Two strikes of note in France at the moment. The air traffic controllers in and around Paris are protesting against plans to merge the 3 Parisien centres into one. Fortunately it is affecting flights to & from Orly at the moment, so apart from an outbound delay, my own cross-channel trip on Monday was unaffected.
And today, another protest strike. Staff at state-owned television & radio stations are demanding assurances that plans to do away with adverts from next year will not affect funding. The government wants a system 'more like the BBC'. Hmm, peu de chance...
Meanwhile Sarkozy still dominates the headlines. However, temporarily at least, Monsieur is being overshadowed by Madame and junior. Mme Sarkozy III gave an interview to a weekly magazine yesterday, in which she railed against the web site that published the alleged text message, and wondered whether "if such internet site had existed during the war, would there have been denunciations of Jews?"
She has now issued a swift apology...
Sarkozy fils is also much in the news at the moment, showing every sign that he is following closely in Papa's footsteps, following a party revolt in Dad's old constituency of Neuilly-sur-Seine. The UMP party hierarchy wanted to 'parachute' one of Monsieur le Président's key advisors into the party list in Neuilly for the forthcoming municipal elections, but the local party wasn't happy. And Jean Sarkozy was one of the leaders of the rebellion, by inference, against his father. A successful rebellion, at that...
And finally, RIP, Henri Salvador, France's most venerable and much loved singer. Still performing and recording at the age of 90, and remembered for his velvet voice and indefatiguable good humour, accompanied always by a cackling laugh.
