Did I understand that correctly?
Liveblogging the presidential debate, though my French is far from perfect:
Did Segolène Royal just say that if she is elected president, every policewoman will be walked safely home after work?
Did Nicolas Sarkozy just say both that there are too many civil servants in France and too few?
Did Royal just say that she will bring in conscription for young offenders?
Now Sarkozy is accusing Royal's boyfriend of proposing a new CSG. What is a CSG?
"Je rédeployerai!" Not one of the great slogans of our time.
I haven't seen the female moderator say anything so far; her male colleague seems to be doing it all.
I don't like Sarkozy or his body language at all, but I think he has her on the run on the economic arguments.
No I don't, not any more. Apparently if he is president, no unemployed person will be allowed to turn down more than two job offers, because this works so well in the UK.
Nice strike back by Royal, "if the 35-hour week is such a bad thing, how come you haven't repealed it?" It's a good debating point.
And did Sarkozy just say he wouldn't change the 35-hour week, "Je n'y toucherai pas"? After appearing to have argued precisely the opposite earlier?
Royal is grinning now as she says that the whole problem is that, compared with the dynamic social partnership economies of Scandinavia, there are not enough French trade union members.
F has just come downstairs although it is long past his bedtime. We explained that what we were watching was a kind of argument between two people who want to be President of France. He said firmly, "I hate squabbles!" And stomped back upstairs.
Royal looks bad at the end by interrupting Sarkozy when it was his turn to speak. But since he appears to be promising to revitalise France through early retirement, and refunding the costs of false teeth, maybe she was right. And now he is interrupting her even more grumpily that she did him a few minutes earlier.
F is absolutely right, that's enough listening to people arguing in French for one night. No mention of Europe or foreign policy as far as I could tell. I'm going to bed.
Did Segolène Royal just say that if she is elected president, every policewoman will be walked safely home after work?
Did Nicolas Sarkozy just say both that there are too many civil servants in France and too few?
Did Royal just say that she will bring in conscription for young offenders?
Now Sarkozy is accusing Royal's boyfriend of proposing a new CSG. What is a CSG?
"Je rédeployerai!" Not one of the great slogans of our time.
I haven't seen the female moderator say anything so far; her male colleague seems to be doing it all.
I don't like Sarkozy or his body language at all, but I think he has her on the run on the economic arguments.
No I don't, not any more. Apparently if he is president, no unemployed person will be allowed to turn down more than two job offers, because this works so well in the UK.
Nice strike back by Royal, "if the 35-hour week is such a bad thing, how come you haven't repealed it?" It's a good debating point.
And did Sarkozy just say he wouldn't change the 35-hour week, "Je n'y toucherai pas"? After appearing to have argued precisely the opposite earlier?
Royal is grinning now as she says that the whole problem is that, compared with the dynamic social partnership economies of Scandinavia, there are not enough French trade union members.
F has just come downstairs although it is long past his bedtime. We explained that what we were watching was a kind of argument between two people who want to be President of France. He said firmly, "I hate squabbles!" And stomped back upstairs.
Royal looks bad at the end by interrupting Sarkozy when it was his turn to speak. But since he appears to be promising to revitalise France through early retirement, and refunding the costs of false teeth, maybe she was right. And now he is interrupting her even more grumpily that she did him a few minutes earlier.
F is absolutely right, that's enough listening to people arguing in French for one night. No mention of Europe or foreign policy as far as I could tell. I'm going to bed.