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Jan 6, 2025 | 
unherd.com | Andrew Hussey
Charlie HebdoEuropeFranceIslamPoliticsSecularism The 7th Arrondissement is usually a sedate corner of Paris: just embassies and government offices. But as soon as I entered the caf√©, not far from my office, around midday on 7 January 2015, I immediately saw something was wrong. The diplomats and civil servants were all standing, shouting and swearing at the television, as if it was showing a football match in a pub. ‚ÄúFuck!‚ÄĚ said a smartly suited man at the bar.
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Nov 6, 2024 | 
newstatesman.com | Andrew Hussey
To be in Paris on the night of 13 November 2015, when 130 people were killed by an Islamist commando group, who within a few hours launched attacks on the Stade de France, the café terraces of the Right Bank and the Bataclan theatre, was to live through a night of unspeakable terror. Like most residents of the city, I watched the slaughter unfold in real-time on television.
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Sep 6, 2024 | 
newstatesman.com | Andrew Hussey
At the end of a long summer of whispers, rumours and stalled negotiations, Emmanuel Macron has pulled off yet another dramatic surprise by announcing that the 73-year-old Michel Barnier will be his prime minister. Since the president dissolved parliament in June after the resounding success of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) in the country’s elections to the European Parliament, France has effectively not had a government.
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Aug 8, 2024 | 
newstatesman.com | Andrew Hussey
Watching the recent riots in England from France has been a strange experience. The similarities between the violence erupting on the provincial streets of England and the anger that convulsed over all of France just over a year ago are hard to ignore.
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Jul 30, 2024 | 
inews.co.uk | Andrew Hussey
Those who idealise Paris as the pristine city of Romance may also be surprised at how filthy it can be. If you live here, you develop an instinctive seventh sense which guides you above and around the dog excrement which is spattered all over the poshest streets.
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Jul 7, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Andrew Hussey
In the past week, since Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) stormed into its daunting lead in the first round of the French parliamentary elections, a menacing graffito has appeared in my neighbourhood in Paris, on a busy street corner between the boulangerie and the wine shop. Written in black, in a clear and steady hand, it reads “Les nerfs sont tendus, les Fachos seront pendus” – “Nerves are being stretched, the fascists will be hung”.
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Jun 22, 2024 | 
msn.com | Andrew Hussey
Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
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Jun 22, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Andrew Hussey
The Euro 2024 tournament began explosively for Kylian Mbappé – the France striker and one of the best and highest-paid footballers in the world – but not necessarily the way he wanted. His week kicked off controversially last Sunday when, responding to a question about the political situation in France at a pre-match press conference, he said the public should avoid voting for “extremes” in the coming French elections. “I want to be proud to represent France,” he said.
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Jun 20, 2024 | 
newstatesman.com | Andrew Hussey
In France, the youth far right has its own neologism: the Fachosphère. Not unlike the manosphere and online alt-right communities across the West, the term denotes a subculture of young influencers who use social media, fashion and music to spread and promote their self-consciously edgy and authoritarian anti-immigration politics. The term has been in circulation for some years, but a case can be made that the movement behind it has now gone mainstream.
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May 26, 2024 | 
msn.com | Andrew Hussey
Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
