I went walking in the woods. For the first time since lockdown started.

Frogs croaked in the ponds, the sun dappled the ground and I couldn’t believe how loud the birdsong was.

The Japanese have a p […]

As more French pupils go back to school this Monday, 70 new cases of Covid-19 have been identified in infant schools, which partially reopened last week. Several schools, in various parts of the country, have had […]

The Gilets Jaunes are back. A few of them, anyway. And 25 clusters of Covid-19 cases have been identified in France since lockdown was lifted, although the situation does still seem to be improving.

A few […]

Lockdown seems to have worked. The number of deaths per day has declined since a high point of 600 a day of the beginning of April.

Graph by Insee

In fact, numbers crunched by the official statistics […]

Hydroxychloroquine isn’t a miracle cure, then. It appears that Professor Didier Raoult is a bit of a bullshitter and President Donald Trump is a bit of a mug. Who’d have thought it?

The Raoult cult – a Mar […]

It ain’t over yet! Keep washing your hands! (And social distancing, which they’re not doing in this old ad for laundry soap)

First it was our masks, now it’s our medicines! The US will be served first if S […]

RATP staff outside Champigny station yesterday Photo: Tony Cross

Health Minister Olivier Véran has given us all a good talking to. There could be a new lockdown if the virus starts to spread again, he […]

The banks of the River Marne yesterday Photo: Tony Cross

Officials say that the end of lockdown went smoothly. But some Parisians threw caution to the winds. And a young man appeared in court in western France […]

Lockdown is over, sort of. It appears that many office workers have stayed at home. Manual workers don’t have that option, as reports from the Paris métro make clear.

“Avoid rush hour,” says this poster at Ch […]

La région parisienne est frappée de plein fouet par des violents orages ce soir, qui sont remontés dans une masse d’air tropicale très instable. Plus d’une centaine d’impacts de foudre ont été recensés sur l’oues […]

“Save lives, stay at home,” the government pleads. But will we?

Why is France ending lockdown on Monday? Even if hospital admissions and cases in intensive care are going down, the virus is still very much out […]

What’s striking about the plan to end France’s lockdown is how little constraint there is – especially on employers. This does not bode well for the brave new world we’ve been promised when the epidemic is over […]

The man in charge of guiding us out of lockdown has a relockdown plan up his sleeve, which is not reassuring. Nor are the findings of two studies that a second wave seems quite likely.

Jean Castex, the civil […]

France is swimming in beer. The brewers say they will have to pour 10 million litres down the drain because bars, cafés and restaurants have been closed during lockdown. One reason for the glut is that […]

“One mask per household from the council” it says. Photo: Tony Cross

We’ve received our municipal masks. Champigny town council has distributed masks to every household ahead of the end of lockdown. And the C […]

After announcing at the weekend that anyone entering France will be placed in 14 days’ quarantine, the government has said this will not apply to people from the EU, the Schengen area and the UK, the latter e […]

A poster welcomes “responsible” mask-wearers to Champigny Photo: Tony Cross

After a cabinet meeting yesterday the papers are claiming that the rules for post-lockdown France are becoming clear. I’m glad they t […]

At home, prepare the revolution, Poster by Atélier Youpi

The French government has opened an anti-fake news page on its website. Meanwhile, the health minister has assured us that more tests would not have […]

Facebook sent me one of those reminders of what I was doing this time last year this morning – photos of teargas, black blockers, Yellow Vests and trade unionists on last year’s May Day demonstration. (You can […]