Segolene and La Joconde

Segolene and La Mona Lisa (known in France as La Joconde) have the same face shape, according to computer images presented by Thierry Berrod in his Canal+ documentary on political charisma. Judge for yourself.

Jose Bove's Crazy Day

Jose Bove had a very crazy Friday.
Having announced his presidential bid late in the game, Bove was reduced to a series of mad last-minute attempts to reach the quotient of 500 signatures from elected officials required of all candidates. A Cyclist was dispatched to collect a signature arriving by TGV 35 minutes before the deadline, according to Liberation. Another signature was transported by a cooperative air hostess on the flight from Marseille, the newspaper said. Once the clock had stopped, Bove could not be sure if he had reached his goal. Luckily for him, all the effort paid off and he is now officially one of the 12 wanna-be presidents.

Villepin And United Nations Dreams

It will probably remain his greatest ever moment. A proud fragment of history for France and at least a point of reference for the rest of the world. Dominique de Villepin. French Foreign Minister. At the United Nations on Valentine’s Day 2003. When he urged the U.S. to listen to an old continent which, after centuries of bloodshed, had finally learned that war is best avoided. Whose applause was muffled by American television channels, and who was pictured on the front page of the New York Post with his head replaced by that of a weasel.

Did he dream of greater things than being prime minister of France? The presence of only 15 journalists at his monthly press conference in March must have brought him down to earth. And so le dauphin this week returned to the place where he felt his greatness is still appreciated. This planet is called the U.S. In New York, according to Liberation, he met with U.S. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and spoke about his dream of becoming a global ‘crisis manager.’
Hmmmmm. Like you did with the CPE???

The aristocratic poet finally recognised (to an American public) that he ain’t no politician. He claimed he never dreamed of becoming president and accepted the role of prime minister only to take his diplomatic instincts of serving his country to the ultimate level. So that’s why he’s still shying away from running for elected office?

The Princess Diana look

I have spent the last three hours trying to download the software I need to re-size pictures for this blog. It's probably just me, but the whole process seemed to be super complicated with a Mac. Computers and me have always had an uneasy relationship. So I gave up and found an easy peasy way to do what I wanted and it seems I didn't need the techy gizmo after all.

This picture was taken by my friend Jill who gave up most of her Saturday to try and make me look beautiful. My publisher had asked for some publicity pics, so we de-camped to the Champs de Mars on a sunny winter's morning. I proved to be a very shy model, unconfident in my smile and uncomfortable with my body. After an hour or so, Jill shot a series of three photos were my diffidence seemed to fade, replaced by a confident diva. For a minute, I was hot stuff. Only problem was that a green rubbish bin in the background detracted from my sultry look. We examined the photos to see the reason for my transformation.
'It seems to work when you tilt your head down and raise your eyes,' Jill instructed.
'Like Princess Diana,' friends said.
There followed a series of hilarious photos where I totally overdid the Diana look. This picture was snapped after Jill showed me the results of my attempted coquetishness. A model I am not. But we sure had a lot of fun.

Ouch!

Eric Besson, whose love affair with the Socialist party ended on Valentine's day, is hitting back.
'I won't be voting for Segolene Royal,' he said in his book 'Who knows Madame Royal?' according to extracts published in Le Monde. 'Not in the first round, not in the second. Except, of course, if she is facing Jean-Marie Le Pen.'
Granted, his former job as the Socialists’ economics guru can't have been easy. But the party had been his life since at least 1997 when he first won a seat in parliament, and he must be carrying a lot of hurt or disillusionment to slam the door so firmly shut. Two days before he quit the party, I went to a debate organised by Ifrap where he was defending Segolene's economic program. He was tense, and referred at the outset to differences with the candidate. But he gritted his teeth, claiming the Socialists offered a better future for France than any of the their competitors. Only a few weeks later, he is claiming her campaign is 'deceitful and dangerous'
He delivers a damning insiders’ guide. He refers to the 'arbitrary' way she pledges huge sums of taxpayers money - in this example renewable energies, a commitment she backs out of just as quickly. Without consultation or debate. And she certainly didn't want to hear from Besson when he suggests her proposals were costing too much money.

Besson gave a press conference a week after he quit, and his strained face still haunts me. He was part of a campaign which he'd been gearing up to for the past five years. And suddenly he finds himself on the outside, looking in. He is imposing on the campaign in his own way, with the incredibly speedy production of a book (available March 20). But he has denied himself the rush and excitement of his team's competition for the Elysee palace.

In a much less dramatic way, I have also found myself on the sidelines. For the past week I've been watching the campaign from the outside, ever since I switched out of the politics team. And already I'm missing it.

You just have to learn the HTML code....

A friend has been teaching me how to blog. That explains the sudden appearance of my book cover and other exciting new features. If the news articles at the bottom of the page are still about Jose Bove and General Motors then it means I haven't quite mastered how to work out all the funky functions for myself.
But what a wonderful world there is out there. In my next post I hope to add a photo all by myself (although apparently I have to download a program for re-sizing pictures first...hmmm....) When it comes to collages of photos, apparently all I have to do is nick an HTML code off some other more technologically minded blogger. Until yesterday, I wasn't aware that HTML code was accessible to anyone other than real internet nerds so I may leave the fancy stuff for a while. But I now know enough to be impressed. Blogging. It's the new flower arranging.

Youpee!

My book, which I've been gently nurturing for the last year just like a wee baby, is about to be born. And this is what she will look like. In book stores near you (if you live in France) from March 29. If you click on the cover, you can read what it's all about. It's my birthday today and I couldn't ask for a better present.