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Gavin Mortimer

Gavin Mortimer

The Spectator

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How the French embraced Halloween

The third round of protests in France takes place this Saturday. Participants are being urged to come dressed for Halloween. Social media platforms...

latest 9

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The specter of civil war haunts France

It was a peaceful weekend in France apparently. One broadcaster described the latest protests as ‘calm’ and Le Monde said they unfolded ‘without...

27.10.2026 20

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Broken state / The spectre of civil war haunts France

It was a peaceful weekend in France apparently. One broadcaster described the latest protests as ‘calm’ and Le Monde said they unfolded ‘without...

26.10.2026 10

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The dark horse who stands to benefit from France’s riots

Marine Le Pen is the political winner from the anarchy that erupted in France at the weekend. A poll conducted in the 48 hours after the nationwide...

22.10.2026 20

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The dark horse who stands to benefit from France’s riots

Marine Le Pen is the political winner from the anarchy that erupted in France at the weekend. A poll conducted in the 48 hours after the nationwide...

21.10.2026 20

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

France is far too soft on crime

France experienced its first night of calm since the weekend on Monday evening after the imposition of curfews in several cities and towns. The Prime...

20.10.2026 20

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

France is far too soft on crime

France experienced its first night of calm since the weekend on Monday evening after the imposition of curfews in several cities and towns. The Prime...

20.10.2026 10

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The truth about the anarchy in France

France has had its share of riots in recent years but the scenes of urban warfare that erupted on Saturday were unprecedented. The Socialist mayor of...

18.10.2026 70

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The truth about the anarchy in France

France has had its share of riots in recent years but the scenes of urban warfare that erupted on Saturday were unprecedented. The Socialist mayor of...

18.10.2026 40

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

France’s schools protest has been hijacked

This is not going to be an easy week for the French police. More than 200,000 people are expected on the streets today in ‘Act 5’ of the high...

14.10.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Mob rule / France’s schools protest has been hijacked

This is not going to be an easy week for the French police. More than 200,000 people are expected on the streets today in ‘Act 5’ of the high...

13.10.2026 20

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Vive la royales! / The French are obsessed with our Royal Family

Buckingham Palace has never known such a box-office success. ‘Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style’ is the hottest ticket in town and the most...

12.10.2026 20

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Do France’s pupil protestors have a point?

On 21 September, pupils at the Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Créteil, south-east of Paris, staged a protest. They had a list of grievances. Classes were...

08.10.2026 30

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Gilets jeunes / Do France’s pupil protestors have a point?

On 21 September, pupils at the Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Créteil, south-east of Paris, staged a protest. They had a list of grievances. Classes were...

08.10.2026 250

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Will France’s school protest movement spread?

The government of France held a crisis meeting yesterday afternoon as a school protest movement intensified in violence. On Wednesday, 625 people were...

02.10.2026 30

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Will France’s school protest movement spread?

The government of France held a crisis meeting yesterday afternoon as a school protest movement intensified in violence. On Wednesday, 625 people were...

02.10.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The ‘one in, one out’ migrant deal was always doomed to fail

So the ‘one in, one out’ deal is dead. Quelle surprise – as the French might say. Since the initiative was launched on 2 August last year,...

01.10.2026 60

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Will anti-Semitism allegations bring down Jordan Bardella?

Jordan Bardella has described as ‘delusional’ accusations he railed against Jews at the start of his political career. The 31-year-old president...

30.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Will anti-Semitism allegations bring down Jordan Bardella?

Jordan Bardella has described as ‘delusional’ accusations he railed against Jews at the start of his political career. The 31-year-old president...

29.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Rural France is fighting a boar war

The hunting season began in Burgundy last Sunday. The first couple of weeks are dedicated to the pursuit of small game: pigeons, partridges and hares....

28.09.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Marine Le Pen’s Muslim headscarf ban is popular, not populist

Marine Le Pen has promised to ban women wearing Muslim headscarves if she becomes president next year. The leader of the National Rally declared on X:...

03.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Marine Le Pen’s Muslim headscarf ban is popular, not populist

Marine Le Pen has promised to ban women wearing Muslim headscarves if she becomes president next year. The leader of the National Rally declared on X:...

03.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The fight for France’s future is underway

The fight for France is underway. The 2027 presidential campaign began last night as the leading candidates clashed in a live debate on the centre...

30.08.2026 30

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The fight for France’s future is underway

The fight for France is underway. The 2027 presidential campaign began last night as the leading candidates clashed in a live debate on the centre...

28.08.2026 40

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Why the French hate Parisians

Five million people live in Brittany but each summer the population swells to three times that figure. It seems that some locals have had enough....

24.08.2026 40

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Will the heatwaves make this year’s French wines better?

It has been a punishing summer in France. Heatwaves, drought and forest fires have driven away tourists and made life hell for firefighters. The...

24.08.2026 40

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Will the heatwaves make this year’s French wines better?

It has been a punishing summer in France. Heatwaves, drought and forest fires have driven away tourists and made life hell for firefighters. The...

21.08.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Why are more women trying to cross the Channel?

More than 190 hectares of coastal vegetation were destroyed by fire over the weekend in a region just south of the Channel port of Boulogne....

20.08.2026 30

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Emmanuel Macron is an embarrassment to France

France’s under-15s can carry on using social media after a parliamentary ban was struck down by the Republic’s constitutional council on Friday....

18.08.2026 40

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Emmanuel Macron has become a humiliation for France

France’s under-15s can carry on using social media after a parliamentary ban was struck down by the Republic’s constitutional council on Friday....

17.08.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The Ceuta chaos could make Marine Le Pen president

European Union interior ministers will hold an emergency video conference on Tuesday to discuss last week’s events in Spain’s North African...

04.08.2026 40

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The Ceuta chaos could make Marine Le Pen president

European Union interior ministers will hold an emergency video conference on Tuesday to discuss last week’s events in Spain’s North African...

03.08.2026 70

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The EU has failed to get a grip on Europe’s wildfires

Europe is burning. From France to Spain, from Portugal to Greece, and even in Britain, the continent has been engulfed by flames this summer. In...

01.08.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Why Brittany is fast becoming the new Provence

Heatwave number four swept through France this week. The temperature hit 42C in some regions, including in the south-west, where firefighters have...

31.07.2026 70

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Macron and his diplomats can’t help talking down Americans

Diplomatic relations between France and the USA are more strained than ever following a row at the United Nations. The fallout began on Friday when...

29.07.2026 30

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Europe is under attack

Three women were stabbed in central Paris on Monday by a man who allegedly told police he had been ‘sent by Allah’. The victims were aged...

28.07.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

In hot water / Macron could’ve done more to stop the Bordeaux fires

Firefighters in France have spent the weekend trying to save Bordeaux from an immense conflagration. On Monday morning, the city’s prefecture...

27.07.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Macron won’t stop at a social media ban for children

France has become the first EU country to ban social media access for under 15s. The National Assembly passed a Bill on Tuesday evening that will...

22.07.2026 30

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Jewish artists are no longer safe in France

It is dangerous to be a Jewish artist in France. On Saturday, the well-known DJ Barbara Butch was forced to abandon her performance during a music...

22.07.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Stage fright / Jewish artists are no longer safe in France

It is dangerous to be a Jewish artist in France. On Saturday, the well-known DJ Barbara Butch was forced to abandon her performance during a music...

22.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

World / Will assisted dying be Macron’s only legacy?

France’s National Assembly passed a bill on Wednesday granting terminally ill adults the right to end their lives with medical assistance. The bill...

19.07.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Will assisted dying be Macron’s final legacy?

France’s National Assembly passed a bill on Wednesday granting terminally ill adults the right to end their lives with medical assistance. The bill...

16.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Europe’s centrists are falling one by one

Few in France will have been as devastated by their team’s defeat in last night’s World Cup semi-final as Emmanuel Macron. The president put on a...

15.07.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

France’s World Cup failure will devastate Emmanuel Macron

Few in France will have been as devastated by their team’s defeat in last night’s World Cup semi-final as Emmanuel Macron. The president put on a...

15.07.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The violent rage of North African hooligans

A police officer was hospitalised on Thursday night in London as Moroccans vented their fury at losing to France in the World Cup quarter-final. Riot...

12.07.2026 50

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

North African hooligans are the new football firm

A police officer was hospitalised on Thursday night in London as Moroccans vented their fury at losing to France in the World Cup quarter-final. Riot...

10.07.2026 60

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Will Le Pen run for president wearing an ankle tag?

Marine Le Pen has failed to overturn her conviction for misusing EU funds. On Tuesday afternoon a court in Paris upheld the verdict against her,...

07.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

The truth about the French drownings

More than 90 people drowned in France between 19 June and the end of the month during the country’s intense heatwave. Government figures released...

07.07.2026 70

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Odd couple / Why is Giorgia Meloni courting Emmanuel Macron?

Gavin Mortimer has narrated this article for you to listen to. Emmanuel Macron has lost a friend in Keir Starmer. The French President paid tribute to...

04.07.2026 70

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Why is the New York Times celebrating slave-trading Vikings?

Norway play the Ivory Coast later today in the first knockout phase of the World Cup, and one suspects the New York Times will be backing the...

30.06.2026 90

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer