…at my Substack, about the French elections, among other things.

I’ve re-pinned a piece about June 18th and its significance in France to the top of my Substack, if you are interested. And speaking of France, the style icon Francoise Hardy died a few days ago and the glorious Anouk Aimee passed away today, at the age of 92. Hardy’s music was a part of my life in France – really, part of the soundtrack, to use a journalistic cliche. As for Aimee, such a list of fine performances, but my favourite has to be Une Homme et une Femme.

…over at my Substack.

To keep my French up, I watch French news programs and recently, I saw an interview with Robert Badinter. Badinter is a serious person, a heavyweight. He is in his 90s and absolutely on the ball. He was France’s Minister of Justice in the ’80s and oversaw the end of death penalty there. His father was murdered in Sobibor. I could not find the whole interview but here is part of it – he is talking about Ukraine, about Europe, about war, about Putin and his war crimes. He also touches on the French protests about retirement age. There are no subtitles, so only for French speakers.

Today is the 82nd anniversary of de Gaulle’s Appel du 18 Juin. Click on what I wrote last year about this day, if you are so inclined. And speaking of France, I was saddened to hear that Jean-Louis Trintignant died. I just loved Un Homme et Une Femme – a Euro-chick flick, before the term “chick flick” came to be – and not just for its theme song.

The iconic last scene, below.