Rachel Halliburton

Tuesday

Rachel Halliburton

Marine Le Pen’s rhetoric is convincing French Jews to trust the Front National

From our UK edition

A report in today's Times suggests that French Jews are ready to discard their long-standing distrust for the Far Right and vote for the Front National. In January, Rachel Halliburton described how Marine Le Pen's public condemnation of anti-Semitism had won her votes, as had her insistence that the party was the only one that defends secularity and democracy against Islamisation. A key part of her strategy has been to use the threat of radical Islam to court the sort of people that the far right has traditionally persecuted, including the gay community and the Jewish community.

Thursday

Rachel Halliburton

How Marine Le Pen is winning France’s gay vote

From our UK edition

A week before the attack on Charlie Hebdo, France’s leading gay magazine, Têtu, announced the winner of its annual beauty contest. His name was Matthieu Chartraire, and he was 22, doe-eyed and six-packed, with perfectly groomed hair, stubble and eyebrows. A pin-up in every way — until he started talking. To the anger of many of the magazine’s readers, the Adonis of 2015 turns out to be an outspoken supporter of the Front National. Têtu’s editor-in-chief, Yannick Barbe, refused to play censor. ‘It’s within his rights to vote for the FN even if we don’t share his beliefs,’ he said. ‘This is a beauty pageant, and our readers’ vote was only based on a single criterion!

Wednesday

Rachel Halliburton

The nation that Putin crushed – and the world forgot

From our UK edition

Putin, at least 12-foot-high, glowers from the wall of a gym where men are training to wrestle. He is at the centre of an unnerving triptych. On his left is the image of Akhmad Kadyrov, the former President of the Chechen Republic who was assassinated by Islamists in 2004. To his right is Akhmad’s son, Ramzan Kadyrov, now Chechnya’s president, and instigator of a personality cult that manifests itself in everything from Instagram posts of chasing ostriches to dancing with Gérard Depardieu. [caption id="attachment_8902652" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Republic of Chechnya, 2013. Wrestling training in the central gym.

Friday

Rachel Halliburton

LA gangs, Arab feminists, and learning Classics

From our UK edition

‘There are more people teaching Ancient Greek in China than there are in Britain,’ declares Professor Edith Hall from the distinctively academic chaos of her study at King’s College, London. ‘Now you can either wring your hands about this, or do what I intend to, and go and talk to them! At the Zhejiang University [one of China’s C9 universities, their Ivy league] they’re translating Greek philosophy — Plato and Aristotle. They’re also looking at ancient Athens with a view to instituting a big discussion about democracy. This is the next frontier for Western classics.