Very wealthy man doesn't want to pay wealth tax, huh? Shocking

Wonderful afternoon checking out the newly reopened towers of Notre Dame. Beautiful workmanship and even a little sound art for the walk back down!

This sounds like an ideal listen as I walk home through beautiful sunny Paris (with its Parti Socialiste mayor) on the eve of the big 🇫🇷 strike 💪

The argument against a wealth tax is often that it will discourage entrepreneurship and innovation - take a look at this list of France's wealthiest people and count how often the words inherited/heir/heiress come up . . .

Solidarité - the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which runs Top 14 and ProD2 divisions of the men's club game in France, has delayed KO of 4 top-flight matches on Saturday by 2 hours to avoid TV schedule clashes with Les Bleues' bid to reach the final for the first time. Le crunch 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇫🇷 - 4.30pm Saturday

"If you earn €10 million a year in 🇫🇷, you pay about €2.7 million in tax and keep €7.3 million. If you earn €40,000 (the current average) you pay €20,000 in tax and keep €20,000. This is manifestly unjust."

New podcast episode; 🇫🇷 The autumn of strikes, protests and politics 🇫🇷 The Zucman tax and how it would help to get the super-rich to pay their fair share 🇫🇷 And the myth of the French birth rate

A skeleton service expected on Paris public transport on Thursday, TGV trains less affected but disruption on regional lines

Ex-en-Provence was right there . . .

Delightful, fascinating article and sooo refreshing to read a piece about the French banlieues that showcases the joy, ambition, humour and community of these areas. I just love how the local marie took this viral football challenge and ran and ran with it . . .

Vicious slur on céleri rémoulade!

Ain't no guinguette like a guinguette dialectique 🥳💪

Frankly France were lucky to win that. Still, on est en demi! 🥳🇫🇷 France - Irlande (18-13) : les Bleues se font peur mais se qualifient pour les demi-finales du Mondial féminin www.leparisien.fr/sports/rugby... - via Le Parisien

Inside France: Strikes, demos, fires . . . and a drink on a café terrace

It's possible I'm over-thinking this, but the premise of this show (she'll get to art school in Paris by going to France to take part in a TV show and then just staying on) fundamentally misunderstands how visa rules work . . . Yes, I am fun at parties

We knew next Thursday is the big 🇫🇷 strike day, but in Paris the public transport strike will start at 6pm on Wednesday. Make your plans accordingly!

This photo was used by a lot of media to illustrate yesterday's Bloquons Tout demos in France. Unsurprisingly, since it's a very dramatic image. However, it's not quite what it seems . . .

As ever, the talented and dedicated photographers of AFP have produced some great work today at the various actions all around France

Ma tribune en français 'La France n'est pas ingouvernable' (écrit la semaine dernière, quand même)

'We have shown that if it's possible in Paris, it's possible anywhere' Great article 👇

In France once kids reach lycée (15 plus) they start to get involved in demos and blockades at their schools. This kid at Lycée Helene Boucher in Paris looks on track for a 'mention bien' in demonstrating/rioting Photo by Guillaume Bonnet via AFP

Here's the latest from France as the Bloquons Tout actions begin

Good morning on September 10th, the day when we 'block everything' in France. Maybe

Bayrou barely cold in his (political) grave and Macron has named his replacement. Apparently Bayrou's leaving drinks at Matignon were planned for Thursday - but now the handover of power ceremony is set to take place tomorrow so he will have to vacate the place

So much 🇫🇷 drama . . . so a special episode of the Talking France podcast 🇫🇷 Another government falls, so what now? 🇫🇷 What to expect from the September 10th 'block everything' movement 🇫🇷 Was Bayrou right to warn of catastrophe for France?

Has 🇫🇷 fallen? Well, the boulangerie is open and the croissant au beurre is good, so I'm going to say no

As widely expected, the French PM has lost a confidence vote in parliament and the government now falls. In the end the vote wasn't even close - 364 against, 194 for. Remember that he called this vote himself. Ouch.

We'll be covering all the latest developments from France today on thelocal.fr - parliamentary session due to start at 3pm, vote expected around 7pm - but in the meantime, here's a look at what it actually means when a government falls in France (guillotine = very unlikely, I just liked the photo)

French newspaper l'Humanité headlines simply The Fall, referencing the likely fall of the 🇫🇷 government this afternoon. Happy Monday!

Autumn days 😎 (When the grass is jewelled)

Bagnolet life 🐐

TLDR, please stop saying France is 'ungovernable' - unruly, feisty, chaotic, divided, argumentative, passionately politically engaged perhaps, but not ungovernable

Writing (sort of) about great French literature and now I have this infuriatingly catchy theme song stuck in my head . . .

Seeing more and more references 'in the wild' to 🇫🇷 September 10th 'Block everything' movement. Will graffiti and social media chatter add up to action on the street? We'll see . . .

I did not do very well on this list, although better if we allow Ladybird abridged versions, film adaptations or cartoons in which the main characters are represented by animals (2).

With rail unions and Paris public transport workers now joining the September 18th strike call (along with air traffic controllers) it looks like this will be a big one . . .

Pretty much every map of wealth/property values/voting intentions in Paris has this east-west divide. Apparently it's do with the prevailing westerly wind which, historically, blew factory smoke and other pollution towards the east

Back for another week in France . . . 🇫🇷 With more and more September strikes and the PM apparently doomed, is France now ungovernable? 💰 France's €1 homes (yes, there is a catch. Several in fact) 🧀 France's smelliest cheeses, ranked

The UK flag 'discourse' is, obviously, off-the-scale berserk, but the French are fond of a flag too, you'll see the tricolore everywhere in 🇫🇷. I think perhaps the difference is that there's no political divide - you're as likely to see a French flag on a left-wing march as at a far-right rally.

Back to work with a bang in France; 🇫🇷 Series of strikes begins tomorrow 🇫🇷 Plans to 'blockade the country' next week 🇫🇷 Likely fall of the government scheduled for next Monday Bonne rentrée à tous !

OK, so there's one thing that (almost) all French people agree on - apéro 🍸

Inside France: Strikes, smelly cheese and the prime minister's big surprise

Cold and rainy for the final days of Paris plages - which is giving me a nostalgia hit for the UK beach holidays of my childhood. I should be wearing shorts and a jumper, as is traditional!

This is the most adorable family story from a Welsh rugby dynasty of giants

And now the Intersyndicale has called for nationwide mobilisation including strikes on September 18th . . . www.thelocal.fr/20250829/fre...

September in 🇫🇷 looks like it might be lively, air traffic controllers have now joined the growing list of unions calling September strikes. Meanwhile the mysterious online group Bloquons Tout says it intends to go ahead with the Sept 10th action, even if the government falls on Sept 8th . . .

French air traffic controllers plan strike for September

This would truly be a worthy Paralympics legacy, Paris is shockingly inaccessible for people with disabilities or reduced mobility Municipales à Paris : un an après, la gauche veut « poursuivre l’héritage » des Jeux paralympiques www.leparisien.fr/elections/mu... - via Le Parisien

A little earlier than planned, the Talking France podcast is back to discuss what the hell is going on in 🇫🇷 politics (Plus summer wildfires, 2025 wines and the 'quiet revolution' in Paris)

I wonder how these guys are feeling today, as the City of Paris extends Seine swimming after 100,000 people took a dip this summer?