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President Macron of France is very unpopular and unlikely to be re-elected, which is a solitary shaft of sunlight in an otherwise very dark landscape. Researching him, I found this small gem in The Times (what Americans call the London Times) the day before yesterday.
'With the pandemic beginning to ebb after 17,000 deaths and a month of lockdown, Mr Macron set May 11 as the start of “le déconfinement”. Schools, shops, businesses and hairdressers would reopen while cafes, restaurants and cinemas remain shut, he said in an address watched by 36 million. However “the elderly” would stay isolated.
'Caught by surprise, ministers watered down Mr Macron’s promises after celebrities in their seventies alleged discrimination. No one has defined “les personnes âgées” who are to stay indefinitely in isolation but a consensus appears to have settled on 70, three years older than Brigitte Macron, the 42-year-old president’s wife.'
Meanwhile newspapers are full of accounts of heavy-duty skiving-off on the part of beloved Boris, too preoccupied with Brexit and his highly complicated personal life to plan for the coronavirus pandemic. No wonder he initially opted for the herd immunity approach -- it required the least effort. Power is fun, responsibility less so.
ReplyDeleteThe article in the Sunday Times did worry me but - regardless of to what extent it is true - was a hatchet job. It's based on an anonymous source who clearly wants to destroy Boris. It is not to be taken as objective and is the case for the prosecution not the summing up - for example apparently it is not usual for the PM to chair COBRA.
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