The French don't expect much from their politicians: Onerous taxes, corruption, and that they keep their clothes on.

L'AVENIR COMBATTU SUR LES PLAGES DE LA FRANCE
Tan-lines Cross Party-lines

SOCIALIST IN A BIKINI HAS THE FRENCH IN A SWEAT

PARIS August 10, 2006 (Australian) - Closer, one of a new breed of brash celebrity magazines, presented a two-page spread of Ms Royal swimming and walking at a Mediterranean beach.

She has a holiday home at Mougins, near Cannes, which belongs to the mother of Francois Hollande, the party leader who is her partner and the father of their four children.

Mr Hollande's balding head appears in one shot.

The images are likely to infuriate the party barons, who see Ms Royal as a lightweight and are desperate to halt her rise as the likely left-wing champion against Interior Minister and centre-right contender Nicolas Sarkozy.

"Who would guess that this willowy* woman is 53 [sic] and has four children?" Closer said.

The cover of the VSD summer issue shows the bikinied Mlle. Royal side-by-side with a chunky bare-chested Sarko. It is pretentiously headlined Duel au soleil.

One sees this sort of thing when this sort of thing sells. This sort of thing sells when it is the sort of thing people wish to see. If the French people wish to see it then why have they so exercised themselves about buying publications that print it? Flare to the French public -- instead of shock and dismay, don't buy trashy magazines featuring half-naked politicians. It is certain that come next summer these magazines will publish more newstand-worthy skins.

Last year Dom, the Fabio Lanzoni of French picture politics, met photographers stripped to the waist in his maillot de bain straight from a swim at La Baule. France recovered.

No doubt she will again.

* Mlle. Royal is a bit grassouillet. She is not willowy. The press invents Mlle. Royal as it likes, no need for tiresome reportorial chores like fact-checks. Sometimes Mlle. Royal is tall ("...Ségolène Royal, a tall, glamorous, 52-year-old..."). Sometimes she is small ("The first thing that you notice about Ségolène Royal is how small she is."). Sometimes she is "Madame Royal", sometimes "Mlle. Royal". Either way, she is not married. She is frequently, as above, reported incorrectly to be 53. As of this writing she is 52, née September 22, 1953.

PFFT (What is this?): Bikini politics 3½ | Rayonnement français 0

Bonjour,

[M. AB/AY has dropped by to tell us that he has been watching television. Notihng to do with the posted topic. So it has been deleted. M. AB/AY knows Pave requires a nod toward relevance. A pity as M. AB/AY looks to have taken more care than usual with his typing.

The Management]

Good luck to your country in Irak , dear Milton !!!!!

In VSD, we learn that François Hollande is currently reading French History for Dummies :)