Letters from Paris

As Paris enters a hybrid lockdown, we look at the fall-out from the César Awards, the Paris Commune of 1871 and crocodiles in the canals.

After Macron swept passed, Xander discusses the César Awards, the club of former presidents and picking up the pace of the vaccine roll-out.

The Sarkozy verdict explained, and more on the week France marked the thirtieth anniversary  of Serge Gainsbourg's death.

Is 'Télématin' under threat? Xander hopes not. Plus: 'WTF Anne' and a national uprising against vegetarians.

Fresh from the frying pan, Xander sits down to talk Carla Bruni and the legacy of the Roux brothers.

Circling Paris, Xander follows the route of Joan of Arc, stopping at a red brick school by the railway points.

It's grim up north... where the upstart Emmanuel Macron grew up. Plus, why when Britain should have failed, the EU is instead infuriated by its vaccination success.

Xander is back in Paris! To celebrate the return, he's sharing a few thoughts from his columns.

In his final letter 'to' Paris before returning to the Île Saint-Louis, Xander reminds us how France was one of the last European countries to abolish the death penalty.

Xander explains how he changed his mind about French bureaucracy. While he used to think of it as 'quaint', he now sees how overprocessing fed Brexiteer rhetoric.