There is no France-in-decline reality so real that Jack will not bravely resist, bravely deny, bravely inveigh. There is no snit, no pout, no public display so petty that he will shrink from should the world be at variance with French delusions.

CHIRAC LEAVES EU SUMMIT AS FRENCHMAN SPEAKS ENGLISH

BRUSSELLS March 23, 2006 (Guardian) - Jacques Chirac led a French walkout from the opening session of the EU's annual spring summit last night when a fellow Frenchman committed the grave offence of speaking English.

Highlighting France's acute sensitivity towards the decline of the language which once dominated the EU, Mr Chirac led three senior ministers out of the talks when Ernest-Antoine Seillière, the French head of the European employers' group Unice [sic], abandoned his mother tongue on the ground that English is "the language of business".

WASSUP, DAWG?
No Speekee Da Ingleesh, Mistuh Seillière

Mr Chirac picked up his papers and left, with Philippe Douste-Blazy, the foreign minister and Thierry Breton, the finance minister, in tow. Gallic pride was soon restored when Jean-Claude Trichet, the French head of the European Central Bank, addressed the meeting in his mother tongue - and Mr Chirac led his ministers back.

M. Seillière's English is probably the lesser offense in Jack's eyes than what M. Seillière has to say:

Europe today is not competitive enough. This was known in Lisbon in 2000 and it is still the case. That is why we come together today to explain – again and again – that competitiveness is key for our future, key for the future of our children.

UNICE Competitiveness Day, October 20, 2005

And M. Seillière is not the only Frenchman soberly speaking English.

CHIRAC'S DREAM OF TV À LA FRANÇAISE
SUFFERS IN THE (ENGLISH) TRANSLATION

PARIS March 16, 2006 (Telegraph) - President Jacques Chirac promised a "CNN à la française" in the 2002 election campaign and is committed to a station that will "spread the values of France and its global vision throughout the world".

It was always known that part of the channel's output would be in English and Arabic but champions of the French language were appalled at suggestions that its output in the language be less than four hours a day.

The satirical weekly Le Canard Enchainé quoted Jean-Pierre Paoli, right-hand man to CII's head, Alain de Pouzihac, as saying: "It could be half in English, half in French or a different proportion." But it added that CII executives told counterparts at the state-owned France Televisions, a partner with the private TF1 network in the venture, that French language transmissions would be limited to three hours each morning. The rest, Le Canard Enchainé said, would be "in the language of Shakespeare". Mr Paoli was reported to have defended the proposal on the grounds that English was a universal language, adding: "We are hardly committing an act of high treason."

A spokesman for the new channel said: "Eighty per cent of our target audience will be anglophone. If we want pluralism in the field of international television news, we cannot ignore this. Our viewers will be opinion formers, journalists and people who travel a lot, and the language most common to them is English."

To which Jack says, "Say what?"

PFFT (What is this?): Classic Jack 4 | Say what? 4 | Rayonnement français 0

Hey ab/ay good luck with your stagnant, dying language. Je ne parle pas francis, indeed.

BTW great picture you put together Damian.