There are days when I miss being an editor. I loved writing headlines. Whoever did this, I hope they took the rest of the day off.

See, this is why you need a union . . . "At the French state rail operator SNCF the workers struck a deal that said they would work an extra one minute and 52 seconds every other day of the year and in exchange they would get Pentecost Monday off."

NEW EPISODE This week saw one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks on the Moscow region since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. Meanwhile, Russia's economic troubles are mounting. How are Russians experiencing this? We talked to people with family there. www.europeanspodcast.com/all-episodes...

🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨 This week, @arnoldvanbruggen.bsky.social, one half of @theeuropeans.bsky.social, joins us to discuss spending a decade documenting Europe’s changes and their latest chapter on migrant workers in southern Spain’s "plastic sea" of greenhouses. www.europeanspodcast.com/all-episodes...

Donald Pols, the long-time director of @milieudefensie.bsky.social - one of the Netherlands’ most prominent environmental organizations - announced he is leaving to join Tata Steel, NL's largest single emitter of CO₂. There are a lot of baffled environmentalists here today. nos.nl/artikel/2613...

Kids in the UK are drawing moustaches on their faces to bypass age verification, and... it works? www.cnet.com/tech/service...

I can't believe that, almost a year later, the Shrek gravestone still hasn't sold

I cannot overstate how completely insane this story is

A great example of what French say they like to eat versus what they actually eat and also, racism when it comes to cheap meat.

Trump's adventures in the Middle East have now made safe sex more expensive, happy Monday everyone

French people love junk food. We all know this by now. So why is a specific chain of takeaway rotisserie chicken igniting so much rage among politicians? A tasty mystery in this week's newsletter: millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/chicken-wa...

Relieved to see that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been acquitted in Kuwait– he should never have been detained in the first place.

This week in our newsletter: the disturbing revelations from @investigate-europe.eu that Big Tech has successfully lobbied to stop citizens from knowing the environmental impact of Europe’s data centres. open.substack.com/pub/european...

“Since the start of 2025, the defense ministry approved some 40 new robots; by the end of last year, some 15,000 were supplied to the army, Fedirko said. In November, 67 units were using them; by March that had jumped to 167.” www.politico.eu/article/insi...

This week on my newsletter: why has France become the global capital of crypto-related kidnappings? There’s been an average of one every 2.5 days in France this year. Absolutely wild open.substack.com/pub/millefeu...

I am so nerdily excited about this

This week in our newsletter: three Hungarian bangers, in celebration of Viktor Orbán's defeat europeanspodcast.substack.com/p/three-anth...

Even better than this typically diverse offering from The Europeans: you get to hear @ninaism.bsky.social’s dulcet tones this week instead of mine. And she has an alarmingly good time with @dominicinamsterdam.bsky.social. I think my job is under threat

I swear no other podcast has this much fun talking about the workings of European democracy

Hilarious how for years serious people have said that you can't rely on renewables because they are prone to disruptions in supply www.ft.com/content/19f1...

This week in my newsletter: PSG opens a café. A post about the two PSGs: the local team, whose stars have included boys from the banlieues like Kylian Mbappé; and the soulless global brand, fuelled by Qatari petrodollars millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/psg-sells-...

This week in our newsletter: a European journalistic juggernaut felled by ChatGPT, Czechia's massive pro-democracy protests, and every NATO country saying no to Trump europeanspodcast.substack.com/p/gwbw-gets-...

This isn't the first time @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social has been targeted by the government. Listen to this episode from 2022 in which we speak to him about the discovery that his phone had been hacked using Pegasus software. www.europeanspodcast.com/all-episodes...

This is pretty much as good as it gets for French PM Sébastien Lecornu

Hungary’s crackdown on press freedom escalates: @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social, one of Hungary's most prominent investigative journos and a former guest of ours, faces criminal espionage charges - a blatant attack by Orbán’s government. We stand in full solidarity with Panyi. ipi.media/hungary-ipi-...

NEW EPISODE Europe’s been buzzing with elections lately - but this week, we’re focusing on arguably the most monumental election of 2026: On April 12th, Hungarians could choose to end Orbán’s 16-year reign. Is Europe’s most illiberal leader on his way out? www.europeanspodcast.com/all-episodes...

Sure, he cycled to his victory speech on a hire bike, but who is the new mayor of Paris really? A quick sketch in the form of three interesting things to know about Emmanuel Grégoire millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/three-thin...

Here's new Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire expertly combining cycling with giving a press conference, while on his way to his victory party. He remained on-brand by taking the Metro home

Background article from January: The Paris electoral system, explained (the Mayor is not a directly elected position) millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/the-paris-... by @katyinparis.bsky.social also see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Pa...

Exit polls are indicating a resounding win for Emmanuel Grégoire, a Socialist representing the united left, as mayor of Paris. This is still a progressive city

This week on my newsletter, I wrote about how rightwinger Rachida Dati could very easily be elected mayor of Paris on Sunday, despite this city’s progressive leanings. Surprise surprise — a divided left means it might slip from the Socialist frontrunner’s hands open.substack.com/pub/millefeu...

wrote a jolly column on this French charity getting people to pick the fresh produce usually left to rot in private gardens as the owners are often elderly or overwhelmed, then hand it all over to foodbanks so everyone has access to fresh fruit and veg: www.thenewworld.co.uk/marie-le-con...

It's easy to forget when things happen slowly, but Paris really has seen an astonishing change in the last decade

Today in random Parisian property lust: would you like to buy a 40m2 house (house!) in Montmartre for €600k The answer for me is yes, kind of, or at least I would like someone to buy it for me, merci beaucoup www.bellesdemeures.com/annonces/ven...

This video is gold. The Norwegian Consumer Council is hitting back against the crappy tech that is making things increasingly shitty. vimeo.com/1168468796

We love to see it! Sithamparappillai Jegatheepan, a Sri Lankan baker who arrived in France in 2003, has just won best baguette in Paris. He wins €4,000 and a year-long contract baking for Macron www.leparisien.fr/paris-75/la-...

Survivors of Mohamed Al Fayed's abuse are fighting to have their cases recognised as trafficking similar to the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein. Requests to the Met have gone unheeded so they are pinning their hopes on a French investigation. My piece for The Observer: observer.co.uk/news/interna...

🚄✈️Why is it still so hard to choose train over plane? On long-distance routes, choosing the train can feel borderline heroic. It’s often more expensive, takes longer, and you often miss connections. We asked @[email protected] what needs to change to make rail the obvious choice. THREAD:

It started with an article that described women as a net deficit to the economy. Emma has spent years researching how the entire way we think about economics is geared against women. I loved talking to her about the arguments she makes in her book, 'Deficit':

This week, I have written about the massive punch-up at a nougat stand at the Salon de l'agriculture. If you've ever wanted to see a fight involving a nougat knife, watch the video. millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/come-for-t...

Oh noooooon

Consumers are obsessed with food miles because it is easy to understand - why are my bananas from so far away? But moving fruit in bulk on ships is far from the biggest cost involved. It can also be more environmentally friendly than organic food grown nearby www.worksinprogress.news/p/notes-on-p...

Utterly floored by every interview of Gisèle Pelicot’s, and her ability to speak about the terrible things that happened to her with such eloquence. And what a much-needed right it is in the world that she has been able to find love again. ‘Hope is allowed’ www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

It’s got cannabis policy! It’s got vintage ski video recommendations! It’s unfailingly a good read, and I can say this because I’m not responsible for writing it:

Important listening this week.

Love and support you always, Cincinnati Enquirer (support local media), but esp today This is a Midwest daily paper. About as middle of the road as you can get & they understand that this is an objective, straight news headline, in the context of a planned Trump/GOP onslaught in Springfield, etc

(seen a bunch of people sharing this/talking in general about how "normal" Mamdani is but imo this doesn't show a normal person, but an *exceptionally* skilled communicator - a normal person wouldn't react like that to having a speech interrupted by a child! give him his due!)

Lots in this episode for anyone who’s interested in how we make our podcasts, as well as anyone who’s interested in socks and/or owls

Important reporting from @katyinparis.bsky.social: millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/a-man-just...

Essential reading from @katyinparis.bsky.social. El Hacen Diarra died in police custody this month, after video shows officers beating him on the street and screaming that he was being strangled. Very few people are talking about it. millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/a-man-just...