Rassemblement National (National Rally) was the Front National of Jean-Marie Le Pen's creation until four years ago. As France's main far-right movement marks, as quietly as it can, today's 50th anniversary of its birth, there are shudders of disgust or at least distance among France's new intake of 89 MPs, forming the biggest single opposition party.
'I would not have joined the FN in 1972,' Alexandre Loubet, an MP from Moselle tells Le Figaro. 'I come from Debout La République [another populist, rightwing party, but without FN's toxic image] and consider myself a social Gaullist,' says Anne-Sophie Frigout, from Marne. Philippe Lottiaux, down here in the Var, assures me the RN of Le Pen's estranged daughter, Marine, is neither extreme nor right.
I respectfully disagree.
As Emmanuel Macron pointed out in this year's presidential election campaign, her crackpot idea of banning Muslim headwear would have criminalised, among so many others, Latifa Ibn Ziaten, a relentless campaigner against extremism whose son, a Muslim soldier, was one of the seven victims of Mohamed Merah, a terrorist killer, 10 years ago. That alone tells us a lot.
I felt it was appropriate to write about the 50th anniversary on Wednesday (Oct 5) of the creation of the party Jean-Marie Le Pen helped to found as the Front National (FN) and which his daughter, Marine, has striven to reform, making it something less or seeming less extreme, ditching a name resonant of jackboots in favour of the more inclusive Rassemblement National (National Rally or RN) and ditching her unreconstructed old far right dad.
We are hardly friends, FN-becoming-RN and me, and I believe RN is still an extreme rightwing party. But when it comes to news, I have always tried to be objective. A comment piece is to come but a quick look at The National's website - the link is here - will tell you whether I succeeded on this occasion. To no great surprise, Marine Le Pen and her father simply ignored my written questions as did RN's media chief, Isabelle Marchandier, though she did at least acknowledge and pass on an interview request to Jordan Bardella, who seems likely to replace Ms Le Pen as party president and already has the role on an interim basis (he also ignored the request).
Unlike another unresponsive MP (Laure Lavalette, mentioned below) and to his credit, Philippe Lottiaux replied generously to my approach. My French vote in June's legislative elections is not here but in London and most certainly did not go to the RN candidate. But M Lottiaux won the seat for a constituency that includes where I live when in France. Read the article itself, where his comments are summarised, at The National site. Here I reproduce the interview, conducted n French by e-mail ....
As my consoeur at the London-based website French Morning put it today, Emmanuel Macron did not expect to be drawn into the Tory and therefore No 10 succession contest. Liz Truss's crass comment in Norwich ensured that he was.
His rapier-like riposte, so much more elegant than her Little Englander spot of frogbashing, came during a three-day official visit to Algeria, which I explained for The National. See - or even hear - the item at this link or read it below, where it is reproduced with the editor's customary consent ...
When a president takes a sizeable delegation on a visit to a country with a shared and troubled history, it is fair to assume the agenda is unusually long or complex.
If the entourage numbers more than 90, assumption turns to certainty.
So it was for France’s Emmanuel Macron when he crossed the Mediterranean to Algeria last Thursday. Accompanying him were senior ministers, business chiefs and religious leaders among others.
Late update: news of Judith’s death has been followed with wretched haste by an announcement that another Australian (albeit UK-born) star, Olivia Newton-John, has also died. She was 73. RIP Olivia
I do not often reproduce posts from my music site https://salutlive.com. The death of Judith Durham seemed good reason for making an exception, such was her mainstream appeal. And that was before I heard of the passing, too, of Olivia Newton-John. Two horrible Oz-related news items in three days
PhotoofJudithDurham: AllanWarren
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Photo of Olivia Newton-John: Eva Rinaldi
Headline coverage of Judith Durham's death, at 79, has inevitably drawn on the easy wordplay offered by the title of one the biggest hits of her band, the Seekers.
The Carnival is Over, they cannot resist saying. In fact, Durham would have been entitled to feel life was anything but a carnival, despite the great success she enjoyed and the immense affection she generated among admiring strangers as well as loved ones.
Ill health and tragedy complicated her life and bronchiectasis, the lung condition that caused her death, had been with her since a nasty bout of measles at the age of four.
She survived a fatal (for someone else) car crash in 1990, lost her husband Ron Edgeworth to motor neurone disease, broke a hip (preventing her from singing at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympics in Australia though she was able to perform from awheelchair at the Paralympics soon afterwards) and suffered a stroke during a Seekers comeback tour in 2013.
Durham's good fortune, which undoubtedly sustained her through the challenges she faced, was to have been born with an exceptional voice. She sang with great clarity, strength, warmth and versatility and even made people like me, not natural fans of the Seekers' easy-listening pop folk style, take pleasure in her music..
At the Steeleye Span Facebook group, where I first read tributes to Durham after her death (in hospital înker native Melbourne last Friday) was announced, I put it this way:
A sort of guilty pleasure, the Seekers. I was never much of a folk purist but derided pop-folk. We even looked down on floor singers who tried Sounds of Silence. And yet … good, memorable songs worth a listen decades later and what a fabulous voice. We were wrong. RIP Judith
Her friend and manager, Graham Simpson, who was with her shortly before the end, remembers the thrill it gave her that the Seekers' three first UK No 1 hits, I'll Never Find Another You, A World of Our Own and The Carnival is Over knocked the Beatles, Stones and Kinks off the top spot. Simpson’s memories, and description of being at her bedside before she died, made for a heartwarming interview on Aussie radio.
Undemanding they may have been, but the melodic charm of the Seekers’ songs - often written by the supremely gifted Tom Springfield, brother of Dusty and now 88, was undeniable.
Georgy Girl, the theme tune to a likeable 1966 film, was one of a few to break into the US charts, too, reaching No 2. Like many of the Seekers’ songs,it still sounds fresh and I choose it for my clip, which you may be able to see only by following the YouTube link. https://youtu.be/wsIbfYEizLk
Of course Durham went on to pursue solo projects and demonstrate her ability to impress in a range of styles. Readers are very welcome to recommend their favourite post-Seekers examples of her talents.
The Aussie prime minister Anthony Albanese is not alone is hailing Durham as a national treasure. She represented her country magnificently and deserves the state funeral she’s being accorded. Rest peacefully, Judith Durham.
'Spot-on', my fellow-Remoaners say; 'pompous, condescending' is the harsher Brexiter verdict.
I aim for greater objectivity when writing for The National and other publications. But if it is a piece for Comment pages, I am naturally allowed to express or imply an opinion... like here
Lured by Beatlemania and tantalising images of Swinging London, young French people looking for new experiences began flocking to the UK in the 1960s.
Many of those travelling to the capital wanted to stay. Needing help with accommodation, jobs or study opportunities, they headed for the bustling West End and the Charles Peguy centre.
Now, after six decades of assisting French people trying to find their feet in a new country, the centre has closed. It is another casualty of Brexit.
While the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has also played a small part, the causes for closure lie principally with the hard Brexit Britain chose as its departure route from the EU.
A mischievous caricature of Leave supporters shows obsessively flag-waving Little Englanders thriving on conflict with foreigners, especially the French.
While this is an exaggeration, it is unlikely that the staunchest “go it alone without Europe” advocates will shed tears over the centre’s demise.
In place of the entente cordiale, the famous accord signed in 1904 with the aim of fostering smoother Anglo-French relations, there is now mutual distrust.
Francoise Hardy did rather a lot for the entente cordiale in the 1960s. She hated 'Tous les Garcons ..." but was quite pleased with this
Prime Minister Boris Johnson may be on his way out of 10 Downing Street but his government has picked fight after fight with France, the triggers ranging from fishing rights and immigration to the horrendous delays seen at Dover as holidaymakers try to cross the English Channel to Calais. Ministers claim, often without justification, that it’s all the fault of France or the EU. In the golf club analogy that is commonly used, Paris and Brussels say Britain acts as if it thinks cancelling membership should not stop it playing whenever it wishes.
Brexit’s opponents insist that for all the promises of “sunlit uplands” for a Global Britain freed from EU shackles, there is little sign of benefit and ample evidence of loss.
Persistent claims that leaving the EU facilitated the UK National Health Service’s successful coronavirus vaccination programme are in dispute.
Membership of the EU encouraged but did not oblige a collective response to the virus. In any case, neighbouring countries quickly caught up after a sluggish start.
The Anglo-EU row over the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, designed to protect Ireland from a hard border that would almost certainly threaten a fragile peace, has already led to the withdrawal of European funding for UK scientific research.
The UK has admitted its actions would involve a “specific and limited” breach of international law, reneging on a deal freely signed with the EU and acclaimed by Mr Johnson. While Brussels fumes, Britain accuses the EU of intransigence for failing to agree on a protocol rewritten to suit London (and the minority among Northern Ireland voters who backed Leave).
“Blame Brexit” has become a cliche of everyday life. UK exporters and importers deplore the added bureaucracy, delays and costs of continuing to trade with a massive neighbouring bloc. Aviation, agriculture and hospitality say ending freedom of movement has caused severe labour shortages. Whitehall either minimises the disruption or denies responsibility.
Britain has dropped out of the Erasmus programme that enabled a two-way traffic of students funded for academic exchanges. The replacement Turing scheme is one-way and excludes potentially crippling tuition fees.
Some Brexiters now say they always knew it would take time, perhaps decades, for gains to appear. Sovereignty, they say, was the paramount issue. Whether such a nuanced justification was properly explained to, or understood by, the narrow majority that voted Leave in the 2016 referendum is open to doubt.
All of which leaves the Charles Peguy centre as just another example of the collateral damage caused by a bitter political and cultural divorce.
Peguy was a young French poet and writer, killed in battle in the First World War. One of his works, The Portico of the Mystery of the Second Virtue was a favourite poem of Charles de Gaulle, who was to become the enduring symbol of French resistance in the Second World War and subsequently the country’s president.
Since opening in 1964, the centre named after him has advised tens of thousands of French visitors, mostly young, to London.
My wife and her best friend from school in provincial France, having worked as au pairs in northern England but wishing to settle for a while in London, went there for help in locating affordable accommodation. “All the French students coming to Britain knew of the Charles Peguy centre and we all gravitated towards it,” my wife recalls.
But the centre is now counted among what French Morning News London, an online source of news and information for French expatriates, calls the “heavy consequences” of Brexit.
“Covid stopped people travelling but now that’s more or less back to normal,” says Thibault Dufresne, director of the Centre for International Exchanges in France, which had run the London centre since the 1980s. “But sadly the impact of Brexit that has forced closure.
“London, the UK, used to be very attractive to young French people who wanted to gain experience of work and learn the language.
“With an identity card and the UK being next door, it was so easy. You could find a job in 24 hours and quickly move on to something better. Now that they need sponsorships and visas, it has become almost impossible for most.
“We held back on a decision for a couple for years hoping there might be some easing of restrictions, maybe to allow young people to come for six months or a year. But it hasn’t happened.
“It’s been a great adventure since 1964. The centre was the place to go for French speakers in London and we’re very sad that it has come to end.”
The beneficiary of Britain’s flagging appeal to Europe’s youth is Ireland, still in the EU, still participating in Erasmus and still offering freedom of movement. It is difficult to escape the thought that London – the city that Mr Johnson as its mayor acclaimed as a model of cosmopolitan harmony – has lost part of its soul.
A piece for The National tracing the troubled life and bad choices of a Breton gendarme's daughter who looked up to macho Isis fighters and joined them in Syria ...
In the relative comfort of a prison outside Paris ― after nearly five years in a spartan Kurdish detention camp in north-eastern Syria ― a policeman’s daughter once described as a dangerous terrorist now talks of regaining “the life of a mother and a woman”.
Emilie Konig, now 37 and the mother of five children, three of them born in Syria, was among the 16 French women repatriated to France this week along with their 35 children.
She must now answer for her actions during a Syrian experience that began in 2012 when she turned her back on western society and her middle-class origins to join ISIS.
Behind the veil:Agnes de Feo (quoted below) spent 10 years researching Muslim women who wear the niqab to conceal their faces
Last week, I said a hung parliament was the likeliest outcome of the French legislative elections. I was also resigned to the far right doing well in my part of France, the Var. In both cases I was proved right.
What do the results - frankly a catastrophe for Emmanuel Macron and his unpopular centrist project - say about France? I can stomach the success of the leftwing/Green alliance Nupes (while not seeing it as having much of a future) rather more easily than the disconcerting level of support for Marine Le Pen.
I realise that decent, if deluded, people voted for her party in the same way that decent, if deluded, people voted for Trump and Brexit. Yet it fills me with dismay that I live among, rub shoulders with, until recently played badminton with inhabitants of the classic Le Pen territory of uncomplicated racism and xenophobia.
Here's my analysis for The National, a piece that necessarily aimed to rise above personal opinion ...
After the seismic electoral event that removed legislative authority from French President Emmanuel Macron, far-right leader Marine Le Pen had every right to appear before adoring supporters beaming with jubilation and pride.
Her National Rally movement (RN) dramatically increased its share of parliamentary seats from eight to 89.
It was an achievement greater than even she had expected. And it effectively dismantled the “republican front” in which voters of opposing political persuasions have traditionally buried differences to deny power to her party.
A pleasant afternoon to the village of Bormes-les-Mimosas, for a medieval fair, produced an unexpected if brief encounter (described here) with Eric Zemmour, whose studied xenophobia excites some in France while appalling others.
That was a week before those in France who care enough to vote began choosing members of parliament. Despite the fawning of starstruck visitors who also spotted him, Zemmour failed at the first hurdle just as he had done in the presidential elections.
No room for civilised gloating; there's good reason to fear his voters will switch to another far-right candidate .... my piece for The National
5pm update: the The question in my headline was answered in the most positive way. 2-0 and out of this dreadful division
My first Sunderland Wembley trip should have been on May 5 1973. The famous one when Jimmy Montgomery’s breathtaking double save stopped Leeds, then mighty, coming back from Ian Porterfield’s goal for us.
Should have been there but couldn’t get a ticket. In fact I stopped looking for one when the sports editor of the Harrow Observer (I was chief reporter) said he was so well in at Wembley that he’d sort it in a heartbeat. Never happened.
Since then, tickets have become easier for me to come by for a variety of reasons.
Victories for Sunderland have not.
Just one EFL Trophy (against not-so-mighty Tranmere) so of course I wasn’t there.
Otherwise beaten in the Milk Cup Final in 1985 (my delayed Sunderland Wembley debut), playoffs 1990 in my absence (but went up because of Swindon’s financial scandal), FA Cup Final in 1992, playoffs in 1998 and 2019, League Cup finals 2014 and 2019.
So I’ve see us lose on each of my six visits to Wembley to see them.
My friend and former colleague Kevin Maguire has suffered seven Wembley disappointments but will see neither a win nor defeat tomorrow. His niece is getting married in South Shields so he’ll be there instead. On his behalf and mine, I’ll do my best to witness a victory to make up for all our heartbreaks.
The second photo is of me with granddaughter Maya at the 2019 playoff final.
I took another look at the French presidential elections and analysed what it may all mean for next month's follow-up polling for the Assemblée National, France's parliament. My thanks to the editor of The National for permitting my article's reproduction here ...
The re-election of French President Emmanuel Macron on April 24 may have seemed straightforward enough to anyone following events from outside the country. But that victory, with 58 per cent of the vote, was far from emphatic enough to heal divisions in a torn and troubled country.
The harsh reality that must be pondered as France approaches another election, to decide who runs parliament, is that the result concealed a hidden majority: people unimpressed by Mr Macron’s centrist presidency.
While 18.7 million people voted for him, almost 27 million did not. They were split more or less equally between those who preferred the far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, and those who abstained or deposited blank or spoiled papers.
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