From school uniform experiments to a cigarette tax, via the French politicians who are ruining August by insisting on talking about politics, our weekly newsletter looks at the latest news and talking points from France.
Due to a combination of mixed results, cuts to government funding and general indifference, it seems that France's experiment with school uniforms is quietly fizzling out.
This was introduced with great fanfare in 2023 accompanied by a lot of very earnest and frankly quite ambitious claims for school uniforms, including reducing bullying and improving social equality.
As someone who wore a school uniform for six years, I don't recall it eradicating social inequality, nor does it seem to me that the UK - where almost all schools have a uniform - is notably more equal than France, where uniforms in schools are rare.
Reducing social inequality is a laudable goal, but I fear that it might take more than an itchy polyester blazer and an ugly tie.
Deflection of the week
The award for missing the point in a truly spectacular fashion this week goes to the Les Républicains MP Yannick Neuder, who wants to introduce an extra tax onto a multi-million euro international industry that bears no small level of responsibility for the recent devastating wildfires.
That industry? Tobacco. Since, Yannick reasons, many wildfires are sparked by carelessly discarded cigarette butts.
I can't help but feel there might be another multi-million euro international industry that bears a heavier responsibility for the wildfires . . . which one? It's a Total mystery.
Summer in the city
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that a French MP is proposing a new law in August, instead of heading to the beach to work on their tan.
We're truly into the holiday season now. Paris, outside of the obvious tourist areas, is emptying out and I was one of only two people in the Metro carriage during rush hour yesterday. I've always been quite fond of Paris in August - semi-deserted, with many places closed for annual leave, it has to me the feel of a secret society for the select few who stayed. It becomes a semi-holiday place - yes, you might be at work, but your boss is probably away and so are most of the people you need to contact, so why not take a long lunch or enjoy a leisurely stroll along the urban beach and then get an ice cream?
READ ALSO: The 8 signs that August has arrived in France
This is the season of the 'août of office' reply (I'm sorry. It's not my pun, and at least I'm not as bad as the French newsletter that headlined itself 'août of the woods', truly, franglais puns are getting out of control).
Of course, for politicians things are a little different this year - most of the 2027 presidential candidates have embarked on tours of the country, earnestly explaining their vision for France to anyone who didn't have the foresight to go to the beach.
Guys, we'll have an eight-month election campaign starting in September - is that not enough? Let us have the summer to write about weighty subjects like the best French cakes, names that sound like rude words and videos of celebrities trying to speak French.
Film recommendation
If you want to watch something incredibly French, I really recommend De la Comédie-française, in cinemas now. It ticks a dizzying number of boxes; it's a classic-style farce with lots of shouting and misunderstandings; it's set at the Comédie-française, France's national theatre; the ghost of Molière makes a guest appearance to slag off the work of a certain Will Shakespeare; there is a secret extra-marital affair . . . you get the picture.
It's an affectionate parody of a lot of the 'sacred cows' of French culture, and is the first full-length film from Bertrand Usclat, of the satirical publication Brut.
One opinion I often hear is that the French are not good at poking fun at themselves, that autodérision is not a French skill. I strongly disagree with this and offer as evidence this scene from De la Comédie-française. Everyone who has ever had to deal with an intractable French bureaucrat will recognise it immediately, but remember that this is written by a Frenchman.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tilbgRsANvc[/embed]
French villages
Another very French thing you will notice, especially if you're exploring the French countryside this summer, is very long commune names - Beaujeu-Saint-Vallier-Pierrejux-et-Quitteur, for example.
Or Saint-Laurent-les-Bains-Laval-d'Aurelle (that one's in Ardèche) or the Alpine commune of Coise-Saint-Jean-Pied-Gauthier.
Those aren't even the longest place names in France, the longest commune name has 38 letters. The explanation is usually boringly prosaic - at some point in time two or more communes merged, and as no-one wants to be subsumed by their neighbour the names are combined and hyphenated.
When it comes to the shortest French place name, the prize goes to Y in the Somme département. I saw several claims that Y is twinned with the Welsh village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, famous for having the longest name in the UK. However I couldn't find any official record of this, so sadly it seems to be an urban myth.
Inside France is editor Emma Pearson's weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
