"I really really cannot get over that, shoot yourself in the foot with culinary yobbism in the first paragraph in an article on France. Maybe they should serve their cheese with marmite or jellied eels or other things that will mask the taste of cheese to suit British low-brow tastes.

S. Quinlivan, brugge,"

You've clearly spent too long in their company and have forgotten what a sense of humour is.

Get over yourself.

N Butler, London, UK

I HAVE A DREAM ,I have a dream that one day France stops being
the country of strikes done by narrow-minded and selfish citizens ( ?)
I have a dream that one day France stops being the country of riots leaded by people who always want to receive money and help without giving anything to their country except fire and destruction .
After several years of waste and low-employment ,will Mr Sarkozy have enough pugnacity and strength to face this opposition ?
I hope so !
I am a member of " le service public", I voted for change , and I'm ready for it .

THEILLIER L., COLMAR, FRANCE

I must point out to you, that Sarkosy is not the “new man” who it is claimed, it is an apparatchik of RPR, and its seizure of power resembles surprisingly that of that which was its mentor: Jacques Chirac. In addition for 5 years that it takes part in the government and this, with the head of two ministries for most important, it has not changed anything. You could at least reconnaitre with Ségolène Royal a Quality: That to have put a salutary kick in the socialist mud pit.

Tabti, Paris, france

"I find it a frustrating place, not least because of the mystery of why the country which produces the finest cheese on the planet invariably refuses to serve it with biscuits."
I really really cannot get over that, shoot yourself in the foot with culinary yobbism in the first paragraph in an article on France. Maybe they should serve their cheese with marmite or jellied eels or other things that will mask the taste of cheese to suit British low-brow tastes.

S. Quinlivan, brugge,

With a tidy majority, Sarkozy has won the French elections.

As he is not stupid, he is well aware that strikes are down the line. This is why he will be instituting "minimum service" for public services. And it's about time too!
Anyone who lives here has had it up to the eyeballs with people demonstrating with banners saying "Pour le Service Public" when, in fact, what the civil servants really mean is "Pour nos Privilèges"...

Furthermore, even if Ségolène had won, there would have been loads of strikes from people expecting a payback...

The Sarkozy majority cut across a wide swath of French voters. People have realized that France is not a law unto itself and that the country must change to be competitive in an increasingly globalised world.

This having been said, our friend Sarko has some rather worrying character traits... Let us hope that he rises to the demands of the presidency.

Best regards,
Alex R.

Sarkozy

Rychlewski, Bordeaux, Francd

The French serve the cheese with good bread - why would they need biscuits?

Lesley Archibald, Bridport, Dorset

Sarkozy is on record saying that he favours a devalued currency, to increase the competitiveness of French industry. This says it all. When your goods are too expensively priced for the market, the honest way is to take a pay cut. That hard choice will be avoided. Instead, the President wants to diminish the buying power of the French currency, abandoning the prime economic duty of any government. So much for reform.

The same fantasy world has been created in Britain and other countries. Governments pretend that life can be safe, while actually making it unsafer. The people are diminished by being treated as infants who would not be able to tolerate the withdrawal of their treats.

The answer is to structure pay with a variable bonus element, which can be increased in good times and decreased in bad times. That way you live with economic reality, and preserve the value of hard earned (and hard taxed) savings. You also get to be a grown-up.

Mike Evans, Midsomer Norton, UK

Well, Mr Carter, I hope you are too pessimistic. What has been so criminally lacking in France so far is political will. For example, the authorities allow lorries to block motoways and boats to block ports, and yet they have a far tougher army, navy and police force than ours. They just lacked the will to use them. The next time lorries block the roads I hope Sarko will send in the tanks to push them into the ditch, and the next time boats block Calais or Marseille I hope Sarko will send in the navy to arrest them. You CAN face down the bully-boys and girls: you just need the guts to do so. Let's all hope Sarko has the guts.

J. Fletcher, Canterbury, UK

"One in four of the population claiming to be a farmer and looking for a subsidy."

I am sure this must be a mistake.

Roughly one if four of the active population works for the civil service, yes. But one in four claiming to be a farmer? I have never read anything to that effect. The active population in farming is down to a few percentage points.

Robert Marchenoir, Paris, France

Sarkozy will have to be a cunning and masterful leader indeed to effectively lead where at least 50% and probably many more of the population do not wish to follow. If he tries, we can expect strikes, social divisions and chaos of the worst kind for many months until he succeeds or is defeated. If he merely wanted personal power rather than to change French society the long decline can peacefully continue more or less indefinitely. You need a real crisis to persuade you that you really have arrived at the last chance saloon. I don't sense that the French believe that they are there yet.

Colin Carter, London, UK

Brits will need plenty of 'courage' given that they are ruining two nations at the same time- Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rolf Joachim Siegen, Kiev, Ukraine,

Concerning Sarkozy's position on Turkey or Iran, I'me not sure that France will have a positive impact on the Middle East issue. Just have a look on what he said during the "Debat" and you will merely understand that Western Political Leaders take benefit in keeping alive a real terrorist menace. Sarkozy 's sentences are dangerous on those topics, he was irresponsible...

Pierre, Paris, France

As Napoleon died on May 5 (1821) and Sarkozy was elected on May 6, it is certainly the case of "Napoleon is dead, long live Sarkozy."

Both Napoleone di Buonaparte and Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa changed their name.

Now what we need is a Wellington to see off Sarkozy's European plans!

Chris Gillibrand, Brussels in Exile, "Democratic" Belgium/ Europe

"A strong France is not only in its own interests, but that of Britain, Europe and the wider world".
Frankly I find that a somewhat sweeping statement. Since when has a strong France ever been in Britains interest?

David Bannen, Oxford, UK

Leave it to the anglos to to tell us that the economy does not allow for 35 hour work weeks.
Why did we Europeans become so wealthy, why do we have all this modern technology? So we can work more?
The French are the only industrialised nation to have realised that the purpose of industrialisation was that we can work less, not more.

eero iloniemi, Helsinki, Finland

The 35-hour week isn't really the issue. French business has adapted to it remarkably well, their productivity being in another league altogether to the British. Sarkosy's programme looks full of gimmicks when the real problem is red tape and bureaucracy. It is very difficult to set up a business in France. It's akin to an obstacle course and rather expensive even before starting. The other problem is that the French lack optimism. A bit of a gung-ho attitude would do miracles. Can Sarkosy do that?

John, London, UK

YOU BRITS like tim hames MAY LOVE US BUt WE DON'T LOVE YOU!

We are superior and you are inferior.

Jean- Claude Rioux, Paris, France

There is some hope for peace in the middle east with Sarkozy at the helm of France,Being one sided is not a recipe for helping two enemies,Sarkosy has declared his frienship towards Israel.This does not mean a detriment towards Arabs,quite the contrary an even hand ,a fairer hand,will be respected by both .France can be very helpful.One listens to one's friend far more than the one that slaps you from behind." The friend of my enemy can also be my friend "

james hazan, huddersfield, uk

Serving cheese with bread rather than (usually salty) biscuits is a mark of sanity surely?

J. C., Brussels,

The reason the French do not serve their cheese with biscuits is that they still remember how to make real bread - Dieu soit loué.

Tim, Dinan, France

The French are to the wider world what Bob Geldof and Bono are to the G8 - an appealing but simplistic alternative to reality.
The Fifth Republic arose out of the ashes of 1940, the loss of Indo-China and the impending loss of Algeria. That is, defeat by the global idea of post second world war retreat from empire. The British did it fairly well and the French fairly disastrously.
Any nation that has its language and culture dictated by an elite (Acadamie Francaise) is not open to new ideas.
The new global idea is the free movement of capital, goods and (possibly) labour - in other words the free movement of firms. As the writer implies maybe the French can find a way of squaring the circle but after eating all that cheese it makes you think they are dreaming.

eddie reader, birmingham, uk