From the French inside minister taking offence at a board recreation to newest price range shenanigans, by way of some spectacularly creepy royalist ‘artwork’ and the American drawback with the Louvre, our weekly e-newsletter seems in any respect the most recent information and speaking factors from France.
Inside France is our weekly have a look at among the information, speaking factors and gossip in France that you just may not have heard about. It’s printed every Saturday and members can obtain it on to their inbox, by going to their e-newsletter preferences or including their electronic mail to the sign-up field on this article.
Game of policing
France’s price range negotiations proceed to grind on, slowly and painfully, on account of attain a climax of some sort on Tuesday, when parliament should vote on the primary a part of the 2026 spending plans, the Sécu (social safety).
There are clearly plenty of behind-closed-doors negotiations occurring as prime minister Sébastien Lecornu desperately tries to search out allies among the many opposition events.
But amid all this, France’s Interior Minister did additionally discover the time to file a authorized criticism . . . towards a board recreation.
The recreation Fachorama, produced by a left-wing anti fascist collective as a politically-themed piece of leisure, incorporates a character of ‘flic raciste‘ (racist cop), whose traits embody contrôles au faciès (racial profiling) and destructeur de camps de migrants (destroying migrant camps).
Laurent Nunez, previously the Paris police chief, apparently considers this a matter for the courts.
Which will probably be attention-grabbing to look at, as a result of can anybody actually deny at this level that some – very a lot not all, however some – of France’s flics are racist?
Over the previous 5 years a fairly regular stream of movies have emerged exhibiting French law enforcement officials treating individuals of color extraordinarily badly – together with the vicious beating of black music producer Michel and the killing of French-Algerian teen Nahel.
Even worse, the official model of many of those incidents was drastically completely different to what the movies confirmed – pointing to a extra severe institutional drawback the place evidently even the officers who are usually not racist or abusive are keen to lie for his or her colleagues who’re.
That’s on high of extra day by day, low-level harassment such because the supposedly random ID checks or visitors stops disproportionately focusing on individuals of color.
Nunez has solely been in submit as Interior Minister since October, so perhaps he’s certainly engaged on a plan to sort out all these issues and the related lack of confidence within the police which was one of many most important drivers of the widespread rioting that France noticed in the summertime of 2023.
But if he’s engaged on such a plan then he has by no means talked about it. Indeed his solely public touch upon this matter thus far has been to go after the makers of a board recreation who’ve identified an uncomfortable fact about trendy France.
Meanwhile, Paris law enforcement officials are underneath investigation for posing with an upside-down banner seized at a ladies’s march – a standard trope amongst soccer hooligans once they have seized the banner of considered one of their ‘enemies’. Apparently this police unit considers as its enemy ‘Antifa feminists towards transphobia and racism’.
Talking France
The newest episode of Talking France discusses the price range newest and that police investigation, in addition to new prepare hyperlinks and SNCF’s drawback with central France, in addition to the French mayor who has ordered a ‘silent avenue’ in his city. Listen right here or on the hyperlink beneath.
Creepiest ‘artwork’ of the week
Was French rugby excited by the return of legendary participant Antoine Dupont after a protracted layoff for harm? Just a bit! His return to play in Toulouse final weekend was entrance web page information in a number of sports activities papers and the topic of a lot pleasure from followers.
However the Top 14 league selected to have a good time with this weird and hideous (presumably AI-generated) picture exhibiting Dupont within the robes of a king and the Toulouse followers as a few of Medieval peasants. Dupont looks like a pleasant lad, so hopefully he will not find yourself being guillotined in Place de la Concorde on the age of 38 – within the type of Louis XVI – even when Les Bleus do under-perform in subsequent yr’s World Cup . . .
Il est de retour ⌛️ #TOP14 pic.twitter.com/x3UsuTsNvC
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) November 28, 2025
Also, price noting the unimpressed replies to this tweet – payez des graphistes fdp (pay artists, dickheads).
French classes
The Louvre – 10 million guests a yr, residence of the world’s most well-known portray, and a few classes to be realized on safety. But the Paris museum this week earned one other accolade; apparently, it’s the phrase most probably to be mispronounced by Americans.
The concern, as so typically in French, is the ‘r’.
READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How to grasp the French rolling R✎
I need to admit that I hadn’t actually observed this earlier than, however Americans are likely to pronounce the museum ‘loove’, whereas French individuals say the ‘r’ so it sounds extra like ‘loo-vruh’ – ably demonstrated by the Paris prosecutor investigating that €88 million jewelry heist, who has a specific crisp pronunciation.
Inside France is our weekly have a look at among the information, speaking factors and gossip in France that you just may not have heard about. It’s printed every Saturday and members can obtain it on to their inbox, by going to their e-newsletter preferences or including their electronic mail to the sign-up field on this article.
