Salut!

The Muslims who leave France for Middle East, going nowhere near ISIL

Tarek Boughediri's project: http://oummanity.com/

I enjoyed writing this story. The French Muslims I describe have made or hope to make the same journey I took in 2007, when I began preparations for the launch of The National*. Much as I love France and my half-year in London, I often miss Abu Dhabi and the gate it opened to a different world, much of it new to me ...

When western Muslims make the headlines by moving to the Middle East, it is usually because the destination is Syria, the purpose to join extremists whose capacity for brutality seems limitless.

But for a growing number that attracts relatively little attention, there is another, entirely positive motivation for the relocation. They want to build new lives and careers – and feel valued – in the UAE and neighbouring countries.

The Sun, the CPS and one triumph for natural justice

Image: Kate Ter Haar

Stop Press (something authority would dearly like to do): The Guardian was slower off the mark than this piddling little site but will get an awful lot more readers. I'd challenge some of its conclusions though obviously not the central one: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/22/guardian-view-on-sun-journalists-acquittal-right-verdict

Only a heart of stone could fail to bleed for the Crown Prosecution Service team and the sense of despair that must have descended as files were packed away, briefcases closed and a gloomy weekend contemplated. Yet another jury had acquitted journalists of criminality over payments to public officials.

As verdict after verdict has gone against the CPS, it is perhaps unthinkable that its people had champagne on ice for post-trial celebrations somewhere near the Old Bailey on Friday. The Sun four - John Kay, Duncan Larcombe, Geoff Webster and Fergus Shanahan - doubtless made for an appropriate hostelry after the jury returned from a marathon retirement to clear them of all charges, and I do not blame them.

Could careless talk help cost Robert Durst his life?

Most of us have seen some coverage of the strange case of Robert Durst*, a man who may wll have more money than sense ...

Life has taken an unwelcome turn for Robert Durst, the 71-year-old heir to one of New York City’s grandest property empires.

Remarks he made in an unguarded moment, but that were captured on tape, have fuelled media speculation about his innermost thoughts – and therefore, perhaps, the truth – concerning not one, not even two, but three suspicious deaths.

So British on the Côte d'Azur: singing in Le Lavandou's rain

Stop Press: the winner in the Big Floats category was the one you see above - Satisfaction, the work of Les Amis du Quartier de la Gare - and that would have been my choice, too. In the medium-size section, the honours went to Terre Neuves du Soleil for their depiction of Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest

In London, we were reliably informed, the sun was shining. Only a couple of weeks ago, Boris Johnson had raised chuckles when boasting to a London conference about a "fantastic climate" better than Rome's.

On the Côte d'Azur, his words rang true. It was raining on the parade at Le Lavandou's annual floral carnival, the corso, and this year's theme was So British.

Minding our language: Boris, Churchill and the trade in words

The book sustained me on long hours of coach travel around Cuba. A flawed but hugely enjoyable re-examination of Churchill's life. Buy it if you want from the Salut! Amazon link at http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1444783025/salusund-21

The mind boggles at what Winston Churchill, if alive today, could command as an after-dinner speaker. Boris Johnson could leave politics tomorrow and thrive on the trade ...

French Connexion: so long Blighty - la rentrée arrive

It's that time of year already. The London hibernation is almost over, as I explain to readers of the new edition of The Connexion, the monthly newspaper for English speakers in France. The good and bad lists for each country are a lot longer than I had room for, of course.

I'll miss Tesco vouchers that make Intermarché look less generous than Victorian coal-owners. I'll miss family and vibrant London life but I won't miss being invited by restaurant staff to a) pay for bread and b) add a tip even after being hit for a whacking service charge. I do not look forward to seeing a lot more of Marine Le Pen on the box, but at least Ukip will recede from my viewing life (until the climax of the general election campaign, when I fear even France will take an interest) ...

Why on earth spend winter wrapped up against the cold in the UK, people ask, when there’s warmth in the south of France?

Jihadi John/Mohammed Emwazi/Little Mo: how evil is made

The simple truth is that hardly anyone except Mohammed Emwazi knows how he went from being a fairly unremarkable London kid to practising or glorying in serial murder. His father now apparently questions whether his son really is Jihadi John while his mother reportedly recognised him instantly when she saw one of the vile ISIL/ISIS/IS/Daesh 'we're killers and proud of it' videos. This article* looks at his background and canvasses some of the theories ...