According to Le Figaro, United States President Barack Obama has chosen two French composers from Bordeaux (yes, France!) to write his campaign theme song. The ditty, entitled “What’s More,” was written by Tony Jazz and Mathieu Billon. Raised in the infamous 9-3 (the Seine Saint Denis region just outside Paris), Jazz at 26 had already racked up credits [...]

While the French occasionally cast a horrified eye on the U.S. presidential campaign, the average American knows nothing about the French one. As a long-term expat, I enjoy the spectacle of French politics. Just like a baseball game, it becomes more interesting as you get to know the characters of the players. So here is [...]

Imagine the scene: A televised presidential debate between six male and female candidates from the same party. But here’s the hitch—two of the candidates lived together for 25 years and had four children! Sounds like a doofy plot for a situation comedy, right? Well, no, that actually happened Thursday night on French TV (read this article in The Guardian [...]

It’s a strange thing how trends work in France. Many things here become fashionable only after the Americans have started the fashion. Offhand I can think of: blue jeans, living in former industrial spaces, and the riots of 1968. Sometimes this is a good thing; but there are certainly American trends I would not like [...]

While there is no end of soul searching going on over here over DSK, the voice that is consistently missing from the discussion is a female one. A few brave women have managed to make themselves heard, but I find it appalling that most of the panel discussions are exclusively male, and that there isn’t [...]

Japan, Switzerland, Italy and now Germany have called into question their nuclear power programs. Despite similarities in the industrial organisation of the French and Japanese nuclear industries, real debate has barely begun to appear in France. How long will close ties between the French government and its untouchable industrial champions–EDF, AREVA–be able to stave off [...]

Greetings from 1950s America! No, not really. But yes, really. I disappeared last week because I was working on an article for my friend’s Seattle news website about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn debacle — a first-hand report from someone living in the Paris hot zone. It’s not the kind of writing I usually do and I [...]

As of this past Monday, the wearing of any kind of face cover is illegal in public spaces in France. An officer of the forces de l’ordre is not allowed to take off the veil but can order the person to be brought to the nearest police station to have her (or his) identity verified. Under [...]

Unlike previous nuclear disasters, Fukushima is contaminating a high-density population center of 127 million (337 inhabitants per km2), Three Mile Island occurred in the vast United States of America (33 inhabitants per m2). Chernobyl hit the former Soviet Union, a sprawling empire so sparsely populated (13 inhabitants per km2) that the accident site could literally be spun off [...]

And you thought awards season was over. Not quite. Sunday night in Beverly Hills, accolades were made into a microphone, sculptural pieces of medal were handed over, thank–you speeches were made. It was the government of France handing out the prizes: insignias for the order of arts and letters. Frederic Mitterand (left), nephew of the [...]