Writing of the state of France in the twilight of the fateful Second Empire, the left-wing journalist Henri Rochefort observed: ‘France contains 36 million subjects, not including the subjects of discontent.’ Has anything changed since 1868? From the European to the legislative elections, France is a profoundly divided nation. At present and probably until mid-August, she has a caretaker government because the National Assembly is irremediably split into three camps. One might have thought that the Paris Olympic Games could have united the country. Instead, it has deepened division.

France was desperate to be enthralled, and above all, distracted by the Games

France was desperate to be enthralled, and above all, distracted by the Games. The grandiose, daring and creative opening ceremony, transposed for the first time in the modern era from stadium to the heart of the City of Light, should have fulfilled the dreams of the 23 million French viewers. But the gods were not with France. The much-trailed security threats were realised the day before when the principal TGV lines into Paris were sabotaged causing chaos for 800,000 travellers. On the day itself the heavens opened, recalling uncannily how France’s last........

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