Dominique Strauss-Kahn: the bigger they come....?

The last few years of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's life have seen him fall from the stratospheric heights of Managing Director of the IMF to him being accused of rape, participating in an organised prostitution ring, and, now, being ditched by his wife at a time when he is allegedly depressed about his future prospects.

It had been widely rumoured for a while that all was not well with DSK's marriage to richissime Huffington Post news editor Anne Sinclair, and it was finally revealed recently that they separated a month ago, with him moving out of her house ("she threw him out.." bitched people magazine Closer) to live elsewhere in Paris.

The news does not come as a surprise of course. Any marriage would be tested by the kind of events which have cascaded into DSK's life over the last few years. An affair with a UN staffer, allegations of attempted rape by a French journalist, the Diallo NYC Sofitel rape allegations, and more recently, accusations of his participation in a high-class prostitution ring and gang rape allegations by one of the 'girls', although the latter have not yet been formalised as charges.

And while all this was going on, his political and wealthy friends began to desert him, leaving the French press free to publish statements by female French politicans and others, equally freed from fear of powerful retribution from people in high places, about the boorish and aggressive methods they said he employed to try and seduce them.

There has been much speculation about the nature of DSK and Sinclair's relationship, but there has never been any formal confirmation of it by either DSK or Sinclair. Some say that she supported him for so long because they had an 'open' relationship, whilst others held that she was quite simply standing by her man at a time of adversity and when none of the allegations had been proved. But whatever the way they ran their marriage, all these events inevitably took their toll on it.

What are we to think of his downfall? I am certainly not rejoicing (I was a supporter of his bid for the French presidency before the Diallo affair wrecked it) but neither am I about to claim that he, and they, are victims of a witch hunt. As to the allegations, who knows what's true or not?

Perhaps the best way of judging him would need to take into account the words of those who know him, one of whom recently told Reuters that "He's in a bad way. It's very sad. [...] He's mostly just at home on his own while Anne is out and about with her new job. He's shunned by everybody."

Strauss-Kahn is known to be depressed about his future employment prospects, and it's hardly surprising. I can see no possibilities for him on the French political scene, he is persona non-grata for the vast majority of international organisations, and it would be hard to see how he could land a job in a major company. In other words, DSK is now in serious trouble in every sense of the word, and his future, both in financial and personal relationship terms, is extremely bleak.

Which is why I shall refrain from any reaction other than sadness. A ruined marriage, a ruined career, a ruined reputation and accusations of serious sexual crimes have led him to disaster.

But no judge could ever punish Dominique Strauss-Kahn with a heavier sentence than that which his recent life has already handed down to him.

These elections have killed off the demagogues of French politics

Voting is now over in the French legislative elections, the results are in, and the collective sigh of relief is almost audible after the four months of relentless political campaigning which have finally ended with the election of François Hollande as president and a socialist government with an absolute majority.

So much for the bare results, but, political choices aside, these elections also show that after years of vicious political backbiting, scandals and personal spats the French have had more than enough of their more ego-driven political demagogues, and have thus rejected them more or less en masse.

The first victim of the public's backlash against politicians who ride roughshod over the public's tolerance was Dominique Strausse-Kahn, who fell from his pedestal even before the presidential campaign had officially begun.

Widely tipped to be the Socialist presidential candidate this year - and polls even made him the early favourite to win the presidency if he stood - his dreams ended with his arrest in New York on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid. The French press and public defended him at first, shocked as they were by photos of him in handcuffs. The sympathy was mainly inspired by the fact that the publication of photos showing handcuffed suspects is illegal in France, where it would be considered to be degrading treatment.

The mood quickly changed however when the French suddenly seemed to pinch themselves and wake up to the fact that DSK was widely reputed to be an aggressive and boorish womaniser as well as a champagne socialist. At the same time he was considered to have used his power and authority in order to try and get his way with almost any woman who took his fancy. The old story of his affair with a female IMF staffer resurfaced, as did the allegations of attempted rape by journalist Tristane Banon. The game was finally up, and he was forced to withdraw his candidacy after polls showed that over 70% of French voters no longer wanted him to be involved in public life. Strauss-Kahn has since slid into political obscurity, although he is still in the news because of his alleged implication in a prostitution ring.

The next victim of voter ire was the man with the biggest ego in French politics - Nicolas Sarkozy. Ironically, he was elected in part because of his pledge to put an end to the aloof and distant presidential style of Jaques Chirac, which had irritated many voters, but he mistakenly took his mandate to mean that he had carte blanche to do and say whatever he wanted. The result was that Sarkozy's bling-bling brashness, blunt words and vulgar attitudes quickly led to disenchantment, and it wasn't long before the public began to regret Chirac's departure.

Succour finally came for the French when François Hollande astutely decided that he would use the 'normal president' line as a campaign theme in order to highlight his belief that voters would prefer his style, and his victory demonstrated that the public had had enough of Sarkozy's I-me-mine way of presiding.

Next up for the chop was the hapless centrist François Bayrou, whose crime was his unwavering belief that he could continue indefinitely to flip-flop on his choice of policies depending on which major party he was supporting. Bayrou had no qualms about changing horses in the middle of a presidential election campaign if the polls showed that he was supporting the wrong candidate. His main objective became clear as elections came and went however, and it was nobody's secret that all he wanted was to be in the right camp at the right moment and be rewarded with a cabinet post.

It was not to be, alas, and he was eventually and unceremoniously dumped by voters in the first round of the presidential election with only 9% of the vote, which was a pitiful showing given that his 2007 score was exactly twice as big - 18%. His fall from grace was completed today when he lost his parliamentary seat after holding it for 16 years.

But at least Bayrou made it to today's second round vote, that which was not the case for maverick hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who made the fatal error of believing that voters wanted a man with not much more than a personal vendetta against Marine le Pen as policy.

His presidential campaign for the Front de Gauche was characterised by a vicious running battle with the equally vicious Front National leader Marine le Pen. When the first round results came in however he was shocked to find that he had completely misjudged the mood of the very working class voters he was hoping to seduce, and he was easily out-distanced by Le Pen, who had rightly estimated that working class voters were fed up not with her, but with politics and politicians in general. His disappointment was compounded by the knowledge that Le Pen had obtained a much higher proportion of working class votes than he, their self-styled champion, had managed to get.

But the worst was yet to come, and Mélenchon's hatred of Le Pen inexorably led to his irrational and suicidal decision to get himself parachuted into the 11th parliamentary constituency of the Pas-de-Calais, where she too was a candidate. He took Le Pen on in the enemy territory which was the small town of Hénin-Beaumont, where Le Pen is an opposition figure in the town council, and he was hoping for revenge. But the people were having none of it and, manifestly disgusted with Mélenchon's decision to foist his personal agenda upon them, voted massively against him and for Le Pen. It is always sad to see colourful personalities like Mélenchon go, but his massive ego finally led to his undoing.

Which leads us to another massive ego and controversial politician, the socialist Ségolène Royal. A bitter loser to Sarkozy in the 2007 election (she was angry enough to call for the French to take to the streets against Sarkozy the very night of her defeat) Royal has never been far from the front pages, and for all the wrong reasons.

She went on to contest the leadership of the Parti Socialiste in 2008 and found herself up against Martine Aubry, who eventually won what turned out to be a very close race. Not happy with the result however, Royal noisily announced that there had been malpractice and that she would contest the result in court. That decision, which threatened to result in the party's reputation being dragged into the mud in court, was not appreciated by voters. She has never to this day carried out her threat, but neither has she formally withdrawn her allegations of cheating. This episode was just one of many controversies which led to her failure to be nominated as the party's presidential candidate in the recent election, and she obtained just 6.9% in the primaries, which were of course won by François Hollande.

Hollande, Royal's former boyfriend, went on to win the presidency. She supported him during his campaign, a clear sign that her anger over the split was waning. But another reason for her apparently magnanimous support soon became apparent.

It emerged that Royal would most likely be given the post of Parliamentary president - indeed she had very publically expressed an interest in the job - and it was believed that Hollande had already promised her this prestigious position. But there was just one problem - she was not a parliamentary deputy, a prerequisite for any candidature.

So off she went to what she thought would be a safe place to get herself elected, La Rochelle. Accusations that she had been parachuted in, although technically well-founded, were tempered by the knowledge that La Rochelle is in the Poitou-Charente region, of which she is President.

But it was in La Rochelle that she finally got the political comeuppance that may well sound the death knell for any hopes she may have nurtured of becoming a national figure in French politics after years in the wilderness.

The cruel irony of her defeat was that during her doomed presidential campaign she had unsuccessfully defended the 'Tout Sauf Sarkozy' ('Anything But Sarkozy') campaign slogan, and it was precisely that slogan which was taken up today by right-wing opposition voters, who took the 'Tout Sauf Royal' line at its word and voted for her dissident socialist opponent, who came in miles ahead.

At the end of the day however, the big winner in these elections is François Hollande. He wanted to create as calm a political climate as possible in which to conduct his presidency, and he has largely succeeded. These results have removed some major political thorns from his side, they have given him an absolute majority, and there are no major demagogues in parliament to taunt him.

But this is France, where politics are volatile, and I'll bet that the demagogues, be they those who have lost out in the recent elections or others who may eventually start blipping on the radar, will surely be back one day....

Spare a thought for your French holiday waiter

...Tishoo! All fall down and you've got a major mess to clean up, and quick.

I was contacted recently by a young friend of my sister's who wanted to know if I thought he could, or should, try to get a summer job as a waiter in a French Mediterranean resort. He says that a couple of other people he knows are thinking of doing the same thing to escape Britain for a while and earn some money at the same time. So, for those people and any others who may be considering becoming a waiter, here are a few reflections and realities of the job to help you decide.

It does seem like an attractive prospect, which is probably why I became one when I first came to France. God knows how I managed it, but I stuck it out for four summers and winters (ski resorts) before I was forced to stop as I was absolutely burned out.

There are a lot of jobs going right now for those who may want to go down to the Med and try their luck. You might have to ask in a lot of places, but with a bit of luck and a bit of French you may just get a job for the summer.

Here's the kind of daily routine you should expect if you get a job in a mid-to-large brasserie.

Up early in the morning on your first day, one of your first jobs is to set up the terrace, which often involves carrying all the tables and chairs outside as your brasserie opens to the public. It's fairly physical but nothing excessive. Then you will start serving clients.

That means taking their orders, going to the bar and ordering the drinks (much coffee in the morning) and beginning to master the art of the serving tray, which is a big one in most big brasseries and bars. You need to master this quickly and have a knack for balancing a tray full of drinks using just one hand, because most pro restaurants do not permit waiters to carry a tray with both hands.

Try doing that when it's full of drinks

At around 11 you will already have served, cleared and cleaned off a lot of tables and walked a couple of kilometres or more, depending on the size of the terrace. There's also a chance unless you keep an eye on clients that one, maybe two, will leave without paying unless you cash them up upon serving. Don't do that with the locals though, they won't like it. It's already getting very hot.

Then there's a welcome lull just before lunch, which allows you to set the tables. More trips with trays of glasses and boxes of cutlery etc. But this is just the calm before the storm, or should I say hurricane. It may be at this time that you will stop and eat lunch, although some places serve their employees after the midday service.

In the space of less than half an hour and starting from midday the terrace will be full of clients all waiting to be served. It's a curious fact of life that it's not because people are on holiday that they are not in a hurry to be served, and some of them can be quite impatient. So you take orders, usually two at the most at a time, and scurry inside to give the order to the kitchens. Then, don't forget to take out the drinks you have ordered earlier because the golden rule here is never go out or come back in with your hands empty or else you will find yourself panicking in the knowledge that you are falling behind.

It's a whirlwind of activity and tempers quickly become frayed. Take out dishes as soon as they are ready or the chef will bite your head off, and the same thing goes for drinks and desserts. Bread, water, drinks, food, cashing up, clearing tables off, seating new clients and starting all over again, your head will be full of things to do, not do, and not forget. There's so much to do and keep an eye on that it comes as a shock at first, so try and anticipate events and the progress of your tables. Stay calm. Also, the boss will be watching you with a keen and experienced eye, and if you can't hack it, well, it's a cruel and instant "thanks but no thanks, and au revoir." When will things slow down?!

After two whirlwind hours, and just when you're desperately wondering if it will ever end, the pace finally and thankfully slackens and you wonder how you're still able to stand. You've walked the equivalent of anything up to about seven or even eight kilometres during the many dozens, hundreds even, of toings and froings to the terrace and back. But then there's another nerve-racking moment when, just before taking a few hours off at around 14:30, you hand over the cash, cheques and credit card reciepts. Did you remember to cash everyone up? Maybe you didn't cash table 16 up? You'll know soon enough, and any shortfall is docked from your pay. Then it's off to rest and, probably, sleep a little. With anxious dreams of keeping hundreds of angry clients waiting.

Back on duty at about 6'ish, you will probably eat first. Then you will begin serving again, except this time it will be even harder than it was at lunch. First it's the helter-skelter madness of the evening meal service, when orders are often more complex and complete, which means even more toing and froing than you did at lunchtime. Try not to forget which dishes go to which tables. Remember to look after the more distant tables on your section. And try to get the balance right between exchanging a few quick and friendly words with clients and not speaking at all because you're hard-pressed for time. This is the worst part of the day because of the wide range of products you have to order and deliver. And, it lasts longer too.

Things finally do calm down a little however, at around 10pm, but no sooner do they do so than the terrace fills up again with people out for their evening stroll around, during which they stop for a cooling drink and/or ice-creams. Your tray is now full of tall glasses, bottles and ice-creams. It has to be full because if it isn't you're wasting time. The tray seems to weigh a ton and your arm aches.

This is when you will see how good, or bad, your memory is because table turnover is quicker and a lot of people want to order at once, so not only do you need to remember the orders of, say three of four tables when you go back in, you also have to decompose them into hot drinks, bottles, beers and ice-creams when ordering them to make the bar staff's job possible. Then, once out the door with yet another tray, you have to remember who ordered what, serve and cash them up, take new orders, clear off tables and go back in again. And you repeat this cycle over and over and over again. In busy places, all of this is done without you putting your tray down, or hardly.

It's now one in the morning thank the lord, and if you're lucky you can start taking all the tables and chairs in again. They seem to weigh even more than they did this morning. Next comes washing and cleaning the terrace and, often, the interior too. It's still very hot and you are dying to get your clothes off because they smell of food, and get under the shower. God knows how many kilometres you've done. Finally, you turn over the money, hopefully the correct amount, and leave. Back in your apartment you fall onto the bed, absolutely frazzled and wiped out. A shower is a must though, so you take one and go to bed, because you are getting up early tomorrow, just as you did today. You will sleep like a log.

This routine is repeated day after day, six days a week, week after week, and month after month. Under a hot sun. The first couple of weeks are very hard indeed because you're still learning the ropes and are still inefficient, much to your annoyance and embarrassment. As the weeks drag out however your system gets used to the pain and you begin to go to late-night bars with colleagues. Many waiters adopt the 'work hard play hard' principle and some nights can finish late. Which means not only do you not get enough sleep, you may have a hangover the next morning too. But what can one do? It's almost impossible not to want to relax and wind down after a long hard day. It becomes a vicious cycle.

It's a punishing job, and as the months go by you end up losing weight, your temper too occasionally, you look like a ghost, and life is one long tired daze. You get more and more irritable with clients and other staff. The job's no pleasure at this stage, and you're only staying thanks to a steely determination not to give up and walk away, head bowed and your tail between your legs.

It can be very tempting to pack it all in during the first month or so, and many first-time waiters who simply can't take the workload do just that. But if you can just hang on in there you will, at the end of the season, become a proud if totally exhausted member of the bona-fide summer servers fraternity. And after that you will go on a much-deserved holiday yourself and start looking at waiters with a professional eye and a different attitude.

So, think you can handle that, young friend of my sister's? If the answer is yes, then go for it, and good luck to you mate.

Welcome news on France's abusive stop and search laws

French police check the ID of a man with suspicious-looking glasses

The manner in which stop and search checks are carried out in France has long been a matter of serious public concern, because not only can the police stop and search anyone they wish, they do so with an almost total lack of accountability.

Police officers here are not currently required to identify themselves to those they are searching or whose ID they are checking, and nor do they wear their numbers or any other identifying insignia on their uniforms. This means that should they abuse their position of authority during checks it is very difficult to trace them afterwards. This has led to accusations that some officers may have the impression that they can get away with abusive behaviour.

Another major concern is that stop and search checks are carried out almost uniquely on the basis of racial profiling, despite police claims to the contrary. I have lost count of the number of checks I have witnessed over the years, but I cannot recall a single instance where the person being controlled was anything other than someone of Maghrebi, African, or other manifestly foreign origin.

But all this may soon be a thing of the past with the news, announced by Interior minister Manuel Valls and publically supported by Prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, that legislation is being prepared which will require police to issue a receipt to the person being controlled. Mandatory information would include the officer's name, number, details of where and when the check took place, and the name and racial origin of the person being controlled.

Police unions and other representatives are of course furious at this prospect, although they shouldn't be. They claim that they are being stigmatised as racists, but the introduction of this system will mean that they will have the chance to either prove that they are not, or change their ways if they are. Either way it will improve their image in the long term, given the results of trials carried out in other countries.

The statistical results of testing in other European countries clearly demonstrate that whereas checks clearly targeted ethnic minorities as a priority at first, tactics slowly changed over time, to the point where checks on indigenous members of the population are now more common than they were before, and they actually result in a higher conviction rate for offences than do checks on ethnic minorities.

This was a very courageous announcement for Valls to make, and not only because he admirably chose to state clearly that he had been directly inspired by Anglo-Saxon laws on the matter (French pride and politicians are normally loath to admit that they are influenced by anything Anglo-Saxon.)

The proposed legislation is also to be applauded because of its timing. The way in which French elections are organised - with just a few weeks separating the presidential and legislative parliamentary elections - means that that the country lives in a sort of legislative limbo during this period. This explains why President François Hollande has not yet unveiled some of the more controversial economic belt-tightening policies that he will be forced to announce once the elections are over.

Both he and Prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault are to be admired for their willingness to take an electoral risk vis-à-vis centrist and floating voters by backing Manuel Valls in his efforts to impose more police accountability for stop and search checks. The French police have, up to now, been relatively free to act anonymously, and I for one am happy that this era may soon be over.

Dieudonné, France's wannabe Antisemite hero

Dieudonné, showing off his well-aligned bottom teeth

Notorious French antisemite, 'comedian' and activist Dieudonné is not well known outside of France, but he is quite the star in countries such as Iran, which share his view that Israel should be destroyed. His latest attention-grabbing stunt was intended to get an antisemitic film to which he had contributed shown at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival, but the screening has been refused by the festival's organising bodies.

The film, Yahod Setiz, or 'Antisemite', as Shafi Agha Mohammadian, President of the Iranian production company DEFC (Documentary and Experimental Film Centre) put it, features a central character who plays a violent alcoholic who wears a Nazi uniform and hates every Jew alive. Shot in Iran, 'Antisemite' begins with a sequence which attempts to ridiculise the events which took place at Auschwitz.

All this explains why Dieudonné was so keen to offer production and marketing help to the DEFC. The decision to select him to help with the film's promotion was surely facilitated by an old French friend of his, the conspiracy theorist Thierry Meyssan, who has already co-produced two films for the DEFC and who runs the viciously antisemitic clearing house Réseau Voltaire.

And, of course, the film's content also explains why it was refused at Cannes, with a spokesman declaring that "Our general conditions forbid the presence of any film which may constitute a risk to public order or offend the public or those with religious convictions, as well as any film containing pornography or which is an incitation to violence." 'Antisemite' has also been banned from French cinemas.

Dieudonné (real name Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala) used to work in a a stage duo with the Jewish comedian Elie Semoun, but they separated in 1997 because of their increasingly divergent views. After this split Dieudonné began a prolific career as an antisemitic satirist which has continued to this day, and his latest stage production, Mahmoud (for Ahmadinejad), is a revisionist and antisemitic requisitory aimed at Jews, slavery, and the 'official' version of historical events. Violence is common both inside and outside those few venues which continue to accept him, and his theatre dates are often cancelled by local authorities due to the risk of violence, antisemitic content, or both. Many venues and towns refuse to accept his presence on stage.

Originally a left-wing antiracist, Dieudonné's political stance has radically changed over the years and he is now an avid supporter of the far-right National Front party, whose president in 2008, Jean-Marie le Pen, accepted to be named as the godfather of Dieudonné's third child in 2008.

His activities have not gone unnoticed however, and he has been physically attacked in public on several occasions. Also, he has been condemned in French courts on numerous occasions for defamation, the public insult of people of Jewish faith or origin, revisionism, and accusations that the Jews are slave traders.

But, in the name of free speech, should his film have been banned and, more widely, should he be banned from expressing his antisemitic views in French theatres and elsewhere? The answer is yes. France has laws which proscribe cultural events which may lead to public disorder, and it also has laws which condemn holocaust denial and racial insult. In other words, Dieudonné has given the authorities no choice.

So why does he continue to plan tours and public appearances which fall foul of the law and complain bitterly afterwards about 'censorship' after every banning? Is he really as indignant as that or is this the only way that he can continue to get funding for his propaganda efforts and productions in order to subsidise his rather privileged lifestyle, even though they are refused a wide audience?

I suspect the latter. After all, he may hog the limelight every now and again with his sad antics, but the fact is that he has an extremely limited following, even amongst France's Muslim population.

Dieudonné will go down in the infamous history book of destructive antisemitic thought as a two-bit rabble-rouser who made a lot of noise but achieved nothing, and that is exactly how it should be.

France's shameful treatment of its First Ladies

Screengrab from the Dail Mail (where else?)

Whatever else can be said about the petty and spiteful campaign which is grinding into gear against Valérie Trierweiler, François Hollande's girlfriend, it is surely safe to assume that she must have been expecting it. After all, the whole world and its dog knows that being a first lady in France these days automatically means having to put up with a permanent onslaught of snickering remarks, juvenile jibes and gratuitous slurs, and this first lady, like all of her recent predecessors, shall not be spared from them either.

You'd have to go back to the early Nineties and Danielle Mitterand to find a first lady who was not subjected to ridicule and insult, and this was partially due to the fact that her husband had an illegitimate child with another woman, so when the story came out one would have had to have a heart of stone not to sympathise with her. She was also the first president's wife under the Fifth Republic to refuse to remain anonymously in the shadow of her husband and her hard work for those in need won the admiration of many.

But although France's love affair with her was the first of its kind, it would also prove to be the last, as Jacques Chirac's wife found out to her cost.

Q. What does Bernadette Chirac do with her old dresses?
A. She wears them.

That well worn French bar joke may not have been excessively insulting compared to what happens today, but it does demonstrate that France had decided not to give her an easy ride. Why this was so is difficult to understand, and despite her rather traditional manner of dressing, she, like Mitterand, worked hard to make herself useful to her country instead of swanning around the Elysée like a wannabe queen.

She was elected as a public official for the first time in 1971, and has been an elected representative of the Corrèze region ever since. An active member of several associations formed to help young people even before her husband was elected president, she was also a founder member of the 'Pièces Jaunes' charity, which collected small change and used it to provide children in hospitals with better facilities. The charity is still active today.

So what went wrong? Theories abound of course, but the fact is that she quickly became the butt of many harsh remarks which were for the most part centered upon what was perceived as her old-fashioned style. The TV satire show 'Les Guignols' gave her a merciless drubbing, depicting her as a nagging old bore who spent all day sat in an armchair clutching her handbag, and her small change charity was ridiculed. Although none of this was truly nasty, it certainly installed a climate in which first ladies were accepted as being fair game for undeserved criticism, and the trend took a vicious turn for the worse in 2007.

Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz bacame Nicolas Sarkozy's second wife in 1996, and she was heavily involved in the successful campaign which ensured that he became president in 2007. This seemingly-idyllic situation didn't last long however and she was crucified by France's highly macho press and society when it was revealed that she had had an affair in 2005, although, and by way of contrast, having an affair - and an illegitimate child - did nothing to harm François Mitterand's reputation, on the contrary. 'Whore', 'slut', 'bitch', nothing was too unkind, and she was constantly pilloried from then on.

She tried to battle on however, and must have thought she would be at least partially exonerated for her past 'crime' when, in July 2007, she almost single-handedly secured the release of 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who had been sentenced to death in Libya for allegedly infecting babies with HIV deliberately. But she had not counted upon the cowardly willingness of the Socialists, who, uniquely to get at Sarkozy, demanded a parliamentary inquiry into what she had done, accusing her of not respecting 'protocols.' The press and public followed suit, and she was roundly condemned for her 'arrogance' and 'wanting to hog the limelight.' To France's eternal shame, almost nobody tried to defend her by pointing out that she had, after all, most probably saved these people's lives and that her doing so depended precisely upon her having the courage to step outside of dusty diplomatic protocol, roll her sleeves up, and get the job done. But all that was to no avail, it was time for her to go, and go she did when she and Sarkozy divorced later that year.

Next up to the plate, of course, was Carla Bruni, who was doomed from the start thanks to a combination of her intelligence, good looks, and Sarkozy's massive unpopularity. Many males in this male-dominated country were soon showing their schizophrenic approach to women by secretly wishing they could sleep with her on one hand, and calling her a 'pop star's hooker' and a 'nymphomaniac' on the other. Women joined in the chorus of course, doubtless seething at the fact that a woman could do what they never managed to do, which was to be an independent person.

I remember watching one of the many anti-Sarkozy demonstrations by schoolchildren and students which occured here in Lyon during Sarkozy's presidency, and hearing them chant "Carla Carla, we're just like you, we too get fucked by the president." A new low. Her impeccable performance at a state ceremony in the presence of the Queen of England, which was largely praised by the British press, resulted in a chorus of "well if the British love her so much they can have her." Like her predecessors, Bruni too was (still is) highly committed to causes such as children in need, HIV research and others, and she was an ambassador to the U.N. on these issues. However, that didn't stop the stream of vitriol which followed the publication of a nude shot of her taken back in her modelling days, and nor did it stop a French company selling a range of bags with that image on them. Bruni successfully sued the company concerned. Bruni's treatment at the hands of France was petty, shoddy, and rather seedy in character.

But we have a new president now, and that means a new first lady, Valérie Treirweiler. A Sorbonne political science graduate, she was well known for years as a pugnacious TV political talk-show host with no particular enemies. But that was before she met and began a relationship with François Hollande, and her sin was to have begun her affair at the tail end of Hollande's relationship with Ségolène Royal, in 2006, although their relationship with Hollande wasn't made official until October 2010.

The first sign that she was not liked in some circles came in October 2011 when French weekly L'Express published a story which alleged that her past life was the object of a secret investigation by the Intelligence branch of the Paris police. She sued 'a person or persons unknown' for illegally collecting information on her, and the ensuing investigation concluded that the file on her past life was a forgery. Investigations are ongoing as of today, but the ball was already rolling.

Various rumours and insults began turning up on blogs and in the press, and the spotlight on her became even harsher in intensity as the presidential elections approached. Her no-nonsense approach to her support of Hollande's campaign irked many of the male campaign team, and she soon became known as 'The Rottweiler.' Relatively benign it may have been as criticism, but a hapless sports journalist who used that epithet in a sexist tweet about her soon found out that she could indeed bite, and hard. Phone calls were made, things were said, and the journalist was fired.

Trierweiler got herself in the news again just after Hollande's election, when well-known socialist Deputé Julien Drey turned up at campaign headquarters to congratulate Hollande on his victory. He didn't even manage to get past the door because she, upon seeing him, booted him out in unceremonious fashion. His error had been to invite DSK to his birthday bash between the two rounds of voting, thereby embarrassing Hollande just at the moment when Sarkozy was catching up in the polls. She went from Rottweiller to bitch and dragon in a blink of the press and Internet's eye.

All this media exposure finally came to the attention of Samantha Brick, who gave her a roasting in the Daily Mail. Accusing Trierweiler (and all French women along with her, but that's by-the-by) of being a brazen man-stealer who sees "nothing wrong in long-term and persistant infidelity", Brick amply demonstrated that it's not just men who dislike French first ladies. This story was picked up by French left-wing online daily RUE89, who published a rather forgiving if vaguely ironic article about Brick's piece under the headline "In praise of French women - sluts", thus throwing more fuel and innuendo onto the flames.

So here we are, less than two weeks after the election, and the French tradition of slagging off first ladies seems set to continue.Treirweiler has all the ingredients to ensure that a long-lasting campaign of denigration and insult will be aimed at her, and she hasn't seen anything yet. France's treatment of its first ladies is no credit to French society and it highlights the more machist and sexist attitudes that persist even today in this Catholic and Latin country, which, while pardoning men for their infidelities, violently dislikes any woman who even has the temerity to assert herself in public, never mind change partners.

One last thought. Not only has nothing been written about the fact that it takes two to tango, which means that Hollande too was guilty of 'infidelity', the French, whilst disliking her, actually respect him enough to vote him in as president. But he's a man of course.....

Hollande's choice of Ayrault for PM was a 'normal' one

'We are the Champions my (normal) Friend"

Few people outside of France had heard of Jean-Marc Ayrault before he was appointed as Prime minister by the newly-elected and self-styled 'normal' president, François Hollande. Indeed, he was hardly a household name even here in France. So how and why did this relatively discreet socialist end up as the second most powerful man in France?

Ayrault was born to working-class parents 61 years ago and was educated in the state school system before obtaining a degree in German and becoming a German teacher. Politics soon beckoned however, and he joined the Socialist party in 1971. Being elected as Mayor of Saint-Herblain in 1977 meant that he was the youngest mayor, at 27, of any town with a population of over 30,000, and it was was onwards and upwards from then on.

His work as mayor and as a regional councillor for the Loire-Atlantique region was well appreciated and that made it inevitable that he would eventually be selected as a parliamentary candidate. And so it was that he became the Deputé for Loire-Atlantique in 1986 before going on to be re-elected four times. He was also elected four times as Mayor of Nantes, starting in 1989. Perhaps his biggest achievement however was being chosen as President of the Socialist parliamentary group in 1997, and he remained in this post until Hollande appointed him as Prime minister two days ago.

Although Ayrault's career path had always followed a steady and upwards trajectory, he was hardly a political meteorite, and the French public were largely unaware of his activities. This is because he always remained faithful to his region and city, never actively looking to get himself parachuted into, say, a seat in Paris, where he would have been more exposed to the media. Nor did he ever push noisily for the party leadership. At the same time his relative discretion in a party which has always been characterised by noisy and nasty internecine spats ensured that he remained largely hidden from public scrutiny.

All of which explains why Ayrault's name was almost never to be seen in political popularity polls, and it's also why he never figured in polls which asked the public to choose a Socialist prime minister in the event that Holland would win the election. And even after Hollande's election, when Holland aides began leaking Ayrault's name as a possible contender, he was far from being the public's choice, probably because so little was known about him compared to the favourites - Martine Aubry, Manuel Valls and Laurent Fabius.

What the public and the press were unaware of however, was that Hollande was not looking for a popular figure to become Prime minister. He wanted a centre-leftist like himself, a man capable of a consensual approach, and Ayrault is exactly that, a hard-working party workhorse who has adopted a docile centre-left line since he was elected mayor for the first time. He also supported Hollande unfailingly during the campaign. All three favourites were eliminated because none of them are naturally consensual, Valls being to far to the right, Aubry too far to the left, and Fabius too much of a maverick, and none of them could be trusted to implement Hollande's wishes down to the last letter.

In choosing Jean-Marc Ayrault, Hollande has chosen a reassuring and uncontroversial figure, and that is essential to the policy line he will adopt for the upcoming legislative elections. It is no means a given that the Socialists will win, but Ayrault, as well as being someone who will not rock the boat or cause controversy, is also someone who could appeal to centrists such as Bayrou supporters. His relative modesty will be needed to persuade voters that the tandem he represents with Hollande shall be a 'normal' one which is capable of getting down to work without being distracted by petty squabbles or controversial outbursts.

After five years of Sarkozy's bling-bling wrecking-ball style, Hollande is striving to come across as a 'normal' president, with a 'normal' Prime minister, and that, after all, is not only quite 'normal', it could also prove to be very effective.