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France is a warning – our civilization is not immortal
Could it happen here? I suppose that’s the underlying thought many of us have had as we watch France burn. And the immediate response is, why wouldn’t it? I am old enough to remember in the early 2000s when people used to say France was a model of integration. Then in 2005 the suburbs went up in flames, followed by parts of the center of Paris and other major cities. The Citroën flambé became a national dish and suddenly talk of “the French model of integration” disappeared. That same year, eight home-grown terrorists of foreign origin attempted to blow up the London transport network, four succeeded and a little bit of that blasé British attitude that we know better than the French disappeared too. In 2011 our own cities started burning, but we learned nothing from that.
France is a warning – our civilization is not immortal
Could it happen here? I suppose that’s the underlying thought many of us have had as we watch France burn. And the immediate response is, why wouldn’t it? I am old enough to remember in the early 2000s when people used to say France was a model of integration. Then in 2005 the suburbs went up in flames, followed by parts of the center of Paris and other major cities. The Citroën flambé became a national dish and suddenly talk of “the French model of integration” disappeared. That same year, eight home-grown terrorists of foreign origin attempted to blow up the London transport network, four succeeded and a little bit of that blasé British attitude that we know better than the French disappeared too. In 2011 our own cities started burning, but we learned nothing from that.
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theater.
The RA’s triumphant new exhibition
From the magazineWhat a show at the Royal Academy. You go straight into a room of Cezannes and Renoirs and that is how it continues, with one coup de théâtre after another, at the hands of Monet, Signac, Braque, Matisse, Derain, Bonnard and more, all of them in thrall to the astonishing light and color of the Côte d’Azur. It hadn’t always been like that. These artists, Cezanne excepted, came from northern France and knew nothing about the southern coast. What changed it all was the completion of the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway in 1860, which suddenly made this spectacular seaside accessible. Cezanne was from neighboring Provence, and he arrived on the coast before anyone else.
Opera’s obsession with the Eastern bloc
From the magazineThe greatness of Patrick Stewart
Russians read more. Do they think more, too?
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‘We think you’re the best’ – the actors’ tribute to Michael Gambon
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Our thirst for torching old buildings
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A history of Napoleon’s marshals has all the dash and vigor of a cavalry charge
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‘‘Hang out with rich people.’ ’
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