Marie Le Conte
12 February 2025
Why is French food in the UK so bad?
If even just one place were to open in a big city, and start offering decently priced, unfussy French bistro classics, they would become gazillionaires in a matter of weeks
Read the full article05 February 2025
The America we knew may well be gone forever
Even if the Democrats manage to get the presidency back in 2028 there is no real sense that things could return to normal for the US
Read the full article01 February 2025
It’s time to fight for the four day week
Donald Trump and Elon Musk think it’s a bad idea – what more reason do you need?
Read the full article29 January 2025
I'm going home to a place I barely know
I’ve spent a lot of time in Morocco but all of it, even as an adult, made me feel like an overly sheltered child
Read the full article26 January 2025
The dark lessons of AI
It might be useful for making Whitehall more efficient, but the potential downsides of the new technology are enormous
Read the full article22 January 2025
My cinema choices are a sign that both I and the times have changed
Everyone loves cheeseburgers but, as it turns out, really nice greens can also make you feel like life is truly worth living
Read the full article16 January 2025
Time to kick MPs out of the commentariat
Far too many of them have newspaper columns, radio slots and TV shows. As the US experience shows, nothing good happens when you give politicians too much attention
Read the full article15 January 2025
For the first time in my life I am a tech pessimist
What happens when some of the men behind big tech – Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg – start going in a direction that makes you feel nauseous?
Read the full article11 January 2025
How the internet broke our elites
Just look at what it did to Elon Musk – he bought Twitter, and it was all downhill from there
Read the full article08 January 2025
France and Britain need to learn from each other
Neither culture is flawless but, together, we could become more than the sum of our parts
Read the full article04 January 2025
This is how Starmer can communicate better in 2025
The prime minister and his cabinet have been quietly underwhelming so far and that is partially because they do not look like they know where they're headed
Read the full article01 January 2025
Our memories are too precious to be entrusted to tech firms
What is mere storage space to them represents chunks of our lives that would otherwise go unremembered
Read the full article27 December 2024
Hey, politician! Tell us your story
If you don’t someone else will tell it for you – and chances are you won’t like what you hear
Read the full article19 December 2024
Why is Starmer so afraid of free movement?
Refusing to negotiate with Europe to allow Brits greater access to the continent is a bewildering position for the government to take
Read the full article18 December 2024
2025 can be the year where we get the small things right
Much has been said about the increasing polarisation of people in the social media age. We need to remember that no man is an island
Read the full article13 December 2024
French politics: a question without an answer
Macron seems to think his new choice of prime minister is the answer to France’s problems. He might be the only one who does
Read the full article11 December 2024
Dilettante: How travel made me a die-hard sports fan
Watching a game with people supporting the same team as you is one of the most deeply social experiences you can have
Read the full article05 December 2024
Welcome to Britain’s next political scandal
A large, powerful industry has been courting and even recruiting MPs in Westminster. It could all end in disaster
Read the full article04 December 2024
France is on fire, but life goes on
The country is in a tunnel and there is no light at the end of it. But I still need to get my hair cut
Read the full article29 November 2024
Badenoch’s dangerous lurch into the online swamp
Telling small groups of people that they will be taken seriously if only they shout loudly enough is damaging for democracy
Read the full article27 November 2024
Why I'm conflicted about the implosion of Twitter
That we have seemingly managed to beat Elon Musk should be cause for celebration. Why, then, do I have this uneasiness about it?
Read the full article20 November 2024
Does anyone care about Rachel Reeves’ CV?
The right wing press love it, but this ‘scandal’ will join Angela Rayner’s flat and Keir Starmer’s lockdown beer in being quickly forgotten
Read the full article20 November 2024
November in Britain is a time for getting sozzled
New Yorkers get to be abstemious, at least most of the time, because their weather allows it. Not so here
Read the full article16 November 2024
You’ve left Twitter and moved to Bluesky: here’s what you need to know
As users joining the “Xodus” are discovering, the platform is very different from Elon Musk’s kingdom
Read the full article13 November 2024
It's time to say goodbye to America
Americans aren’t my people, not for one great reason but for a thousand small ones
Read the full article07 November 2024
America, the country that went off the deep end
Europeans watch Friends and eat burgers and think we understand America. Then elections like this make us realise we really don’t
Read the full article06 November 2024
Getting drunk as the election unfolds
The night started with nauseous optimism. Then came vodka and gloom
Read the full article02 November 2024
Meeting MAGA in the deep south
A journey through North and South Carolina reveals the widening gap between the current Trumpian GOP and the party it used to be
Read the full article29 October 2024
Meet the Ukrainians who could win it for Kamala
A diaspora of 120,000 in Pennsylvania fear Trump and could turn a state he lost by just 80,000 votes last time
Read the full article28 October 2024
In the queue for Trump, the ‘biggest rock star’
The hordes outside Madison Square Garden looked normal. What they talked about was anything but
Read the full article19 October 2024
The mysterious rise of Robert Jenrick
He has no charisma, intellectual consistency or distinguishing features of any kind. Other than being very, very right wing, who – or what – is he?
Read the full article16 October 2024
For the self-employed, parenting feels impossible
Labour failed to look at the maternity allowance before publishing the Employment Rights Bill
Read the full article