The Old Hack

What was I recently saying about the revered lady Thatcher?  Vulgar?  You couldn't possibly say the same thing about any french Président de la République, could you?  The very office grants a stature and dignity previously unknown.  Look at the transformation in Pompidou, Giscard, Mitterand and even the hapless Chirac on gaining office.  Each gained instant gravitas, a change not only of language but of tone and presentation.  As if the importance and sheer weight of office necessitated physical effort to carefully measure and consider each word before it left the speaker's lips.

There hasn't always been an easy relationship between French Presidents and British Prime Ministers.  Thatcher could hardly disguise her disdain for the Socialist Mitterand and the stony silences between Churchill and de Gaulle were the stuff of legend.  So President Sarkozy's apparent idolising of the Rt. Hon Tony Blair seems exceptional.  Tony (the people's PM) is Sarkozy's first choice for President of Europe and somehow this kind of endorsement from a suave, sophisticated, erudite wordsmith of a European seemed to carry with it a unique worthiness.

This suave, sophisticated, erudite President found himself the other day at the Ministry of Agriculture, surrounded by a host of hand-shaking adoring sycophants.  Well, all except one.  An elderly gentleman, on seeing Sarkozi's outstretched hand exclaimed "Don't you touch me!"  And the sophisticated response from the erudite, suave President?

"Piss off then, you old git" (I translate freely but not unrealistically, I promise you)  A video of this exchange was posted on YouTube, but mysteriously disappeared shortly afterwards.  Yes, even the vulgar retain power and influence.