French Election – Needull in a haystack

airfrancecorsica

This is an anecdote. The writer is very clear about where his support lies in the French election. Good short read.

I asked him where he was from and he said Corsica. The Corsicans, he explained, were “the most dangerous people in the world,” and he showed me the tiny knives tattooed on his shoulder. I can’t be sure, but I believe each represented someone he had killed. I asked him if he had enjoyed his time in India and he said, “I hate it.” He was “too sensitive,” he explained: the poverty hurt his feelings. I asked if he had liked the food, at least, and he replied, “French food is the best in the world.” When I suggested this was a matter of opinion, he banged his fist on the pullout tray and said: “NO. IT IS KNOWN.”

The complete article

Rajeev Balasubramanyam — the Paris Review

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Marine Le Pen celebrates at a Front National rally after the presidential election first round

With French elections round the corner, Marine Le Pen has become one of the most talked about politicians. This longread looks at how she has played the media to her advantage.

All politics is storytelling, and all responsible political journalism attempts to account for this, or at least make it plain. Le Pen and her party have long sought to tell a story about the media themselves. This places the journalist in the difficult position of being at once subject and object: they can no longer perform their duties from behind the comfortable myth of neutrality; they are called to speak about themselves, account for their work. And if they are honest, they will be obliged to acknowledge the possibility of contradictions and flaws. Le Pen has intuited this weakness, and understands how to exploit it. If she cannot have what she wants from the media, then, she knows she can at least have her way with it.

The complete article

Scott Sayare — The Guardian

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