Archive for French politics
90 years ago…
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel with tags AI, anniversary, antifacism, Falange, Francisco Franco, French politics, Frente Popular, Front populaire, Jean Renoir, June 1936, Léon Blum, Parti Communiste Français, Parti Socialiste, PCF, poster, Radical-Socialist Republican Party, Republican Spain, SFIO, socialist realism on May 3, 2026 by xi'an
Nature squeakbits [26 February 2026]
Posted in Books, pictures, Running, Travel with tags Antarctica, basketball shoes, book review, China Initiative, Chinese Government, climate change, climate science, COVID-19, EPA, ERC Advanced Grant, ERC Consolidator Grant, ERC Starting Grant, France, French politics, greenhouse-gas emissions, Indonesia, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeffrey Epstein, large language models, London, London calling, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, measles, Nature, nuclear weapons elimination day, perspective, rock art, SARS-CoV-2, snippet, START treaty, Sulawesi Island, The Clash, Trump administration, UKRI, unilateral nuclear disarmament, US Government, US politics, West Antarctica Ice Sheet, WHO on April 16, 2026 by xi'an
And another coverage of the deplorable Trump administration dismantling the biodefense and pandemic preparedness branches of the US NIAID, presumably a late under-the-belt jab at the national institute Anthony Fauci directed for 38 years. Meaning one of the forefronts for pandemic research and vaccine development has been dismantled. Plus the US EPA revoking the 2009 statement that climate change is endangering the US population and removing greenhouse-gas emission rules. In tune with the Drill, baby, drill! motto of the Trump supporters more interested in their short-term profits than in the long-term (no-)future of the country. Paradoxically sitting in the same issue as a comment calling for a policy-making assessment of avoidable climate-change risks. Illustrated by London’s drownin’ below
And a summary of their conclusions from 23 of the 27 members (from 27 countries) of the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origin of Novel Pathogens for the WHO. After 3.5 years of debate on the origin of COVID-19! Four hypotheses are examined and other hoaxes and conspiracies are debunked.
Another political entry about the EU and its Horizon Europe programme (that is funding my ERC Synergy grant) baring (researchers from) Chinese research organisations from applying for its grants in sensitive methodologies, in order to prevent “the undesired transfer of IP”. Following similar and earlier actions in the US with the (newspeak!) China Initiative launched by Trump 1.0 that turned into a witch hunt.
An exciting 228 metres of rock and mud providing a window on the past 23 million year weather. Obtained from the West Antarctica Ice Sheet.
terrible graphs [not a joke]
Posted in Statistics with tags bad graph, City Hall, data graphics, extreme-right, French elections, French politics, Le Monde, National Front on April 1, 2026 by xi'an
Following the results of the local (municipal) elections, Le Monde published a series of graphs, most of which are terrible. The one above produces the political colour of the winning mayor (when identified) from the previous elections to the current one. With the flows linking 2020 and 2026 solely decorative. And hiding the serious increase in extreme right city halls. The one below is even worse as it has bars for each party adding the second round voters to the first round voters, albeit they are mostly the same! And as they are not proportional to the number of secured city halls since there are more right wing ones than left wing halls…
πάντες γὰρ οἱ λαβόντες μάχαιραν ἐν μαχαίρᾳ ἀπολοῦνται [verbatim]
Posted in Uncategorized with tags anti-fascism, antifa, far-right ideology, French politics, Front National, Godspell of Matthew, Insoumis, Le Monde, Lyon, nationalism, Paris, Science Po', suprematism on February 23, 2026 by xi'an
Last week, Quentin Duranque, a young neo-fascist militant (and incidentally a data science student) was killed during a street fight between far-right and far-left groups, in conjunction with far-right protests against a conference at Science Po’ Lyon by the LFI euro-deputee Rima Hassan. This tragic event reminded me of the mirrored death of the far-left militant and Science Po’ student Clément Méric in June 2013, who also died during a street fight between far-right and far-left groups in Paris. Beyond the ghastly nonsense of such deaths, alas made possible by the will to engage into meaningless physical clashes (hence the quote from Matthew as a title), the political exploitation of the killings by French parties was appalling if predictable. The almost identical statements from leaders of both far-right (FN) and far-left (LFI) parties following both deaths are striking in that respect:
“Le climat créé par l’extrême droite conduit à ce genre de drame (…) L’extrême droite porte une responsabilité morale dans ce qui s’est passé. C’est le résultat de la banalisation des idées d’extrême droite (…) Les fascistes ont tué.” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Juin 2013
” Ce drame est le résultat direct du climat de haine entretenu contre les patriotes (…) Ce meurtre est le résultat d’années de diabolisation de nos militants. Ceux qui désignent nos militants comme des ennemis prennent une responsabilité terrible.” Jordan Bardella, Fév. 2026
“Je condamne évidemment cet acte odieux (…) Il est scandaleux de tenter de récupérer politiquement ce drame (…) Ce drame est le résultat de l’affrontement de groupuscules violents. Le Front national n’a rien à voir avec ces individus.” Marine Le Pen, Juin 2013
“La violence ne peut jamais être une solution. Toute violence est condamnable, quelles qu’en soient les victimes ou les auteurs (…) La responsabilité est individuelle, pas collective.” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Fév. 2026
“Il est irresponsable d’instrumentaliser ce drame. La responsabilité est celle des individus impliqués.” Manuel Bompart, Fév. 2026
Cédric, le retour ?
Posted in Books, pictures, University life with tags apéro, book review, Brittany, café, Cédric Villani, Ecology, French politics, French wines, interview, Le Monde, Libé, Louis Lyons, Morbihan, Paris, Rennes on January 12, 2026 by xi'an
Within a non-Euclidean distance of a few issues, Le Monde and Libération both ran an interview of Cédric Villani, not truly a coïncidence since he recently published Leçons de mathématique joyeuse, a general public book on mathematics (I did not read), derived from a series of conferences he gave in Paris ten years ago. With a chapter on the best and the worst errors of (Henri) Poincaré, where he states that statistics is a late-comer in the mathematics pantheon because “it is complicated, it is even completely counter-intuitive.” However, there is very little on mathematics and research in these interviews, as the interviewers are clearly more interested in the politics of Villani, a former deputé and unsuccessful candidate for the City of Paris mayorship. Although he is now teaching in both Lyon and Rennes, since he currently lives in a nearby village that happens to be very close to my family house in Morbihan.
