Salut!

Papadums, pasta and Tomme de Savoie in Romans, Annecy and Geneva

Every now and again, there is an exception to the rule generally applicable in France that you eat better at home than when eating out, especially when the qualité-prix balance is taken into account.

You'd naturally expect to dine like a king or, this being France, president if spending hundreds of euros in a posh or acclaimed place. And sometimes, you'd be disappointed.

Certainly, I know of few restaurants in the area around Le Lavandou where the rule does not work perfectly well (and I accept that I am fortunate in terms of Mme Salut's culinary skills).

First Miss America of Indian origin: stream of gormless abuse vs 'tsunami' of support

Margaret Gorman: first Miss America, courtesy of the George Grantham Bain Collection (US Library of Congress)

Yes, I have had weightier things on my mind this week than the outcome of Miss America 2014, as it's called even when it happens in 2013. I have been covering the case of the Nice jeweller who killed a young robber (my latest piece can be seen here).

And I have been writing about an important anniversary in the history of Arab nationalism; that item has still to appear. Work I did on a recovery in tourism to post-revolution Tunisia took up a whole page of the business section of The National, Abu Dhabi: here and here.

But let us not be too haughty about Nina Davuluri's achievement in becoming the first woman of Indian origin to win Miss America. Her victory led to a storm-in-a-teacup sort of hoo-ha after some hard-of-thinking rednecks posted racially offensive and insulting messages on Twitter. These were unpleasant but appeared among overwhelmingly positive tweets congratulating or supporting her.

Stephen Hawking got to write A Brief History of Time. It fell to me to add a Brief History of Miss America to the more ephemeral resource yielded by journalistic endeavour. It is this week's Newsmaker topic* for the Weekend section of The National; here it is:

Of heroes and villains: Stephan Turk and Tony, the braqueur he killed

In common with all countries I regard as fully civilised, France executes no one these days. Even those who would happily see the return of Madame Guillotine, or are now rejoicing at the death sentences passed on the gang that raped and murdered a woman in India, would be unlikely to chop off the heads of mere jewel thieves.

But in the case of Tony, one of two young voyous who staged an armed raid on La Turquoise, a small jewellery shop in the centre of Nice, the sentence turned out to be death all the same.

France, Algeria and the presidential ambitions of the 'Zorro of the Niqab'

If you have no interest in the uneasy relations between different communities in western Europe, and in particular between Muslims and non-Muslim, you may not wish to proceed further.

That the issue is an important one, affecting so many facets of modern life from employment and housing to justice and security, is beyond serious question. It is also hardly open to doubt that stereotypes, prejudice and unfairness can be found on both sides of the arguments that arise.

Breaking the silence that is part of the tragedy of Marseille

It is well known that I am fond of Marseille, currently Europe's city of culture. I like its bustle and the willingness of most of its highly cosmopolitan population to get along. Few visitors will ever be caught up or even witness the violence emanating from lawless estates. But the most recent shooting - on Sunday - happened in the heart of the city, outside a club next the the opera house (this was, of course, written and published before Adrien Anigo, the son of the Olympique de Marseille football club's sports director, was one of two more victims of gangland killings on Sept 5) ...

Most mothers harbour worries about their children’s futures.

In the northern suburbs of France’s second city, Marseille, home to a large immigrant population with roots in the Muslim countries of the Maghreb, the concerns dwell too often on whether their sons will survive long beyond the age of 20.