John Lichfield
Sarkozy came to power on a mission to change a nation. He has failed
John Lichfield: President Nicolas Sarkozy came to power three years ago planning not just to reform France but to mess with, and change, the country's mind. Like Margaret Thatcher in Britain in the 1980s, he set out to create a more enterprising, can-do country; less obsessed with acquired rights and traditions and prepared to unleash its own latent creativity and to "work harder to earn more".
Recently by John Lichfield
John Lichfield: Europe needs sceptics
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
When France and Germany saw the EU as themselves writ large, they sought closer union. But as its size increased, the Federalist countries backed off. Is the 'British' idea of a looser alliance of states now Europe's future?
Sarkogate: All Le President’s men?
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
The crisis engulfing France's President Sarkozy is drawing comparisons with the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. John Lichfield considers the evidence
Holidaying en masse: What France can teach us about the Big Society
Saturday, 24 July 2010
John Lichfield: The French love to do their own thing so long as everyone else is doing roughly the same. They love to break rules, but they expectthe state to clean up the mess
The Bettencourt affair: Sarkozy's summer of scandal
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
John Lichfield: He came to power as a new kind of politician. Now the French President is beset by troubles.
John Lichfield: Europe knows it cannot go back, but can't bring itself to go forward
Saturday, 19 June 2010
Until now, it has been unwise to underestimate the survival instinct of the European Union and all its works
John Lichfield: First it was McDonald's, now it's primaries
Friday, 4 June 2010
Official France likes to boast, Asterix-like, of its resistance to Anglo-Saxon cultural incursions. No hamburgers, baseball caps, binge-drinking, obesity or football hooligans here. (The real France has passionately embraced all those marvellous things but let's not dwell on it.)
John Lichfield: Cameron's European opportunity
Thursday, 27 May 2010
The Tory leader has a historic opportunity to wean his party, and Britain, from demonology and present the EU as it really is: muddling, frustrating, but essential
John Lichfield: Another Aesop's fable
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Further delay might have meant bailouts for Portugal and Spain, with huge consequences for all of us
John Lichfield: Cereal killers and bungalows lead a Norman conquest
Monday, 12 April 2010
Normandy Notebook
Most popular in Opinion
Read
1 Axe Wednesday: The future starts here
2 Lebanon – land of phantom oil deals, spies and political murder
3 Mark Steel: Shamed by our spirit of protest
4 John Lichfield: Sarkozy came to power on a mission to change a nation. He has failed
5 Christina Patterson: What I learnt from Prince Charles
6 Simon Carr: Labour's new general fails to impress the troops in first big battle
7 Hamish McRae: A new rule book for the Eurozone
8 Darts: Phil Taylor MBE – Britain's greatest living sportsman
9 Robert Fisk: What I learned the day I took tea with Ian Blair
Emailed
1 Mark Steel: Shamed by our spirit of protest
2 Lebanon – land of phantom oil deals, spies and political murder
3 Axe Wednesday: The future starts here
4 John Lichfield: Sarkozy came to power on a mission to change a nation. He has failed
5 Hamish McRae: A new rule book for the Eurozone
7 Howard Jacobson: The future of the novel belongs to Thomas the Tank Engine
8 Chris Mullin: Our party will only blossom again once we have exposed the Big Lie
9 Unidentified Festive Objects
10 Tom Sutcliffe: Here's how to protest against bank bonuses
Commented
Columnist Comments
• Christina Patterson: What I learnt from Prince Charles
One subject bores me to tears. I know it shouldn't, but it does. The environment.
• John Lichfield: Sarkozy's mission has failed
Whatever the outcome of the present dispute, Mr Sarkozy has already lost.
• Hamish McRae: A new rule book for the Eurozone
France and Germany try to figure out preventing another breakdown in confidence in the Eurozone.
Register for free to find your perfect partner with Independent Singles
Partners
-
Compare hundreds of deals on top finance offers
-
Register for free to find your perfect partner with Independent Singles
-
Find and compare 1000’s of business & professional Training Courses
-
Holidays for the discerning traveller from the Independent Holiday directory
Register for free to find your perfect partner with Independent Singles