People are willing to defecate in the river Seine. It speaks to the political malaise that is polluting France, writes Lucy Kenningham

In 18th century France, the rebel-prone public’s punishment for heads of state was the guillotine. In 2024 it’s a stream of sh*t. Or rather, it would have been – if President Emmanuel Macron and mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo hadn’t got wind of the feculent conniving.

You may have heard – it’s news in Britain due to our own waterways being soiled on a near-daily basis – that Paris has been planning on making its city-defining river “swimmable” in time for July’s Olympic Games. This is part of a campaign to host the first ‘Games Wide Open’ Olympics, which entails hosting part of the triathlon in the Seine (lane-style swimming events will still be held a la piscine).

Despite the Seine appearing to the naked eye infinitely greener than its miserably mud-coloured cousin the Thames, it is not free of bacteria, a certain amount of garbage and other nasty substances. As such, the cost of the cleanup has not been negligible – 1.2bn euros at a time when France’s economic outlook is uninspiring and many people feel, justly, left behind.

© City A.M.