The Secret of a Successful French Film:

The success of the new silent movie, The Artist, at the Golden Globes was impressive. But in all the coverage I had no idea that it was a French film, It was @PeterAllenParis who pointed it out to me.


How to make a successful French film?


Simple, have no dialogue at all.

Race crimes rise in France/Anti Semitism too

I was lead to this story by a tweet from New Statesman politics editor Mehdi Hasan

France, 2009-2010: 6% rise in violent crime. 119% rise in racist crimes. What do French police do? Arrest veiled women.

It is a nice piece of staggersish demotic. Sounds pretty appalling and highlights how ghastly the French are over the Burka ban.

Rise in racist attacks

Another grim statistic published Monday was the amount of racist crime in France. A government agency counted 1026 acts of racist violence or threats of racist violence in 2009, most of which were directed against North Africans. This was up from 467 in 2008.

But take a look at the numbers, following this quote comes this,

Six mosques were attacked, which was two more than in 2008.

According to statistics, anti-Semitic violence had also risen from 459 reported acts or threats of violence to 815. Thirty attacks were also made against French synagogues in 2009.

So there is an almost equally staggering increase in attacks against Jews,  What we do not hear is a break down of those who have committed these crimes. But I don't think that anybody would be surprised if there were a link between those burka clad lovelies and the anti-semetic attacks. We do not know from this report the increase in the attacks on synagogues, but I would guess that the attacks against the Jews are more dare I say targetted, more 'racist' in intention on average than most of those against North Africans.

I may be wrong as the French state is very selective about the data it produces on such matters, but call it an educated guess.

What is going on with this Anglo/French Defence Treaty?

Richard North writes with magisterial venom today about the Defence Treaty being signed at Lancaster House.

the great greasy-pole merchant Liam Fox - so ambitious he would sell his mother for a farthing if it bought preferment - has sold us out to the forces of European integration, cosying up to his euroslime master Cameron in the process.

Tell us as if you mean it Richard, (or should I call you Ricard in these moments?), he then goes on to explain how, depsite the blandishment of the craven fools in Government and  their cheerleaders why this is a European Union project, not a bilateral one,

Needless to say, this "new" Combined Joint Expeditionary Force is not new. It is simply a battle group, along the lines agreed in 2004 as the core part of the European Rapid Reaction Force.

Yes it was always part of the plan,

This is a continuation of the Maastricht Treaty agenda, as this briefing note makes clear. Agreed by the Tories under John Major, this set up the parameters for the development of a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The process continued with the Franco-British meeting in Saint-Malo (France) in December 1998. That was when London and Paris agreed to jointly and actively work to make the European Union "able to carry out some security tasks on its own".


During the period 1999-2003, the EU set up relevant political-military structures to assess, decide, plan and execute military operations and now it is "moving ahead" to embark on a "second round". And that is what this is, the "second round" - building the ESDP, planning and organising new military "cooperation" and integration among EU member states. The current move is the Trojan Horse or, as the "colleagues" say, the catalyst.

Over at the Telegraph we have an extraordinary letter defending the decision,

As the French and British governments seek to maintain military capabilities during the toughest spending climate in living memory, it is essential that greater co-operation be on the agenda at today’s summit.

It whiffles on and concludes,

Anglo-French defence cooperation offers an obvious way forward which we cannot afford to ignore. The security of Britain, France and Europe is at stake.

Utterly denying the facts that this is an EU inspired Treaty. and the signatories, it is a  list of the European elite, names that should and will be remembered. In 1940 Cato wrote the famous book "The Guilty Men" then it was about appeasement, today we have a new list, emblazoned in the Telegraph,

Roland Rudd

Chairman, Business for New Europe
Claude Bébéar
President, Institut Montaigne
Sir Richard Branson
Chairman, Virgin Group
Major General Tim Cross (retd)
Sir Richard Dearlove
Head, Secret Intelligence Service 1999-2004
Etienne de Durand
French Institute of International Relations
Charles Grant
Director, Centre for European Reform
Sir John Grant
UK Permanent Representative to the EU 2003-2007
Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank
Chief of the Defence Staff 1997-2001
Professor Stephen Haseler
Director, Global Policy Institute
François Heisbourg
Special adviser, Foundation for Strategic Research
Lord Jay of Ewelme
Former head, Diplomatic Service
Mark Leonard
Director, European Council on Foreign Relations
Karine Lisbonne-de Vergeron
Fellow, Global Policy Institute, London
Peter Luff
Chairman, European Movement
Lord Maclennan of Rogart
Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesman
Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge
Chairman, Nomura International
Dominique Moïsi
Professor, College of Europe and Harvard University
Contre-Amiral Michel Picard
Former head, Force de Frappe
Vice-Amiral Patrice Puy-Montbrun
Sir Mike Rake
Chairman, BT
Lord West of Spithead
First Sea Lord 2002-2006
John Stevens
Chairman, Europachannel
Bruno Tertrais
Foundation for Strategic Research

Elsewhere here may be answer as to why UK Aircraft carriers will carry French planes, they are desperate for a market, according to the FT,

Even more worrying is the continuing dearth of export orders for the Dassault Rafale multi-role combat aircraft.


France has yet to win an export order for the Rafale. It has been trying for a decade without success. Securing a foreign order for this combat aircraft is not just a matter of prestige for the French. After all, Serge Dassault, the veteran controlling shareholder of the eponymous aircraft maker, is also a senator and member of the governing UMP party and owner of Le Figaro, the slavishly pro-Sarkozy newspaper.

But there are more important reasons why Rafale export sales are so crucial. Exports would reduce the overall cost of the programme at the same time as providing funds to help finance new research and technology. Without exports, there is the risk that France would no longer be able to ensure the autonomy of its military aircraft industry, especially when the time eventually comes to develop a replacement for the Rafale.

Last, but not least, failure to export the combat aircraft will put further stress on the country’s already stretched Treasury. Indeed, the French Defence Ministry has decided to order 11 additional Rafales next year earlier than scheduled to ensure that production lines keep running. This will cost the taxpayer an extra €800m ($1.1bn).

It is not for lack of trying on the part of the president that France has so far failed to place an export order for the Rafale.

Who voted for this? Did anybody? Did any man or woman put their cross in a Tory box on election day and imagine that all this would come about? Of course not. Sadly they have only themselves to blame as it is not as if they werwe not warned. The warnings of course were dimissed as scare mongering by UKIP.

Well who is scared now?

Frenchy speaks with forked tongue

Who said this in May 2004?

I belong to the Gaulliste family which, wrongly or rightly, has always regarded the popular referendum as one of the most important expressions, indeed the most important expression, of Democracy.

And this in March 2005,

President Jacques Chirac chose the referendum. It was a good decision. A decision which will make it possible each one of us to take our responsibilities by expressing our opinion. To give a say to a sovereign people seems infinitely less risky to me than to try to advance Europe without asking the opinion of those who live it daily. If the European Constitution is, as I believe it to be, a major stage on the slow and patient construction of the Union, no one could understood and even less admit that a vote for all is not held

The same man who said this in November 2007,

"A referendum now would bring Europe into danger. There will be no Treaty if we had a referendum in France, which would again be followed by a referendum in the UK."

Harvey's law strikes again.

There is a politician more deluded than Gordon

I thought our ursine PM was bad, but this, reported by AFP really is in cloud-coockoo land,

In a New Year’s message delivered live from the Elysee presidential palace, Sarkozy said the task of reforming the country was “huge, given that France is lagging so far behind the rest of the world”.“But believe me, my resolve is unfailing,” said Sarkozy, dressed in a dark suit and tie, and seated next to a French flag.“Despite the obstacles, despite the difficulties, I will do what I promised to do,” he vowed.

With France set to take the helm of the European Union in the second half of 2008, Sarkozy said the country was ready to take on a role as a leading player in the world.“Let France lead the way! This is what the people of the entire world expect from her,” he said. “Our Old World needs a new Renaissance. Well then, let France be the soul of this Renaissance! This is my warmest wish for the year to come.”

Looking back on his first months in office, Sarkozy said he had tackled the most “urgent” tasks such as tax reform and bringing France back into the European fold with a proposed new EU treaty.“With the start of 2008, a new phase is beginning,” said the president, adding that the next measures would underpin what he called a “policy of civilisation” that deals more broadly with societal issues.The president said that despite a gloomy economic outlook due to the financial crisis, “the first results of the measures undertaken should begin to take hold”.

And a happy New Year

What is it with the French and Car-Be-Queus? New Year was celebrated in the traditional fashion in Alsace. Crowds of youths gathered round open fires in the streets of Strasbourg and Colmar and warmed themselves on ignited private property.

Dozens of cars were set alight in France’s eastern Alsace region during the New Year celebrations overnight yesterday.In the city of Strasbourg alone, 50 vehicles were set alight, French radio in Strasbourg reported.However, the situation was contained and there were no reports of clashes between gangs of youths and police.In Upper Alsace and in Colmar, known for its social problems, 46 vehicles were set alight and eight people were arrested.

Would it be predudicial to wonder exactly what those social problems were, after al the article goes into no details. However it does tell us about a remarkable new technological developement in fire fighting.

We all know about drones, those unmanned aircraft that can be hooked up with cameras and weaponry in order to provide security to our forces.

The police deployed so-called drones to curb the attacks. The small unmanned planes can put out flames from 500m.

The riots are nothing new in France indeed, "Sociologists refer to such events on New Year’s Eve as a “French speciality”.

Though not so special that the Germans can't join in.

Bad Losers anyone? or perfidious France

Ok, after the game on Saturday, there we were shaking hands and drinking beer together,

"Well done, mon brave" said one distraught Frenchman,

"A la prochain" said the next.

But that was just amongst rugby fans who, as a matter of course know how to behave. However there are darker and deeper forces at work, as we now discover. Yes, of course, French transport unions. They have announced a strike that will of course disrupt Eurostar tomorrow with knock on effects on Friday and through the weekend.

And at the time I didn't even smirk at the tears of Chabal.

He goes with a bang not a whimper

Noted in the comment forum over at the Brussels Journal, from the Wall Street Journal (sub)

French President Jacques Chirac is about to leave office, but not without an encore pot-stirrer in China. Yesterday in Beijing, his Defense Minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, said, "The EU arms embargo on China can no longer be justified and should be lifted." Translation from the French: It's time to start cashing in on weapons sales.

Ms. Alliot-Marie says Paris isn't interested in selling arms to Beijing and that EU and French regulations would in any case restrict sales. Lifting the embargo is a matter of "principle," she says. While on the subject of principle, she didn't mention the dissidents who are still in jail 18 years after Tiananmen Square or any of Beijing's other human-rights abuses. Nor did she note China's double-digit increases in military spending in recent years and the lack of transparency about how it is spending that money.

I couldn't put it better myself.