Our possible first female president

According to polls, there is a very serious chance that Marine Le Pen could win the French presidential election.  With the day of the presidential election in the USA a matter of days away, I thought I would reflect on Marine Le Pen and what it would be like to have her as our first female president.

Firstly, as a religious woman, I am at the very least uneasy about the idea of a female leader.  1Timothy 2:12: - "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."  Liberals would say that we aren't bound by something as unfashionable and last-season as the Holy Bible.  Halfway conservatives say this rule only applies to leadership positions within the church.

For practical reasons, the issue of men reporting to women is not an issue with my magazine, as it has no male employees, given the type of men who tend to be interested in fashion, who would never feel at home at my magazine (receivers of swollen goods, in other words).  My fashion magazine is all about clothing that Christians would feel entirely comfortable wearing and which is distinctly for one gender or the other (no androgynous clothing, an example of which is above): - this idea of "non-binary" is thoroughly wicked and contradicts "He made them male and female" (Genesis 5:2, Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6).  

It is possible for women to be leaders, but still under the rightful authority of their husbands.  This is reputedly the case with Queen Elizabeth II, who is a queen regnant (i.e. a queen in her own right, not a queen by virtue of her marriage to a king).  It is understood that her husband Prince Philip (whose politically incorrect comments I like) makes the important decisions on family matters.  It is the same in my household: - I am doing very well with my fashion magazine, but I joyfully render obedience to Bilal in accordance with Ephesians 5:22-24, who in turn does a very good job of fulfilling his obligations in Ephesians 5:25 (nobody is perfect: - if they were, they would not need a saviour).  Laws in virtually every country in the world guarantee my right to make my own decisions on this one, but I have so far been happy to waive this right and let Bilal make the decisions on when we try for children, for instance.

That subject covered, let me turn my attention to another very important issue: - Marine Le Pen is badly overweight!  I had hoped that if we had a female president, we would have somebody who is a quintessential example of female beauty in France.  Marie-Ségolène Royal (who thankfully lost to Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential election) is a good example of an attractive female French politician.  I asked Bilal what he thought, to which he replied that whilst he didn't view her as being "well buff" like me, she is "reasonably fit".  Zoë Williams, in her rant entitled "Cherchez la femme", gave several good examples of attractive female French politicians who know how to dress.  With all the attractive women who exist in France, it is a shame Marine Le Pen doesn't look like she knows much about how to look nice, though admittedly, her niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is also "quite fit" in Bilal's estimation and has a nice figure in my estimation as well.

In terms of her politics, I much prefer the National Front's political positions when they are compared with other major political parties.  I am aware that they particularly appeal to Pied-Noirs (or "Pied Renois", as Bilal calls them).  Islam is the great enemy of what France stands for, though admittedly, the traditional French church (the Church of Rome) is not great either.  I am proud of France's history in the reformation, e.g. the Huguenots, John Calvin etc and am aware that many reformed congregations have existed in the vicinity of Strasbourg over the years.  Granted, there might be potential converts from Islam (like Bilal) coming into the country, but on balance, it would still be great to protect what is left of France's Christian heritage and reform it, bringing about a genuine religious revival in France.  The Le Pen family is very good at standing up to establishment figures who do their utmost to stop France being governed by real French people for real French people.

Marine Le Pen is certainly a very powerful and talented public speaker: - we need such people to put our cause across to the people.  I remember the famous rant she delivered against our commie socialist president François Hollande.  She seemed a little like Zoë Williams, who wrote a long rant about how women can supposedly only enter French politics if they have a powerful relative.  Honestly!  Zoë Williams rants about our great nation not giving women a chance unless they are thin, but yet when a fat woman is in the upper echelons of French politics, she continues to complain!

In conclusion, in spite of her lack of physical beauty, I am keen to see Marine Le Pen win next year's presidential election and make France great again.

The Bordeaux-Toulouse/French border line

Another article about high-speed rail.  Yes, I know, there are things with more gravity that have happened to me recently (marriage and motherhood), which I will address in time.  However, writing is not always about priorities, but where the creative inspiration lies at the time.  There are plenty of stories to tell about the wedding, the honeymoon, pregnancy, childbirth etc, but they will be covered in due course.

Some readers may be aware that the project to build a y-shaped high-speed railway system between Bordeaux, Toulouse and the French border, or GPSO (Grand Projet Ferroviaire du Sud-Ouest) for short, is advancing, albeit slowly.  François Hollande's government has unfortunately pushed the construction of new lines back significantly.  Nicolas Sarkozy's government, in spite of being relatively right wing (it seems to be unusual for right-wing governments to favour high-speed rail), advanced several projects very substantially.  Nicolas Sarkozy did various things to try and get the economy back on track, which have unfortunately died a death, though to François Hollande's credit, he is belatedly pursuing labour market reforms that Nicolas Sarkozy would no doubt have favoured, resulting in strikes everywhere.

I would personally welcome the flexibility.  I don't plan to work more than 35 hours a week on a regular basis, but if it is a week with lots of fashion shows taking place, then obviously, my magazine's working requirements will be different in comparison to quiet times.  It is no good if a fashion show requires 40 hours of labour in a week and I have to send two people to cover it because one person has maxed out at 35 hours.  Obviously, when one person returns to the office, there is a large amount of work to catch up on, but it is an annoyance that I have to put two workers in a situation where they are rushing to catch up on their return.  I would rather than send one person to a fashion show to work 40 hours and allowing a day-off-in-lieu (a lovely French expression that many English speakers mispronounce) when he or she has caught up.  Apart from anything else, having to send two people to do one person's work is not an efficient use of my working resources.

Anyway, I'll stop this diatribe now, as I risk destroying Zoë Williams' image of French women never ranting, but lighting up another Gauloise and saying "bof" (I have never smoked, by the way).  MDR!  Back to the GPSO!  So what does the GPSO mean for me personally in Marseille?  It means that there are several cities in south-western France that I will be able to reach much more easily.

The benefits for reaching Bordeaux more quickly will be realised with the first phase in 2024.  I love Bordeaux, given its position in the French wine industry.  A Frenchwoman always loves a glass or two of wine: - there is the question of whether Islam (a religion prohibiting alcohol) compromises one's French credentials (reformed Christianity doesn't, particularly given the labours of John Calvin in places like Strasbourg), but that is another story.  Bordeaux itself is a lovely town that is very easy to get around given its tram system.  There are various sights, including the Place de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Square), the river Garonne, Saint André Cathedral (though I admit its beauty is more architectural than spiritual), the Porte Cailhau, the Column of the Girondins etc.  Europe's largest sand dune is not too far from Bordeaux.

The benefits for reaching cities in the far south-west and northeastern Spain will be realised with the opening of the line in two phases in 2027 and 2032.  The main city I like in that part of the country is Biarritz, a ritzy-glitzy seaside resort (okay, well admittedly not as glamorous as Monaco, which is closer to me).  The city is known for its casinos (I'm not into gambling, but the glamour of these places is still nice) and surfing culture.  There is also the Hôtel du Palais, which  has extensive links with various thrones past and present.  The square in front of Sainte Eugénie church is also pretty.

Toulouse is another city I love to visit, though journey times from Marseille will not improve with the GPSO.  However, it is worth a mention.  I have read that the route between Paris-Orly and Toulouse-Blagnac airports is the busiest in the whole of Europe.  A search on http://www.bahn.de showed the fastest Paris-Toulouse journey to be 5h31m: - not competitive with air travel.  However, LGV Sud-Europe Atlantique (Tours-Bordeaux, due to open next year) will reduce the journey time.  When the Bordeaux-Toulouse comes into service, the journey time is expected to go down to 3h10m (which could admittedly be lower still with a proper bypass of Bordeaux, which does not yet appear to exist in the plans, bof).  Bilal says 3 hours is a target the railway industry often uses in terms of deciding which links to pursue to make journeys competitive with air travel.  In any case though, France has been generally a lot more enthusiastic about building bypasses when inner-city stations are served.  Germany virtually never builds them (the one exception I can think of being Cobourg on the not-yet-opened Erfurt-Nuremberg line), the result being that it takes ages to get anywhere by train in Germany.  Admittedly, it is harder in Germany, since it has lots of cities throughout the country that are in the way when you build a new line.  However, Spain has a similar settlement pattern to France, yet there are no full-speed bypasses where inner-city stations are served, with the exception of those on the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line.  Therefore, Spain's journey times, though good, could be better.

Shame the benefits of this will not be realised until our recently-born baby is on the verge of adulthood, bof.  Maybe someone like Nicolas Sarkozy will come to power and reinvigorate high-speed line construction and the economy.  We can only hope.

The AGV: - a masterpiece of French engineering

As I have been keen to point out, we French are the best at pretty much everything, except perhaps low taxes and sumo wrestling, being fat ladies in circuses and gastric bypass operations (given the low amount of practice our doctors get in such matters, MDR).  Some things we are better at than others.  However, one thing we are notorious for being the best at is railway systems.

To make it clear that I am not misleading people on this point, I am not for one moment suggesting that we French were the first country in the world to have a high-speed network: - that title belongs to Japan (a country also characterised by very thin women, tee hee).  We were not even the first European nation to have a high-speed line: - that title belongs to the Italians, who inaugurate the Direttissima in 1977 (though they were bonkers enough to electrify the line at 3kV DC).  We are, unfortunately, never likely to be the European nation with the longest high-speed network in Europe (thanks to our incompetent pinko-liberal commie socialist president cutting back on high-speed line construction): - this title belongs to Spain, which is planning to open a large number of new routes next year.

However, in spite of not holding such records (though we do hold the record for the fastest speed achieved on a conventional line), we are nevertheless the best at high-speed rail networks.  It is not really about one single factor.  Rather, it is the combination of low prices, good journey times, comfort, extensiveness of destinations covered, airport connections and many other factors.

One of the great things to come out of France's railway industry is the AGV, which stands for "Automotrice à Grande Vitesse", which roughly translates as "Self-Propelled Vehicle at High-speed".

The reason for this name being used is that this is the first super high-speed train to be produced by Alstom that truly uses the EMU (electric multiple unit) configuration.  The trains produced for Eurostar are technically classed as EMUs, given that there is some traction equipment in the front and rear passenger carriages.  This is probably necessary, given the long length of the rolling stock and the small space for equipment on account of the small loading gauge: - the British are so daft when it comes to railway construction that they use loading gauges almost as small as a Frenchwoman's waistline!  Tee hee!  Anyway, up until recently, high-speed rolling stock produced by Alstom has used the locomotive configuration.  This is not to say that this is the first time such technology has been used on high-speed rolling stock: - the Japanese have used EMU configurations with the Shinkansen since they first entered service in 1964.

Another point that is fairly distinctive about France's high-speed rolling stock is its articulated nature.  Granted, France is not the only country to use high-speed articulated rolling stock.  Talgo (a Spanish rolling stock manufacturer) in particular uses articulated rolling stock: - Bilal and I travelled on such a train on the day we travelled to Seville.  That is before I mention that France's Alstom supplied Spain's first high-speed rolling stock for the opening of the Madrid-Seville line in 1992!  MDR!  This rolling stock is articulated and mostly identical in design to a French single-decker TGV, though with a few distinctions, including the white exterior and beefed-up air conditioning: - it is reasonably common for Córdoba and Seville (two cities along the route) to have temperatures exceeding 40 degrees in summer.  South Korea also uses Alstom-derived articulated rolling stock.

As far as I am aware, one of the reasons SNCF has not yet decided to purchase any AGV sets is the fact that more motors means more maintenance.  I cannot confess to having seen the numbers put together, but certainly, low costs are good, as they help reduce reliance on cars and help make the railways a mass-market solution.  Walking to the station is one of the ways in which we impossibly dainty and perfect Frenchwomen build passive exercise into our routines and I must admit, it would be a bit of a hassle to park our cars slightly further away from home, so as to build passive exercise into our routines.  I am therefore glad that we have such a great railway network.  However, there are some routes where I think AGVs could be particularly useful.  For instance, they would be very useful once the LGV Est extension to Strasbourg and the LGV Sud Europe between Tours and Bordeaux have been completed, given that the current route has several stops and most of the new route will have alignments suitable for 350km/h running. With fast services such as these, there will be more of an incentive for people to use Marne La Vallée-Chessy and Massy TGV stations, particularly given that Massy TGV will be along the future Line 18 that comprises part of the Grand Paris Express project.

Though I am a little disappointed by François Hollande's government's decision to slow down high-speed line construction, I still think we French are the best in the world when it comes to high-speed rail systems.  I love the fact that I can be in the cold Northern European climate of Lille and then 4h50m later be back in sunny Marseille.  I will also love the fact that once the link to Bordeaux is completed, I might find myself explaining to some Anglo-Saxon business contacts about how sophisticated French wines are, spontaneously hop on a train to Bordeaux, be there in just over two hours, savour the fine wines and easily get back to Paris that day if we wish.  I will also love being able to show people the proper way to do a Kouglof (not overly sweet), as well as the beautiful mixed architectural styles of Strasbourg after a train ride of just 1h50m when the second phase of the LGV Est opens.  In short, we French are the best at pretty much everything.

Quasi-indefinite delays with high-speed lines

Lately, I was disturbed to hear about how our useless president François Hollande has messed up the economy and therefore made the decision to delay more or less indefinitely (construction not starting until beyond 2030, apparently) the construction of various high-speed lines.

The main ones affected are the new line to Lyon via Orléans and the two gaps leading to the Spanish border.  When the Nîmes-Montpellier bypass and the Tours-Bordeaux lines have been completed, there will still be gaps between Bordeaux and the Atlantic Spanish border (Hendaye and Irún) and Montpellier and Perpignan (there is already an international mixed high-speed/freight line that starts just after Perpignan).

I liked Nicolas Sarkozy, as he was committed to encouraging enterprise, reducing burdensome regulations on employers and reducing taxes for successful people like me (ooooh, how American I sound, lol).  He also celebrated success and isn't trying to puncture people's dreams.  As icing on the cake, he set in motion plans for a massive increase in the rate at which high-speed railway lines are built in France: - I particularly remember that under him, the design studies for the Montpellier-Perpignan connection were accelerated.

To be fair on François Hollande, the Bordeaux-Toulouse high-speed connection has been retained, but this is of little use to me personally unless I happen to be travelling there from Paris, rather than Marseille.

As for me personally, it seems a shame for SNCF to sign contracts for rolling stock that is easily able to run at 320km/h in service and for our president to then mess up the economy and delay the construction of high-speed lines as a result.

I enjoy visiting Barcelona, as it is a stylish city and a lot of the fashion stuff in Spain seems to happen there.  Spain is reasonable (though not effortlessly perfect) generally.  The CIA estimates its obesity rate to be 26.6%, which I am surprised about: - although Spanish señoritas are not as effortlessly thin as we French women, they are certainly much less obese than American and British women.

From rumours I have read, RENFE (the Spanish operator) is planning to offer Marseille-Barcelona-Madrid services sometime soon, though there have apparently been homologation issues.  I must point out that the Spanish are planning to run their international services using rolling stock supplied by Alstom (a French company, yay!), the S100, which they originally ordered for the first high-speed line they opened (this was the Madrid-Seville line in 1992).

Even when these planned services are introduced, apart from the Nîmes-Montpellier bypass currently under construction, there will still be a huge gap in the high-speed network between Montpellier and Perpignan.  I love being able to zip to lovely cities and see the countryside along the way, but I like my train journeys to be short and sharp, as time I spend on the train is time I could otherwise be spending in the market hunting for the choicest ingredients, visiting swish new restaurants for new recipe ideas or soaking up the fashion scene of whatever city I am in at the time.  As self-important upstart Americans would say, time is money!  Being an efficient French woman, a lot of my time on the trains is spent performing editorial duties on my fashion magazine: - drafts are sent to me by PDF or OpenOffice format (why should I pay to use Microsoft Office if I can get OpenOffice for free?) and I tend to plan things so that I can do editing work during the train journey.  Even so, I am disappointed in our pinko-liberal commie-socialist 75%-tax president!

I am also disappointed because I visit Perpignan regularly and love the Mediterranean atmosphere of the city and I will have to wait a lot longer to enjoy super-fast journeys all the way.

Before closing this blog entry, I thought I would be unpatriotic and mention a few things to do with railways that are done better in Spain, MDR.  Spain has the longest high-speed railway network in the whole of Europe at present and would have briefly had the longest high-speed network in the world if it weren't for delays in opening the line from Madrid to Albacete and Valencia.  I also love the way Club class on Spanish AVE services involves relatively elaborate meals compared to first class on France's TGV services: - I recall a meal with lots of dinky little breakfast items and a dinky little bottle of high-quality olive oil (though not as high as the Provence stuff).

All in all, Spain is nowhere near as impossibly perfect as France, but I am nevertheless disappointed by these delays, which I believe are the inevitable economic reality of our idiotic president's mismanagement of the economy.