Please sign this petition….
Whatever your political beliefs, I can’t imagine any of you think she should be locked up because some idiot swam across a lake to visit her…if you cut and paste the below link you should end up in the...
View ArticleMurder most foul
The murder of Natalia Estemirova, a human rights activist based in Chechnya, is so brazen and so appalling I can hardly believe it is true. This is a woman who worked tirelessly to expose human rights...
View ArticleMiss Landmine – right or wrong?
I was really heartened to read today that there is a beauty contest for victims of landmines called Miss Landmine. Not only does it raise awareness of this dreadful weapon (which costs about $15 but...
View ArticleWhat went wrong?
It may be a stupid question, but you can’t help wondering as you wander through the Egyptian museum looking at the remnants from what was one of the world’s greatest ever civilisations: Where did it...
View ArticleA classic villain
You couldn’t make it up. The trial of former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin for allegedly plotting a smear campaign against the man he affectionately calls “the dwarf” and known to the...
View ArticleA different world
This morning Leo talked to me about “the other France”, by which he means the France where Norrie and Mary our friends in the Savoie live and not the Languedoc where we are. It got me thinking about...
View ArticleMy strategy for Gaza
Living in the Middle East I see a lot more news about Gaza than I did in France. Here it is a huge story. And of course there is only one ‘right’ side from here. I am becoming increasingly...
View ArticleBlood in Bahrain
Just read the following in an excellent article from today’s New York Times (www.newyorktimes.com). It is so tragic that these outdated despots can’t see that change is inevitable, with or without...
View ArticleA good book
I am almost at the end of the most brilliant book called Persepolis by an Iranian woman called Marjane Satrapi.I know it’s not new and everyone else has probably already read it, but it has really...
View ArticleInterview with Nawal El Saadawi
Nawal El Saadawi has returned to Cairo where intends to stay until she dies. Not that she feels particularly at home there. “Home is not about where I am. I would not call Cairo home. I feel at home...
View ArticleLiving past terror
Five years ago, Dianne Reed barely survived a militant attack on her compound in Saudi Arabia in which 22 others died. Helena Frith Powell meets the American who moved back to the Middle East to prove...
View ArticleFor king and country
Thirty-eight years ago, Randa Habib landed an interview with King Hussein of Jordan, a meeting that would change the course of her life. The veteran AFP news bureau chief talks to Helena Frith Powell...
View ArticleCherie’s new brief
Cherie Blair, the wife of Middle East envoy and former British premier Tony, is a power in her own right. A high-flying lawyer, she is now dedicating more time to her foundation, which helps women in...
View ArticleLawyers, orphans and the pathetic Mr Putin
Several years ago,when I was still editing the magazine Central European (a must-read) I used to travel to Russia every few weeks to write a supplement we ran called Russiamoney. This was back in the...
View ArticleA question of style
Should female MPs make an effort with their looks? Absolutely, argues Helena Frith Powell When Segolene Royal, the former leader of the French socialists, was standing for president I went to...
View ArticleLet’s not forget how it was before Europe made us civilised
In France I learnt how to eat, dress, drink in moderation and live well. So although my knee-jerk reaction is to support Brexit, when I consider that link, I’m suddenly not so sure… Photo: REX By...
View ArticleOlder woman who could be la première dame
Emmanuel Macron’s wife is 24 years his senior. Do the French care about the age gap? There’s a sudden spring in every older Frenchwoman’s step. Being over 60 was never an obstacle to being...
View ArticleThese feminist puritans need a flirty Frenchman to snap them out of their...
Thank goodness for the French. The actress and political activist Catherine Deneuve, along with 99 of her countrywomen, has denounced the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment as ‘puritanism’...
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