic - visitors arrive every year making it one of France's most popular tourist attractions. Where that tiny town is going to put them all today is anyone's guess as the VIP walks the first stages of the Jubilee Way, a brand-new pilgrim-age route. Of course, the fame of the Pope will clash with the other - he would say greater - VIP. I talk of M. Sarkozy himself, who will be in Lourdes today. Well, our Nicolas doesn't miss a photo opportunity. I wonder if he'll bring the beautiful Carla? The mind boggles at the thought of this particular threesome together. With her (some would say sordid) background, will the Pope shake her hand? But that's what miracles are made of.
P.S. Tomorrow begins a new serial on buying your dream home in France. Don't miss it!