LIKE ANY OTHER SENSITIVE human being, I am in a state of dismay over the recent events in Paris, but am even more moved by a concern over the fact that this is the sixth time this year that (apparent and alleged) terrorists have been able to pierce the protective sheath around the French state and slaughter innocents willy-nilly.
SHIFTY FRENCH PRESIDENT FRANÇOIS HOLLANDE may have a nice line on poetic discourse, as well as being excellent at keeping a low profile when the chips are down, but it is clear -- as it should have been to the French people when he was elected -- that he is simply not up to the job of looking after the most pervious nation on the continent.
I AM PREPARED TO ACCEPT that the French do not mind having a leader who is an out-and-out thief, as has been the case with most of their recent presidents, because this seems to satisfy their Latin ancestry, but to my mind it is to say the least unorthodox to expect a man who cannot decide which of his mistresses he wishes to shag to be able to direct a war.
A WAR, AS HOLLANDE pointed out in a flowery albeit badly delivered speech yesterday, which France would once again win. Hollande is a lawyer by training, has never had a proper job in his life, and obviously knows nothing about history.
IF HE DID, HE WOULD KNOW that when France threatens war no one is shaking at the knees. France lost World War II; France lost World War I; France lost the Franco-Prussian War; and France even managed to lose the French Civil War shortly after the French Revolution, when they ended up being governed by a Corsican who turned the Republic into an Empire.
WE ARE HEARING A GOOD DEAL about France's absurd, and never implemented, claims to egalité, liberté and fraternité prevailing over the terrorists and their aims at destroying civilisation. Anyone who has been on the streets of Paris in recent years knows that, far from being the "city of lights", it is light years away from civilisation. And that it is about time we had a little more securité and CCTVé
