France
Let me preface this by saying I am not a sports fan.
When it comes to the throwing, passing or kicking of a ball, I’m legs akimbo. There is nothing more unnatural-looking than me running, or doing any sort of coordinated activity. I’m also oblivious to sports played by other people. I couldn’t tell you which team ranks the highest on which ladder, or even what the ladder is.
But when it comes to the Tour De France, I am hooked. And here’s why:
Continue reading "I don’t really get sport, but J’adore Le Tour de France" »
Police wanted to capture Mohammed Merah alive, but in the end a sniper killed him as he jumped out of his window.
The self-proclaimed jihadist who claims to be al-Qaeda killed three French paratroopers, three school children and a rabbi in revenge for the French Army’s involvement in Afghanistan and the deaths of Palestinian children.
He killed them in cold blood, he taped it, he wanted people to see the footage. He is now dead, no tears here. But what if he had been taken alive?
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Big D. says:
Why is there a need for an “Aetheist space?” Anywhere on planet earth is fine. I think Aetheism needs to distance itself as much as possible from organised religion. Read more »
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PW says:
“the promise of dozens of beautiful virgins in the afterlife” Since the body is by this time rotted and lifeless (not to mention riddled with bullet holes), these cosmic virgins will remain thus. What is the use of that? Read more »
You’ve all heard of the helicopter parent and the tiger mum, right? One hovers, the other roars. Most probably do both. Turns out, there are 12 different styles of parenting, which is handy for fickle Fannys like me – one for every month of the year.
There are the obvious A types: attachment, positive, unconditional, authoritative; the esoteric Bs: spiritual, permissive, slow (me with maths homework); the Cs: authoritarian, narcissistic, the aforementioned helicopter; and the Ds: toxic, uninvolved – aka the downright useless, whose failure to use a naughty step has bred a generation of stoners.
The problem with categorising is that it presumes some consistency. All credit to you if you are, but I’m not. One day I’m do-re-mi-ing around the place à la Julie Andrews. The next, I’m a witch. “Don’t come within a metre of me,” I ordered the sprogs recently. “That’s 100cm.” Am I the only woman who has PMT three times a week?
Continue reading "French small fries are a chip off the good parenting block" »
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Vicki PS says:
Cripes, all these years I’ve been French and didn’t know it. And so, apparently were my parents and grandparents! Quelle surprise! Actually, Angela, what you have described isn’t “French” parenting, it’s just plain old parenting—a skill that the complacent and self-congratulatory parents of the ‘greed is good’ generation fecklessly abandoned. Read more »
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PG says:
You beat me to it Homer Read more »
So let’s get this straight. New Zealand teams can perform a ritualised tribal war dance before sporting contests, complete with throat-slitting gesture. But if the opposition has the temerity to encroach upon them, that’s unacceptable.
Worse than unacceptable. It’s a protocol breach apparently deserving of a $15,000 fine, which is the amount rugby’s governing body the IRB plans on slugging the French.
Prior to Sunday’s Rugby World Cup final, the All Blacks assumed their usual formation for their customary bout of tongue-wagging, eyeball popping and general silliness, culminating in the delightfully family-friendly act of throat-slitting.
Continue reading "Aah speet on your haka, you feelthy Kiwi peegs" »
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Diane Paul says:
I enjoyed your read on the Haka and agreed with every word. However I do not have any objection to the Kiwi’s performing their ritual in their own country but why are they allowed to do it in other countries - does it mean they declare war on them? Why… Read more »
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Pipster says:
if AB must do this tribal dance at least give the opposition the right to reply…The French won me over with their response,what a load of rubbish to cop a fine….....OK do your Haka in NZ but not on foreign soil . Read more »
If you’re reading this consider yourself lucky. You’ve managed to find time out of a stressful work day to squeeze in a moment of media consumption despite a new study finding we’re all working way too hard and far too much.
The Australian Institute survey Long time, no see will no doubt provoke a round of handwringing from social researchers using it as proof that Australia is slave to a brutal corporate beast that eats up families and destroys “community”. This will be accompanied by calls to move toward a more European model of work, replete with biweekly cheese fairs in our new found tight knit villages.
The glaring problems with this survey and others like it are not the results, but the fact that there’s no recognition of the gap between what people say they want, what they actually want and what they’re willing to do about it.
Continue reading "Are we working too much or just whingeing more?" »
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stephen says:
Keep payin yer tax Al ; it’s allowed me ter sit on me arse readin crappy posts like yours. (Ever I’m sittin next to a bloke ordering liver on toast wearing a 10 dollar hat i’ll say ‘g’day’.) Read more »
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Jolanda says:
I wouldn’t work a 40 hour week even if you paid me. Read more »
Over the past week, two 20-something French students protested France’s new law banning the burqa by filming themselves walking through Paris in a niqab (similar to the burqa but with a slit for the eyes) – teamed with mini-shorts and black high heels.
The self-titled ‘Niqabitches’ described it as a tongue-in-cheek criticism of the ban.
You’ve gotta love the French – particularly French students. Although some may see the Niqabitches’ protest as ridiculing the niqab, their message was quintessentially French: vive la différence! or each to their own.
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Marg Lennon says:
I wear a niqab when I drive through the friday night local booze-bus station. Not because I drink and drive - but because the Law in Australia says I can. I can also wear it into a bank or post office. I have even worn mine into the changing rooms… Read more »
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Jason says:
Elhombre, your argument is just plain stupid. The act of killing someone IS a crime, pretty much anywhere. However, owning a semi-automatic gun needn’t be a crime, provided you are not bothering anyone else with it or adversely affecting the day-to-day business of society. Much like wearing a burqa. What… Read more »
Lebanon became part of the French Mandate, a provision of the post world war one League of Nations, today in 1918. They gained independence in 1943 when France was occupied by Germany in 1940.
It’s Wednesday at The Punch. What’s on your mind? Share it here.
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Billy Boyle says:
Trouble tonight in the middle east, a headline older than most of the people of the planet, do you think anyone can resolve this, or is it catchcry for eternity. Read more »
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S.L says:
@ Macca….I know many 4wd owners and to them their vehicles are just transport not status symbols but this guy was definitely driving his anatomy extender. Read more »
Not since the Trotskyist student uprisings at the Sorbonne in May-June 1968 have the French bunged on such an entertaining stink - only this time it involves the national soccer team. You can watch a news reports below, but the short version is that the players are in mutiny over their hapless coach Raymkond Domenech and have effectively gone on strike by refusing to train.
The trigger for the showdown was the explusion fron the national team of striker Nicolas Anelka after his four-lettered spray against Domenech who, among other things, he called a “dirty son a whore.” If there was any justice in the world the entire French team would have been sent home and replaced with Ireland, who lost teir qualifier against the French courtesy of a shameless handball by Thierry Henry. The upshot of all the French team’s revolution is that South Africans are now fantasising that after last week’s 3-0 drubbing by Uruguay Bafana Bafana will now come out and flog the fraying French in tonight’s final first stage match.
Continue reading "World Cup Diary: French revolting, North Korea failing" »
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Macon Paine says:
@ Dan “China has done it successfully.” Firstly what is your definition of successfull? And this is key, do you know how they did it? ” I have. I referred you to their constiution and their military spending.” Ahh their constitution this will be good. Lets see what their constitution… Read more »
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Dan says:
” So before that they where communists right? You cant just wipe away the results of decades of communism by changing your ideology, ask the east Germans or pretty much any country from the former eastern bloc. “ China has done it successfully. “Anyway can you provide a source please?… Read more »
Welcome to Wednesday at The Punch
Valery Giscard d’Estaing was elected President of France today in 1974.
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seomenn says:
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BTS says:
From Ergon (Qld Electricity provider): ‘Be Aircon Smart - set your air conditioner at 25oC in summer and 18oC in winter as these are the most comfortable and energy efficient temperature settings.’ Google Check: Most sites agree Read more »
Traditionalists worry about the undue influence of American culture on Australia. Republicans stress about our British links. Hansonites panic about Muslims and Asians.
But it’s the French we should be keeping an eye on.
‘What French Women Know: About Love, Sex and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind’ is the latest book by American-in-Paris writer Debra Ollivier. In it, Ollivier decodes the French mystique, arguing French chicks are so sexy because they “don’t give a damn”.
Continue reading "French things are not the fast track to sophistication" »
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Tim (actuallly in France) says:
Despite what Australians might think of France, I have yet to meet a French person who doesn’t like Australia. Read more »
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Tim (actaully in France) says:
All of this is pretty funny. I am an Australian living and working in France for the past twelve years and these clichés are obviously rooted in some truths but the reality is always more nuanced. Of course there are the super-chic, as well as the super-snobs, the super-peasants, the… Read more »
I once heard a story about a prostitute and a man who claimed to be her husband.
The prostitute, a middle-aged woman had complained about a car that was constantly parked outside her place of work and even sometimes as she made her way home.
Several weeks later, the car was spotted but when the man inside the car was approached and asked why he was parked there, he immediately started to cry. Pointing to the window of the brothel he said, “My wife is in there.”
Continue reading "Bringing sex workers out of the shadows" »
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crork says:
OOpteC Appreciate you sharing, great post.Really looking forward to read more. Will read on… Read more »
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No matter what you think of Islamic veiling one thing is for sure – criminalising the women who wear the burqa or niqab is only going to render them more invisible.
France looks set to pass legislation that bans Islamic face covering. The discussion over how this law could be enforced has centred around punishing the veiled woman. She will be taken home, or fined.
This belies the true intentions of those calling for a ban – banning the burqa is less about liberating oppressed muslim women and more about making white people feel more comfortable.
Continue reading "Burqa ban is about our fears not their oppression" »
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Other Wholesale says:
Set up an article directory or help someone else set theirs up. Other Wholesale Read more »
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Religion Wholesale says:
The worst fears of stem cell research opponents are more likely to be realized if the federal research ban stays in place, not if it is lifted. Religion Wholesale Read more »
Hooray it’s Friday @ The Punch
Today in 1996 French President Jacques Chirac promised France would stop testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific.
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Darryl Price says:
No, ABC News radio had a story about somewhere (didn’t catch the name) that there was apparently actual data on glacial retreat. It is interesting that the Albanian glaciers at at lower altitudes than normally expected - possibly due to cooler conditions in the region? Read more »
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stephen says:
France : all pomp and no circumstance. Read more »
Welcome to Wednesday @ The Punch
Today in 1990 Britain and France are linked for the first time when the wall of rock separating the Channel Tunnel is removed.
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James Daniel says:
Where can I get a copy of that picture? The little guy stood in the middle is my late Father. Read more »
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stephen says:
All that engineering so travellers can get fron A to B. I hope there’s a run-off : perhaps the European Space Agency can ‘warp’ out on track B. Read more »
If Mr Sarkozy does not sack the French Culture Minister, Frederic Mitterrand, the international community should impose a travel ban on the Minister, tout de suite.
Mitterrand has reportedly confessed to what he euphemistically describes as “offences against the idea of human dignity” – which is French, it seems, for having sex with young prostitutes in Asia. Part of his defence is that such offences are ‘commonplace’.
Apparently the more commonplace an obviously objectionable practice, the less it has to do with morality.
Continue reading "The frog and the tadpoles: ban this man from travel" »
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OEGzyr vwphektbwmud, rotdavnhprwo, [link=http://nhpyyttfourq.com/]nhpyyttfourq[/link], http://wiwmpuyzhyal.com/ Read more »
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acker says:
Amazing how America screams about a Hey Hey balckfaced skit. Yet sits almost in stony silence about bringing convicted peadophile Roman Polanski to trial, and it’s Secretary of State Hilary Clinton offers no comment about the very pro-active role France and this self confessed peadophile French Minister have played supporting… Read more »
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