Marie Le Conte

1 week ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Marie Le Conte

It was, in retrospect, completely mad. I still can’t believe they let me get away with it. In fairness to them, I didn’t really give them a choice: at the age of 17, I went to my parents and informed them that I had applied to several universities in Britain and none in France. If they wanted me to continue studying, they would have to let me cross the Channel a few months later. If they didn’t: to McDonald’s I’d go. They were about as pleased with the choice as you’d imagine.

2 weeks ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Marie Le Conte

You have almost certainly heard of the court case that made the headlines in France for several years, concerning actor Gerard Depardieu. You probably even know that, last week, he was found guilty of sexually harassing two women on the set of a movie, and given a suspended jail term of 18 months. There is one thing you may have missed, however. It doesn’t seem like much on the surface: a mere 1,000 euro fine, which Depardieu must now pay to each of the defendants.

2 weeks ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Marie Le Conte

I was, as it happens, in the hall when Theresa May talked about “citizens of nowhere”. I didn’t really pick up on the line at the time, probably because I was stressed, and nursing a light hangover. It was conference after all. I read the script afterwards, trying to find lines I’d missed while watching the speech live, and that’s when it hit me. Was I a citizen of nowhere? Yes, yes, I obviously was. I was born in Nantes, in western France, but my parents were from elsewhere.

2 weeks ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Marie Le Conte

Do I smell? I shower every day, but am I one of those people whose stench still somehow lingers for a few minutes after I’ve gone? Is it my hair? Is my hair horrible, but I’ve spent so much time with it on my head – a whole life, in fact – that I can’t tell it’s unbearable to look at? Is it my breath, the way I speak, the way I look, a combination of all of the above? I ask because I’m assuming there is something wrong with me.

3 weeks ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Marie Le Conte

It is, if anything, remarkable that it hasn’t happened yet. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi should be applauded for her amendment to the crime and policing bill, of course, but it feels incredible that it is needed at all. If it passes, it will remove “women from the criminal law related to abortion”, and would mean “no offence is committed by a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy”.