5 h. ago I was 31, burned out, and single. Would a string of dates with French men bring back my joie de vivre?

I was working 80-hour weeks and having no luck on the New York singles scene. A move to Europe opened my mind – and helped me find love in the most unexpected place“Tu es où?” I texted, peeking out the balcony to see if he was near. I checked my lipstick in the mirror over the mantelpiece. Then fretted whether my kindergarten-level French was off-putting.“I’m coming,” he texted. And before I could wonder about inviting a strange man to my home for a first date in a foreign country, Thomas knocked. Soon after we exchanged la bise and he took off his layers of winter gear, I realised he was even more attractive than his Tinder photos, with messy blond hair and a glimpse of ultra-defined abs. While fetching wine as insouciantly as I could, inside my head I was screaming: “The plan is working!” Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Opp 12 no 2 & 96 album review – sheer joie de vivre

(Signum)Viktoria Mullova and Alasdair Beatson end their cycle of Beethoven violin sonatas with energised and immaculate performancesViktoria Mullova began her cycle of the Beethoven violin sonatas partnered by Kristian Bezuidenhout, but Alasdair Beatson has been the pianist for the last three instalments. They end the series with a pairing of the second of the Op 12 set in A major with the last of the sonatas, in G. All of the performances use historical instruments, with Mullova playing her gut-strung 1750 Guadagnini and using a classical bow, while here Beatson plays a different keyboard for each sonata. For the rather Mozartian Op 12 no 2 he uses a copy of a Walter fortepiano made in 1805, seven years after the sonata was composed; while for the much more ambitious keyboard writing of Op 96 it’s a copy of a Graf from 1819.What is common to the performances of both sonatas is the sheer joie de vivre of the playing. Everything seems energised, and if the precision and immaculate en...

Politics

3 w. ago Macron played with fire by razing the political middle ground. Now France is burning | Jules Darmanin

He promised to break the mould, but with his hubristic disdain for left and right – and for voters – the president has entrenched instabilityIn his 2016 manifesto Revolution, the then-presidential candidate, Emmanuel Macron, accused France’s “fossilised political apparatus” of dangerously paving the way for Marine Le Pen’s rise to power. “The political class and the media are a band of sleepwalkers who refuse to see what is coming their way,” he wrote, “so we see the same faces and we hear the same speeches.” He pledged to throw away the old playbook and gather behind him “progressive reformers who believe that the destiny of France is to embrace modernity.”The fresh face of pro-EU liberalism swept to power the following year on a promise of radical change to bring France into the 21st century.Jules Darmanin is a French journalist Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago French PM François Bayrou expected to be ousted in confidence vote

Opposition parties planning to remove centrist and bring down minority government after just nine monthsThe French prime minister, François Bayrou, is expected to be ousted in a confidence vote on Monday afternoon, plunging the eurozone’s second biggest economy into political crisis.Opposition parties from the left to the far right have made clear they will vote against the 74-year-old centrist, meaning he and his minority government would fall after only nine months in office. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Roads turn into white rivers of ice in French tourist town as freak storms bring European summer to an end

The Hautes-Alpes community was battered on Thursday evening by the extreme weather system that Météo-France calls 'the most violent and devastating type of isolated storm.'

Events

last month French air traffic control strikes to bring CHAOS for millions across Europe

Talks between France's Civil Aviation Authority and SNCTA, which represents air traffic controllers in France have proved 'fruitless', with hundreds of flights set to be affected.

Events

last month Love Con Revenge review – the followup to The Tinder Swindler is deeply anticlimactic

This show catches up with one of the defrauded women in one of Netflix’s most-watched documentaries ever, in her new life battling scammers. Sadly, the results don’t make for great TVWell here’s a first, I think – a spin-off from a true-crime documentary starring the original victim as she goes about her new life as an avenging angel. Cecilie Fjellhøy fell victim to Simon Leviev, who would become known to the masses as the Tinder Swindler via a 2022 Netflix documentary of the same name. She lent $200,000 to a man she met online and considered her boyfriend, who appeared to be (and she did her due Google diligence) a billionaire member of the Leviev Israeli diamond dynasty. In fact, his real name was Shimon Hayut and his apparent wealth came from a string of women he had previously dated and defrauded. The film was nominated for five Emmys, is said to be Netflix’s most watched documentary, and the title has since become a byword for online scammers who practise manipulative and emoti...

Politics