Thursday, May 03, 2012

Bad Tempered Gauls


Twenty million French stayed home yesterday to watch a televised contest. In the Blue corner, Nicolas Sarkozy, 57, the current champion. Defeated once in a lesser skirmish, he came to the ring bad-temperedly thirsting for the blood of Francois Hollande in the Red corner, who bloodied his nose last time out. Not bad for a marshmallow.
Sarkozy hoped that his political boxing skills – he’s known to be a bit of a bruiser – would demolish his rival in the early stages. But, the wrestling skill of his opponent and the essential requirement of a cool head proved more than a match for the champ’s best shots.
It’s always worrying when the media use words like ‘vowing’ when discussing political promises. Nevertheless, Mr Sarkozy, it would appear, is ‘vowing to boost industrial competitiveness, hold referenda on contentious policies, crack down on tax exiles and make the unemployed retrain as a condition for receiving benefits’. No details are given as to how he hopes to achieve these elaborate goals, but, there you go. Politics is politics.

More recently, seeking to court the 6.4 million National Front voters, he has further vowed to cut immigration and threatened to pull out of Europe’s Schengen zone of passport-free travel unless the European Union’s external borders are strengthened. A transparently nutritionless sop to Cerberus, I think, not for a moment enough to satisfy the voracious appetites of the Far Right. His nemesis, the formidable le Pen woman, has still not placed her bets for the big event in a few days time, despite the legendary seduction techniques of Mr Big Nose.

Mr Hollande reminds me of John Major. Plodding, agricultural and inoffensive, he appeals to the ‘none of the above’ faction in France more than having anything constructive to offer as credible opposition policy. His slogans are bleating rather than thunderous. He seems less comfortable on the media whirligig than Sarkozy whose media wizardry is legendary, but, is Sarkozy, like melancholy Macbeth…

..a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.  It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
 — Macbeth (Act V, Scene V)

The clever money was probably right, a draw. The vox populi has yet to be heard, however and Sarkozy doesn’t have the persuasively unifying skills of Vercingetorix. Five to four on the grey gelding next week. And, no comments about the cartoon, please. Not before breakfast.



3 comments:

  1. If one does not want comments, one should not invite them by using illustrations which simply beg remark.

    Nevertheless, I shall refrain as any comment I might make would cause the Gaul (the real one in wings and red vest) to look bad. And we don't want that. I am inspired to go and find a supply of Asterix, though. It's been a long time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmmm, the Gauls chose, not really a man but rejected the previous one. Though Hollande, whose nickname is Flanby,( the name of an industrial gelified custard with caramel), with the help of Dukan diet and more fitted suits, seems to have gained confidence, some even used the word "charisma" which I find a bit "too much"....On the other side, on his last talk, Sarkozy seemed to have lost his endless nervous tics, maybe the weigh over his neck and shoulder shoulders magically vanished.
    Hollande gave a bunch of red roses to a beaming first Lady, non marital sin is entering the Elysee after the voiceless guitar scratching-friend of rockstard heiress...
    At the same time, his ex wive, who lost last time to Sarlozy seemed a gentlewoman on national TV
    We also discovered their older son, Thomas, a young lawyer. Surrounded by bikers-journalists, he took the metro with young militants to go party on the Bastille, my young neighbour even got pinkcheeked over him...
    Right now I am listening to the radio, a young guy says his grandmother cried, believing the bolcheviks tanks where "en route" to Paris
    Yesterday I spent the day with a 75000+ brand new Audi owner, a boss of several companies who had voted Holland, this is what France is...

    And now, back to reality, Monday morning, the right wing"Real Workers" go back to work with the left wing "Lazy Workers", (a lot of comments near the coffee machine in a country where most people would rather be caught dead than telling how much they earn and who they vote for), believe it or not, the last week's endless rain even stopped...

    And this is for those who might consider relocating to France soon :
    http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/galeries-photos/election-presidentielle-2012/20120506.OBS4801/en-images-de-tulle-a-bastille-la-gauche-en-fete.html#photo

    Gipsy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Comme toujours, remarques Gipsy sont prescient et la Nouvelle Gauche est peut-être aussi les nouveaux chats gras. Je pense qu'il ne faut pas faire confiance à des propriétaires d'Audi - ils sont placard pilotes Ferrari et de la Place de la Concorde a besoin de moins d'entre eux, pas plus.
    Si je pense à déménager en France, je pense que Gipsy pourrait être une personne intéressante à connaître. H'm.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.