French media in a dither over minister's baby

The French have finally been told that Rachida Dati, President Sarkozy's Justice Minister, is expecting a baby. The story is a chance to look at the way that France is tangled up between modern celebrity culture and the old taboos that protect privacy -- and especially its ruling class. [See Wednesday update at end. Thursday update: Aznar says he's not the Daddy]

As I mentioned here on Monday, Dati's condition has been the talk of the internet and Paris newsrooms for a month. Palace officials have now given the nod to the media to break the news. They have also been warned against intrusion into the life of the glamorous, 42-year-old whose rise from immigrant ghetto to Cabinet star is one of the feel-good tales of the Sarkozy administration.

Dati's condition is front page today in the celebrity magazines. What none offers, of course, is the identity of the father. The unmarried Dati, for whom this is a first child, has projected her Cinderella life story in the media, appearing on chat shows with her Moroccan-Algerian parents. But she brooks no other reporting of her life.

As Renaud Revel, a commentator on France-Inter radio, says on his blog: "The German or Anglo-Saxon press would have x-rayed Rachida Dati's pregnancy, to the point of producing the father's ID papers and his DNA. The French media are kept at a distance.... The father has been known to all the newsrooms for weeks. But not a line, not a name...not the slightest allusion has appeared, even on the net."

VSD magazine, which features the minister on its cover, writes coyly today: "She was seen for a time close to a French business leader. His entourage talks of a passionate and stormy relationship, doubtless now over. She was seen last December sunning herself on an island with another CEO who is a friend of the president."

What are readers supposed to make of that ? To satisfy curiosity here, the first companion was Henri Proglio, boss of Veolia Environment, and the man on the beach was Dominique Desseigne,chief of the Barrière casino and hotel empire.

You can argue that France's legally-enforced respect for privacy is healthy. Why should the public know who is a minister's partner? Media stars such as television news presenters, are after all happy to use the privacy law to protect themselves from gossip.

There is a simple answer to that. It is the same one that is applied to Sarkozy's private life. Dati, like Sarkozy, has long played the celebrity game, mixing her personal life with professional. She invites curiosity by  appearing on chat shows and posing clad in Chanel in glamour shots for glossy magazines.

French media bosses defend their respect for public figures' private lives, contrasting it with the voyeuristic excesses of the "Anglo-Saxons". But they also relay every juicy detail that comes across the frontier. Sarah Palin's "baby-gate" has received full play here, though she would never have been troubled about her daughter if she were a French politician.  And the distinction is fast fading at home, now that the politicians and media have gone so far down the celebrity track together. The complete silence on the identify of Dati's partner looks more like old-fashioned deference to the governing class.

Update: Dati has given an interview to selected French journalists to announce her happy event. She says that she will not speak about the father. "I have a complicated private life and this is the limit that I fix for myself with regard to the media. I will say nothing about this," she said.   

There was another, related, example of the deference phenomenon today. Most of the media were having fun with Sarkozy's Corsican blunder (last post), reporting the political row and deploring his devotion to his show-biz cronies. But the story was not deemed fit for readers of Le Figaro, a venerable national daily.  The newspaper, which is owned by Serge Dassault, a big Sarkozy supporter, can rarely bring itself to report anything embarrassing to the President. So it  reduced the Corsica yarn to a few brief lines with no allusion to a row.

Comments

[richard.jones]

It's all going like Ancient Rome, really. The media games must be allowed to display all in the amphitheatre of meaningless nothingness to keep the masses happy and stop them getting rid of the Emperor.
The trouble is that, as in Rome, the Emperor will soon be spending more time ensuring a balance between the reds and the greens in the races in the Amphitheatre than running the bloody country.

[Blendi Progri]

The highly ambivalent relationship, celebrity-media, is always the same. More or less like the child-parent one; I love you when you love me, stay away from me when you are not playing my game.
Then comes the anticipation, the whispers, the news, the ‘source close to xxx’, the confession, putting the record straight, my story, my secret story, the total catharsis, then the tv sofa rounds…till folks get bored and say what the heck? Then the ‘empty’ celeb find there’s nothing more to say and the media has lost interest.
The parent goes to work again, the child goes back to his toys.

It could be a wiser move, to act like the USA VP. Candidate –Palin, say it like it is and then move on. For all we know Dati is enjoying it…in the near future I see a Thick Book coming in a Library near you (in Paris) ‘My Pregnancy and how I coped’ With a small chapter giving advice to ‘working mums’ how to handle the every day pressure.

A pregnant minister could be useful for many cabinets around the world. I say- Well done Dati- but why have you left it this long?

While people & media gossip, no one will point out that few of the state affairs are going wrong. Is this pregnancy a cover for bigger reforms to come, maybe Sarkozy’s playing a long game.
As for the Police chief...hmm... no one can deny the President the pleasure of firing people.
He is the President. :)

[rocket]

I agree that things would be a lot easier in France if there wasn't this deep rooted opaqueness which permeates all aspects of the society.

Call it what you want, call it respect for ones private life, call it none of ones business, call it whatever.

In the end IMHO it is like most things in France, rooted in fear and concocted with a desire of exoticism (exceptionalism) through mystery.

Monarchical tendencies die hard and in this case they are not anywhere near death.

[richard.jones]

I'm afraid Rocket is right about the French Reality show 'King for a day'. There was an Emperor until 1869!!!!
Late moves into parliamentary democracy too!

[Antoine Delord]

Dear Charles,
If 'all the newsrooms' have been in the know for weeks, surely you are as well - you certainly have acquaintances among French journalists, don't you? So what prevents you from fully 'satisfying the curiosity' of your readers? Does it mean that you, a British journalist based in Paris, feel obliged to respect the tacit rules that French media impose on themselves? Are you doing this out of respect for the traditions of your host country? It would be interesting to read your point of view on this...

P.S.: I know who the father is, but being French I will keep the secret for myself ;-)

[I am being careful. We are bound by the French privacy law, the same as everyone else. You may note that I did however mention names. CB]

[Lex]

I also feel like its all going rather Ancient Rome, but I imagine that someone who has a thorough knowledge of political history more readily sees that it waxes and wanes.

As the feminists used to point out, if men could get pregnant, it would all be very different.

As for Sarah Palin, she wants to drop it and move on because it is happening to her. Were the shoe on the other foot, however... When a US Republican has an out of wedlock pregnancy, it is a family problem, but when a Democrat faces the same issue, the Republicans say it is moral decay.

Mitterrand once quoted William Faulkner saying that our ideals need to be large enough that we do not lose sight of them while we struggle to achieve them. (Or some such. Alzoon, please correct me here.)

It all seems to be long on flags and egos and fluff and lacking in substance and vision. Maybe it has always been like this, and I am now long enough out of the cave to see it more clearly.

At any rate, the Republicans seem to "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't." While Sarko is a bit more genuine in his "Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead" approach.

[dot king]

" Sarah Palin's "baby-gate" has received full play here, though she would never have been troubled about her daughter if she were a French politician." (CB)

But that's one of the points isn't it? In the UK and the USA, sex and sexuality are still used in "dirty tricks" politics against an opponent. In France a politician can be homosexual (eg Delanoë) and no-one thinks twice about it, a president can be divorced we've learned recently - albeit briefly. Now in Dati's case, a politician looks like being an unmarried mother and no-one will mind at all.
Personally I prefer a system which judges a person on whether they do a good, competent job professionally, rather than whether they are, as tradition demands elsewhere, heterosexual, married, churchgoing, mom and apple pie (or black pudding as the case may be).

I think the "baby-gate "affair has received attention here because of the stir it has caused there - the French are mildly amused by the hoohah, more than titivated by the "scandal" IMO.
Also, it's always amusing to see one of these high moralist types hoist by their own petard - and that goes for any nation surely?

Should I recommend Ms Dati to Alpha Mummy, the blog of all blogs for working mums (and/or dads, Terry)?
;)

ROCKET: I don't think you can put "opaqueness" and "monarchical tendencies" together in this context - anything the French kings did in their bedroom or bathroom was public knowledge (or at least court knowledge) - comment ça va, ce matin? (Read: has the king had a bowel movement this morning?) ;D
We can only hope that Sarko's "princely" tendencies will spare us that detail!

[Dodo]

I agree that things would be a lot easier in Anglo-Saxon countries if there was more respect in all aspects of the society.

Call it what you want, call it we have the right to know, call it they are personage of great public interest therefore they belong to us, and call it whatever.

In the end IMHO it is like most things in Anglo Saxon countries, rooted in voyeurism and concocted with a desire of unhealthy curiosity.

Monarchical tendencies die hard and in this case they are not anywhere near death.

- Sorry Rocket for to plagiarize your hilarious message

[Terry]

This is a deplorable situation. I am wrecked.

CB, has anyone in the press gotten the gumption to suggest that the pregnancy was the result of fertility treatments (in vitro)? My Dati is 42 years old. Au naturel is indeed difficult at that age.

[Dodo]

The use of sex and sexuality in UK and US for blow below the belt is an inheritance of puritanism.
As said Tartuffe centuries ago : "Cachez ce sein que je ne saurais voir"

[thinknoworpaylater]

DOT - fine discussion but we are tending to talk from a European perspective. In the U.K. no-one would bother ( as in France) about the issueat a political level. But we have to get our heads round American views- they are going to elect the President (and vice-president) not us. Palins line is a holier than thou line in which she offers moral lessons to other Americans on issues like family values. Isnt there a contradiction here between the world as it is and what Republican voters want to hear? If she wants to preach (and she does) other voters in the U.S. may think she is skating on thin ice! And you have to ask why the poor girl wasnt given better contraceptive advice if it was so important. Is that a feature of the vice-presidential candidates position on sex-education? More speculatively cant they just give the poor boy a load of money for four years and get him to see sense and marry her? He can always have a divorce later. Sorry that sounds awfully cynical but things seem often to be solved like that in the U.S. these days.

[Antoine Delord]

Thank you for answering my questions Charles - I appreciate your openness. What is not clear for me is whether you would personally like to be able to publish the information, or if you believe it is right to keep the matter private?
Because if French privacy law is the only reason why you refrain from giving the name of the father of Ms Dati's baby, I believe The Times should do what the French gutter press (Voici and the likes) do: publish the informations regardless of the legal risks, attract a lot of publicity - and pay the ensuing fine if needed. It would be a spectacular way for you to take a stance against the situation that currently prevails in France regarding privacy, if you think this situation should be denounced.

P.S.: what would happen if the name of the father were given in one of the comments resulting from your post? Is this a legal grey zone? ;-)

[You're right. Blogs are a grey zone. On the question of whether the name should be published, I would say yes, unless there are special circumstances that would make it damaging. In Dati's case, I imagine that her partner's name will come out in the French media fairly soon because she draws such interest. CB]

[azloon]

LEX

[Mitterrand once quoted William Faulkner saying that our ideals need to be large enough that we do not lose sight of them while we struggle to achieve them. (Or some such. Alzoon, please correct me here.)] you

i like the quote -- and aside from factual items than be easily googled am not much qualified to correct others.

i am so goddamed tired of 'debates' about pregnant teenagers, who's screwing whom, who's gay, who's into bestiality. the french have it right in this area (tho the opacity about personal details makes it seem as tho something may need to be concealed).

sex is sex, nothing more. sometimes love goes along with it, sometimes not, sometimes procreational (a word?), sometimes recreational. the idea that a person would agonize about their sex life, sexual orientation, seems like a hugh waste of energy. less about sex, more about global warming.

i was infuriated last night listening to parts of the republican convention. the speakers were honoring, and glorifying, war veterans, and by implication mccain -- all this coming from the same frigging party which 'slimed' john kerry four years ago, a swift boat commander and bronze star recipient (in fairness to mccain, he did rebuke his own party in 2004 for dissing kerry.

it's enough to make one vomit. having served in the navy with both kerry and mccain, in the same years, all this stuff makes me feel like returning all my medals for bravery, and surely would, if i had any.

[dot king]

"But we have to get our heads round American views-"

THINKNOW - that wasn't the issue I was addressing. I was giving the French perspective, not even the European one, on just that one thing - that the French are more amused by the USA's outrage than they are outraged by the "shocking behaviour" of a good republican daughter. And that is (I think anyway) why the Palin daughter baby-gate affair gets coverage here.

But as you mention it, clearly for the USA there is an issue. And the UK isn't necessarily exempt - how many politicians have been ousted as a result of sex scandals - and that up until recently? A politician or even a highly-placed civil servant could be blackmailed, used, threatened, if s/he were homosexual, bi-sexual, had an extra-marital relationship, frequented orgies or prostitutes. A UK politician would be wise to keep such "eccentricities" secret.
Right or wrong, depending on your point of view, these are much less of an issue in France.

I in no way defend Palin's line, I'm surprised as we've been writing on the same blog for months now, that you think I might. But I seem to know a little more about her than you do.
As I understand it, Palin is against Sex Education in school** - so look where it gets her - with a 17-year-old pregnant daughter and right when she could do without it. But hey, it's all OK because this girl, hardly out of childhood, is going to marry the father. All is perfect in a perfect, conservative, right-living, moralistic world.
If the Americans want that kind of line in a president or vice-president, what can I say? They already elected Bush twice . . .

The trouble with these extremist moralists is that they actually believe themselves, worse they believe that what they believe is what's good for everyone else.
Obama gets Brownie points for saying he doesn't want this unfortunate event used in the campaign - clever.

** that's why she wasn't given better contraceptive advice, plus the fact that Palin also believes in no sex before or outside of marriage - poor woman didn't see anything coming - you don't if you are blinkered to reality.

Terry,

"Au naturel is indeed difficult at that age"

A very funny expression used in this context ! "Au naturel" is mainly a culinary term, meaning "unprepared" - for example "thon au naturel" (canned tuna-fish with no sauce or oil).

If you did the pun intentionally, chapeau !

[Lily]

Qui est ce monsieur?

http://www.lepost.fr/article/2008/08/22/1249117_rachida-dati-enceinte-profil-d-un-buzz.html

Est-ce bien "lui"? ;)

[Andy]

I love France but this is yet another example of crass French hypocrisy. As CB relates, the French Press are delighted to splash all on McCain's running mate - or on any other foreign celebrity (especially the UK Royal Family) - but then become all coy about anyone French, or at any rate French residing in France. This makes me think back a couple of years when Pepsi was looking at taking over Danone (a yoghurt manufacturer) and the firm was classed as being of national importance and therefore protected from foreign, especially American, takeover. This on the same day, when on the same front page, the FigEco was drooling over the planned takeover by EDF (French government owned electricity company) of parts of the UK electricity industry. Hypocrisy.

[Daniel Strohl]

Terry,

The above anon comment (3 SEPT 17:36) is from me. I used a new browser (CHROME from Google) and of course forgot to fill in the boxes

[Daisy]

Boy, Rash certainly knows how to grab headlines. Wonder what she'll do for an encore.

I'll bet Carla is counting the months backwards....

[Rick]

If anyone calls the English hypocritical, I’ll take it on the chin. But then I’ll point out that, in their own ways, the French and the Americans are far more accomplished. Albion perfide or not, our lot are rank bloody amateurs.

[dot king]

"i am so goddamed tired of 'debates' about pregnant teenagers, who's screwing whom, who's gay, who's into bestiality. the french have it right in this area" Azloon

good god man! that's almost pro-french
and i quite agree with it, though pro-er french :)

[Dodo]

Andy "As CB relates, the French Press are delighted to splash all on McCain's running mate"

Come on Andy !
You can't blame us if we make fun of you !
Did 8 years of French-Bashing ring a bell ?
It was funny, it was not ?
Et bien dansez maintenant.

[paul]

The questions about Clavier's friendship with Sarko and sacked policemen also the privacy law must remind us that republican France remains a country of absolutism and monarchy, i.e. contempt for the splendid ordinary folk and protection for the self-reproducing elite. There is this fascination in France with authority and power (as in schools for example). This a country constantly torn between a conservative centralism and a fierce individualism. Though note the demise of King PPDA replaced by Queen Ferrari.
Talking about ladies, Charles, how about a word on Miss Edvice? Are you on the list too?

[Joan Arles]

These two stories -- Rachida and Clavier -- just show you how much France is still in the thrall of a monarchy. I watched TF1 news tonight and unless I missed something, they did not mention the two stories, which have been the talk of France today. The peasants were not supposed to know about them.....

[Marko Petrovic]

Good its about time that there is country in the world that will ban press from realising a story. The babys father is non of publics intrest and her personal life. They should be only intrested how well she is doing in her job. Not like in USA concerning Palins daughter. The public should only be intrested in how well Sarah Palin is qualified for the job? Both of the stories prove that more and more politicans and there families are same like rest of us.

[Bernard Pereire]

It was astonishing to watch TV news tonight and see no mention of these themes which have been the talk of France for the past two days. The fear of Sarkozy really does dominate the French mass communication

[rocket]

Hello Azloon

"the french have it right in this area (tho the opacity about personal details makes it seem as tho something may need to be concealed)."

Not IMHO! UGH AZ THINK! It allows abuses such as Mitterrand who kept a mistress for years paid for by the French state. (The taxpayer) Certainly many more instances never uncovered.

[rocket]

http://tinyurl.com/5u2tee

Aznar!

What the F**k!

This is getting out of hand.

Everybody knows that the real father is Terry Zuckerman.

[rocket]

http://www.lobservateur.ma/

Aznar code name for Terry Zukerman.

[Yogi]

You didn't get it. "I have a complicated private life" means "I'm not really sure who the father is". That's why she won't tell.

[dada]

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z81pb12mLg&eurl=http://willzigg.skyrock.com/

http://www.eiris.eu/eiris/images/stories/Actualites/h400_cabu_charlie-hebdo_8_2.jpg

[Yogi]

@Marko Petrovic : I disagree. Single mothers have never been a political issue in France, whereas Sarah Palin strongly voiced about the necessity to keep teenagers away from any sexual education.

(Question: "Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?"

Sarah Palin answer: "Yes, the explicit sex-education programs will not find my support.")

So one is relevant political news, the other is not.

[Daniel Strohl]

Bernard Pereire,

"The fear of Sarkozy really does dominate the French mass communication"

May be - However, do you remember what the French mass communication did (or rather did not) under Mitterrand, in this era of enlightened democracy ?

[V]

The fear of Sarkozy...
There is this woman who is pregnant, and is there even the question, if she has the right to keep silent about the details, and the press to respect her wish, or do we have to be des rustres à tout prix, under punishment of being accused of "hypocrisy".
And the press should behave more like english tabloids, or else run the risk of being accused of connivence with the "monarchy". Oh boy, heavy issues to deal with. No sleep tonight. Oh boy.
"Freedom of the press" defenders will rejoice to find out there still exists something called "manners" in France. Unlike many other places in the world, I should say.

[Dominique]

"between modern celebrity culture and the old taboos that protect privacy"

Poor Charles, what a definition of "modernity" and "old"

Are we still allowed to think that privacy is modern, trash news is as old as the roman empire and that politics has nothing to do with sex or babies?

All those journalists are stuck into the old regime Sun King culture, willing to know at what time our "beloved leaders" go take a shxxt!

By the way Charles, have you seen the bloody sheet of Rachida your self after her first time sex? Did she have sex before? You don't know? And you accept this "old way of hiding things"?

tssss

[Francois D]

"Elle a fait un bébé toute seule".
(She has done a baby alone). (JJ Goldman)

http://video.google.fr/videosearch?q=b%C3%A9b%C3%A9+seule&sitesearch=&aq=f#q=b%C3%A9b%C3%A9%20seule%20goldman&start=10

"I want to remain cautious," said Minister of Justice, because it is not yet consolidated. I'm still at risk zone. I am 42 years'. I have always said that this was fundamental for me. If this is consolidated, I shall be happy and I feel (that I shall have) finished the loop. Otherwise I shall be very sad ('chagrinée'), but I shall put lipstick on this and bring this bag alone. " Le Monde (04/09/08)

Respects?

LOL. Was my "nooooooo" subsequently censored? Did the ministry call, CB? I could think of a number of other posts of mine that more richly deserved the blue pencil.

DANIEL:

Au naturel is also american for "in the buff". Obviously, I meant it here as a natural pregnancy as opposed to one with assistance. AND I knew that anon was you.

[Mary Fernandez]

On Palin - I think there's a lot of speculating and not enough knowing to form any opinion. The decent thing to do would be to leave a minor out of it.

On Dati - email me and I'll send you a copy of the ultrasound and DNA results.

:D

[Rick]

By means of news embargos, a trivial news item can be ‘cuisinéd’ into a minor sensation. The State apparatus would be well advised to adopt the ‘méthode Rossi’ and look the other way. Once silence is imposed, tongues will wag, and keep on wagging until names of kings, potentates, and even prime ministers crop up!

[qwerty]

Well absolutely, Dot (half-way up the thread at least, about Palin).
I also hear on LCI that she too is now saying that "It is God who sent the troops to Irak". We thought they were rid of that sort of thinking, were now inoculated against it. But no, it's in their genes.

Does the number one world power really have to be governed by morons like these (and are they really representative of a majority of the US population?)

[Rick]

Instead of gagging the ‘Who’s the dad?’ yellow press, the French authorities would have been well advised to focus their extensive extra-legal as well as legal powers to muzzle the Paris Match journalists, Eric de Lavarène and Véronique de Viguerie. Perhaps a touch of the guillotine would not be inappropriate. Treason may be pardonable; lending comfort and succour to that particular enemy in the form of a propaganda coup is just bad, bad, bad. What of ‘putting our boys (and girls) in danger’ do they not understand, these two specimens of the genus ‘jeunesse dorée’?

Does it never cross French minds to wonder what their allies think of them. A catch-phrase of an, alas, long dead English comic actor was, ‘What an absolute shower!’ (Didn’t exasperated Aussies used to think just this of the Brits?)

[Rick]

PS. Are we still certain France should be in charge of the Euro Army?

[Ca va mal]

La démocratie française va très très très mal : la question n'est plus de savoir si cela s'arrêtera, mais jusque où cela ira.

[richard.jones]

The actor was Terry-Thomas in a film called 'Private's Progress, obviously a lampooning reference to 'Pilgrim's Progress' by the immutable Puritan John Bunyan (maybe Bunion:-)
Our French brothers in celluloid will know TT from that wonderful film 'La Grande Vadrouille'.

Rick

On the basis of their showing in OTAN, and their general tendency(although not in the Balkans) to be the last ally to arrive, we should be careful that France is not in charge of a Eurarmy. What we really want is a directly elected EU minister looking after an EU army but with the present EU constitutional chaos..., that France has done all to sweep under the carpet (Georgia helped) in the hope it will go away...

[richard.jones]

The actor was Terry-Thomas in a film called 'Private's Progress, obviously a lampooning reference to 'Pilgrim's Progress' by the immutable Puritan John Bunyan (maybe Bunion:-)
Our French brothers in celluloid will know TT from that wonderful film 'La Grande Vadrouille'.

Rick

On the basis of their showing in OTAN, and their general tendency(although not in the Balkans) to be the last ally to arrive, we should be careful that France is not in charge of a Eurarmy. What we really want is a directly elected EU minister looking after an EU army but with the present EU constitutional chaos..., that France has done all to sweep under the carpet (Georgia helped) in the hope it will go away...

[Antoine Delord]

For those who don't understand what Rick is talking about in his two hilarious comments: he's making reference to pictures of Taleban fighters, shown in today's Paris Match wearing bits of equipment taken from dead French soldiers (10 were killed in an ambush on 18th Aug). So Rick, somewhere in his deranged mind, found a connection between the Dati affair and the release of these pictures. And of course this is yet another occasion to sneer at those helpless French... ah ah, 'What an absolute shower!' It seems that either they are cowards, or they don't know how to fight properly! Oh oh, really, look at yourselves, you should be ashamed!

As you can read French Rick, I will refer you Michel Audiard's (a long gone French dialogue writer) sentence: "Les cons ça ose tout, c'est même à ça qu'on les reconnait." And what a specimen you are!

[Helena]

If she is Justice Minister and is involved in a relationship with a business leader that inevitably will involve private contractual obligations with him, re payments for the child etc-- to say nothing of the possibility of continued intimacy-- then of course the public should know the nature of these contracts/agreements and the identity of the man. If he's in the casino business there could be huge conflicts of interest.

I find the "French" approach whereby men have all these sordid little affairs and have their privacy protected by the press to be extremely patriarchal and demeaning to women. Whereas a woman who wants (I assume) a child is forced to walk around wearing the scarlet letter and receives no privacy.

[Daniel Strohl]

TERRY,

Re : "au naturel" - your post 4 SEPT 03:23

Of course, I knew what you were meaning. And it was not too difficult for you to recognize me in spite of my "cloak of anonymity" (R.Jones :)

Regarding (medically assisted) "au naturel" : the French press reported today that a 59 years old French lady of Asiatic origin is pregnant - 3 babies are expected ! Really crazy !

ANDY,

"Hypocrite"

IMHO, the percentage of hypocrits here and beyond the pond and here and beyond the (British :) channel is more or less similar :). The sole conspicuous difference is the language or the accent ...

[azloon]

[The public should only be intrested in how well Sarah Palin is qualified for the job? Both of the stories prove that more and more politicans and there families are same like rest of us.] Marko Petrovic

and how are we to know of their similarity to us? only by 'pipol' reportage, which you profess to dislike.

btw, palin's not qualified to do the job. she's a bit frightening. i find it incroyable that she's become a major u.s. political figure in the space of two weeks.

she'd make a good cast member for the u.s. parody tv show, 'saturday night live,' but a heartbeat from the presidency. god, i hope not. her speech last night gave me the creeps: not a word about a single major u.s policy issue, but plenty of nasaly, smarmy put-downs of obama missteps. she'll get hers, promise.

what's the difference between a pit bull (tenacious breed of dog) and a soccer mom, she asked us? lipstick........ lipstick. OMG.

if obama's smart, he'll mostly ignore her, or damn her with faint praise, as he has been doing so far. she's a true lightweight.

i like this photo of our new celebrity, doctored or not.

http://www.typepad.com/t/comments

[Daniel Strohl]

RICHARD JONES,

"but with the present EU constitutional chaos"

To which the French contributed first, followed by the Dutch. Now the French have tried, in accordance with other major European countries (and after having cleared first their own mess), to find a workable solution. And after that the (tiny :) Irish said "NIET". Crazy !