Salut!

France's annus horribilis mitigated by Hollande's noble pardon for Jacqueline Sauvage

Nice, July 15 2016: one day after the evil lorry attack, the first signs of what would soon become a colossal floral tribute on the Promenade des Anglais

France, under constant terrorist threat and unable to handle that threat particularly well, has endured a tough old year and yes, Brexit did the same for Britain (which also lives with the real risk of violence inflicted by fanatical, pseudo-religious monsters, but has so far contained that risk more effectively).

Unconnected, but in passing, at least 2016 - version francaise - ends on one welcome note.

A decent but weak president, Francois Hollande, almost at the end of an undistinguished single term, has given a full pardon to Jacqueline Sauvage, freeing her from a 10-year sentence for killing her husband, who was allegedly violent (towards her) and sexually abusive (towards their daughters).

The judiciary is up in arms, with one especially annoying figurehead, Virginie Duval, complaining that Hollande has placed himself above judges who, of course, know better. I accept that the courts chose, with more evidence than I can pretend to have seen, to disregard or minimalise evidence of the husband's conduct. The case is discussed in measured terms (in French and supporting the judgments made by the courts, even the 'relative severity' of the sentence) at one anonymous Parisian lawyer's own website.

But the president, who must also have studied the case in great detail, disagrees. It is entirely appropriate that we should have the sort of checks and balances he has chosen to exercise as his constitutional right; he was Mme Sauvage's final court of appeal and even if his action was based more on compassion than legal niceties, it seems a laudable one... all too late for, and not really relevant to, this end-of-year piece for The National* ...

Salut!'s Christmas Salutations

Salut!’s little sites – Salut!, Salut! Live and Salut! North  - hardly amount to an empire, even once you add the much bigger and more widely read Salut! Sunderland.

If I have been known to use the term, please be assured it was with light-hearted intent.

From Brexit to burqinis, a rotten year for words and an evil one for deeds

Nobler words: overhead sign on the A8 motorway leading from Nice the day after the July 14 attacks

No intended amalgam, as the French would say, linking Brexit and terrorism. But ugly words have been plentiful in 2016 and they have played their part in inspriing violence and inciting hatred** ...

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.

The inaccuracy of the couplet remembered from childhood has been amply demonstrated in 2016. In another miserable year for words, menacing language has again inspired violence of thought or action.

Leon Rosselson: 'no stamina for novels, I was meant to write songs'

 

Over at my little music site Salut! Live, I have been interviewing Leon Rosselson, who has been writing and performing songs for so long that some of his work was featured on the groundbreaking satirical programme That Was The Week That Was.

His latest album, Where Are The Barricades?, is also his last; at 82, he has decided to call it a day at least as far as recording goes. The full interview can be seen at http://www.salutlive.com/2016/12/the-big-interview-leon-rosselson-no-longer-turning-the-world-upside-down.html.

Rosselson is a political writer, a class warrior, a polemicist and a mischief-maker. Not all readers of Salut! would share all of his views or analysis, and some would share none.

Paris fetes the Arabic language - one of culture and knowledge, not menace

If I were in Paris, I would today be at l'Institut du Monde Arabe on the Left Bank for the start of a week-long festival celebrating all that is positive about the Arabic language. Since I am not, I made do with talking* to some of the key players ...

After 15 years of painstaking research, a German academic has amassed compelling evidence on the importance of Arabic as an international language.

From his study of more than 7,000 living languages, Prof Ulrich Ammon, a linguistics specialist at Dusseldorf University, calculated that Arabic was spoken in 60 countries.

He says more people – 467 million – use Arabic than all others except, in order, Chinese, English and a combination of Hindu and Urdu, which have common roots.

Friends or foes: 'UK Muslims like everyone else', says one of two reports

The photo relates to Muslims in the USA. I just liked it and like even more that it is in the public domain. Look up the two reports I now discuss for yourselves. Both contain interesting findings, both can be challenged ...

Almost according to taste, two reports released within a few days of each other appear to tell contrasting stories. One says Britain’s Muslims are failing to integrate – or that Britain is failing to facilitate their integration – and identifies disturbing pockets of anti-western feeling. The other suggests they are pretty much the same as British non-Muslims in the way they view extremism.

Without wishing to cast doubt on the methodology of either Dame Louise Casey’s review, or the survey from the Policy Exchange think tank, it may be necessary to apply a pinch of salt to both sets of conclusions.