Can Carla Bruni’s voice boost Nicolas Sarkozy’s approval ratings?
REUTERS/Eric Feferberg
Elspeth Lodge February 16, 2011 – 2:16 pm
French president Nicolas Sarkozy is using his wife’s singing voice to try and boost his approval ratings, which are hovering just above 30%, the Telegraph reports.
Carla Bruni is trying to help Mr. Sarkozy win a second term in office during next year’s general election by recording the 1943 classic ‘Sweet France’ by Charles Trenet.
Mr. Trenet’s song was written during the Second World War Nazi occupation of France and many of France’s younger population are unconvinced that the recording will help Mr. Sarkozy: Firstly, Mrs. Bruni plans to record the song in her native Italian —probably not such a hot idea when trying to bring people back to the days of French patriotism — and secondly, the 1943 classic was adored by many Nazi officers, and that’s just bad karma.
The French language newspaper that broke, Midi Libre, has published a poll showing that 56% per cent of those 18-to-34-years-old in France don’t like the song.
Currently, the French first lady is in the midst of recording a fourth album of pop songs in Paris; an Elysée Palace source told The Telegraph she isn’t sure whether her husband’s new patriotic chanson will appear in the new mix.
Posted in: Posted, World Tags: Élysée Palace, Charles Trenet, France, Midi Libre, Nicolas Sarkozy, Paris, World War II
French grandma rescued after 20 days trapped in bathroom
Fotolia
A French grandmother survived for 20 days in her bathroom due to easy access to water.
Elspeth Lodge November 24, 2010 – 11:00 am
French firemen busted down the front door of a 69 year-old grandmother’s second-floor flat on Friday, after neighbours noticed something at the pensioners door had gone unclaimed for ten days.
The woman had become stuck in her windowless bathroom in the town of Epinay-sous-Senart, a suburb of Paris, for 20 days, after the doorknob broke off in her hand, reported CNN.
When the rescuers entered her apartment they heard noises coming from the bathroom — so they broke down that door too.
Inside the bathroom they found a woman lying on the ground, said BBC, in a “very weakened” state. She had survived for three weeks by drinking warm tap water.
She kept up her morale by brushing her teeth and taking showers, reported Coventry Telegraph.net.
The pensioner banged on the wall with one of her shoes by day and on the bathroom pipes by night — but neighbours confused the sounds with DIY construction work, which they quickly struck up a petition to halt.
“You could hear banging sounds, like a hammer, even at night, but we thought they were doing work at night. We said: ‘They are going too far! They are preventing us from sleeping!’ If we had known…,” said a neighbour to local media.
November 25, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment » | Edit
