The French GE ... voting starts Sunday. ??

Ooo Coastpath, that appeals to my wicked sense of humour. Macron wasn't phased!

I think Macron will win. However, his handling of the covid crisis praised after trashing the Astra Zeneca vaccine (costing lives) was wicked.

Dinahmo & Joseanne. Dogs bring us all down to the same level and he handled it with such down to earth charm. I will try to do the same when my dog scoots on the carpet whilst we have company!

Coastpath

Sorry to derail this a little, but I just found this and it made me laugh.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgDkmeyiWfo

Thanks for that…hadn’t seen it before. Never thought of Macron as being a dog person. Like him even more now.

Joseanne

That's weird indeed. During the 2017 Macron had a smooth chest! Les tendencies de la mode change very quickly in France.

I don't believe those are his own muscles either!

They might be Callistemon.

He looks worn out!!

Whose muscles are they Callistemon? Better than a mound of flab and a badly fitting suit.

Ah, but it is a world beating mound of flab and a badly fitting suit vegansrock.

Urmstongran

I think Macron will win. However, his handling of the covid crisis praised after trashing the Astra Zeneca vaccine (costing lives) was wicked.

Choke, some may think he was being protective

Joseanne

They might be Callistemon.

Is hat photoshopped too Joseanne?

If not, it's most odd because his right shoulder is at a very odd angle.

I prefer him in a suit, he's fine just as he is without pretending to be superman or Tarzan with a hairy chest.

Macron's decision to pause the Astra Zeneca was because of a panic over a girl dying of a blood clot after the jab - so trying to reassess the safety at a time when no-one was sure and the public were fearful. I don't think you can blame him ( and leaders in other countries) for double checking. Not worse than Johnson's role in the deaths of thousands by locking down late and the nursing homes scandal. Before anyone says it was because AZ was British - the head of AZ is French.

I have received my advertising leaflets and the cat is there.

Oh yes, the cat! I remember Marine Le Pen stating she didn't need either a man or a dog living with her in the Elysée Palace because she had a cat!?

Did anyone watch the debate? I thought it was very interesting and quite different from the slanging matches we have to endure here, ( I much prefer the candidates seated across a desk than jiggling from leg to leg at a lectern.) Macron came out better, he was far more informed and able to find faults with Le Pen's policies. I thought she in turn did well and was far more thoughtful and controlled than in 2017. I believe she actually said she had mellowed with age! I like her energy and although some of her ideas are innovative, they do have a place in shaking up some of France's politics. I believe Macron got a bit personal on occasions, but Le Pen didn't overreact. All in all the candidates showed respect for each other. Good viewing!

I only saw the bit about the hijab. I thought he ran rings round her. Obviously it's up to the French who they vote for, but it seems to me she has no respect for anybody. Maybe Putin? She's a fascist ?

The French in the poorer rural breton commune where lived voted for Le Pen in first place. The French in the affluent coastal breton town where I have my apartment voted for Macron. I'm still trying to fathom it, but I think the economy and lifestyle plays the biggest part in people's votes.

* I lived

Not long to go now.

I guess it’s the more right wing anti immigration message goes down better with the less well educated/ less well off in most countries. It’s the “blame the immigrants/ foreigners for all the ills in your life” rhetoric. The French voters based in the U.K. are overwhelmingly for Macron.

That's true vegansrock. When we bought our property in rural Brittany the lawyer (although not uneducated and poor) came out with a comment at the signing that he was pleased we (white British) were settling in the commune and not those from Africa! Yikes, and ironically he works for the government.

vegansrock

I guess it’s the more right wing anti immigration message goes down better with the less well educated/ less well off in most countries. It’s the “blame the immigrants/ foreigners for all the ills in your life” rhetoric. The French voters based in the U.K. are overwhelmingly for Macron.

Her lies give out hope for the people in need but the figures don’t add up. Basically no tax for the young under 30 year-olds, lower the pension age, cheaper fuel and controlling immigrants.

If Le Pen does win its going to be harder for the UK to deal with an even more nationalistic France, the EU won’t be happy either. A right wing French government is going cause a lot of internal unrest as well.

Out of interest are people in this country who support brexit happy with the idea of a French president who seems to support Putin purely because they are anti EU?

Pension ages is one of the greatest inequalities across the whole of Europe. Do I understand mokryna that Le Pen wants to reverse it back down to the age it was before in France?
(Somewhere I have a little pot waiting, so earlier would be good!)