New language in the dossier

We watched the France 2 evening news last night which of course dealt with the country's disappointment at not getting the 2012 Olympics. While one might have expected an extra touchiness about all things English, it was striking to hear frequent uses of English phrases to explain what went wrong -- which must drive the purists mad. "Fair play" is already a widely used expression but to this is now added "lobbying" and "fighting spirit," factors that apparently explained London's winning bid.

And there was a bizarre musical selection. One angle they covered was the tempestuous Blair-Chirac relationship, and the story opened and closed to the song Goldfinger [see for yourself; go here and select EDITION DU MERCREDI 06 JUILLET 2005; the segment begins at 24:55]. We assume that the analogy was intended to be Blair as Goldfinger -- not just interested in world domination, but also a cheat. But with Tony absolved from having a sure-loser EU referendum, winning the Olympics, and presiding over the EU and G8 with the approval of Bono and Bob Geldof, it looks his Operation Grandslam is going rather better than Auric's.