Last week saw the end of a much-treasured French tradition - the inclusion of the département number in new vehicle registration numbers. It was going to disappear from registration plates entirely, but the announcement of the introduction of the new style numbers last year invoked such a furore that the government backtracked slightly. The style of the new numbers remains unchanged - a rather boring 2 letters, 3 digits, 2 letters, compared to the old style 3/4 digits, 2/3 letters, followed by the 2 digit numéro du département - but the new plates will now also contain an optional department number (and regional logo) which isn't part of the immatriculation, and can be changed.
There is quite a strongly developed sense of regional identity in France (no different to anywhere else, no doubt), and the numéro du département on number plates was something people seemed extraordinarily fond of. For instance, the Rhône and thus Lyon is 69 (to which I have to admit to a certain naughty attachment myself), so spot another 69 registered car on the autoroute, and you know 'ah, there's a fellow lyonnais', or as 75-registered car roars past being driven without regard for other road users, you know it's a Parisian.
Elsewhere, Sarkozy was doing his usual bull in a china shop impression last week. At a lunch with an all-party group of MPs, he treated his fellow diners to his opinions on fellow world-leaders. Ranging from 'lacks experience' on Obama, 'she came round to my opinion' on Merkel, to 'perhaps not very intelligent' on Zapatero, the Spanish PM. Not surprisingly, as members of the opposition were present, news soon leaked out. Initially government spokesmen denied any such comments, but in the face of an overwhelming number of witnesses, the tune soon changed to 'the comments were misinterpreted'. Suprisingly, the news initially received rather low-key coverage here, at least until Ségolène Royal's recent apology to Spain 'on behalf of the French people', which has created an significantly large storm than le Président's comments in the first place. The Ségo-Sarko show rolls on...
