The French Dispatch

I had the great pleasure to head to Prague this week to take part in the 2026 GLOBSEC Forum, and had the chance to catch up with a friend of the Dispatch, Dave Keating from Gulf Stream Blues , for a live video recorded on the sidelines. As you’ll hear in this video, Thursday set the tone for the whole event. A session featuring former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and former US Defe...

So, ladies and gentlemen, Donald Trump’s war on Iran is continue to splutter, with America having failed to remove the Iranian regime, inflaming tensions across the Middle East, and actively creating a scenario that is sending oil and gas prices skyrocketing. Not only this, but Donald Trump has managed to create a situation where he is now pushing to remove sanctions on Russia, and is actively ber...

So, as you may all have heard, the world is on fire right now, with Donald Trump having launched a war against the Iranian regime and Europeans having a messy and divided response to the intensifying crisis. Not only this, but French President Emmanuel Macron launched himself into an expansive review of the French nuclear doctrine, calling for an increase in the number of nuclear warheads, and an...

So, another European Council meeting has come along and caused a massive uproar, so what better time to run a Substack live to discuss the topic and go through the finer points of the meeting’s agenda. From Middle East diplomacy to European Security, to finally touching upon the topic of supporting Ukraine’s defensive war against a revanchist, imperialist Russia, we go through everything that happ...

So, Zack Polanski, the leader of the British Green Party and prospective British Prime Minister, has declared that he will try to do what no one else has done before him: convince Russian President Vladimir Putin, known for his imperialism and revanchist foreign policy, to give up his Nuclear Weapons. Which is definitely not going to happen, so in the face of a lot of the reactions and questions I...

As you guys know, France has been going through a turbulent time, with a level of political instability that we haven’t seen since before World War Two, when the political instability led to us not being able to react to Nazi Germany and eventually being occupied. So, with the second Lecornu government now trying to push towards a budget of some kind, Dave Keating ( Gulf Stream Blues ) and I (the...

Took a quick break from my cold to give a (not-so-quick) update on the current French political situation, with a particular focus on: * Lecornu’s final negotiations * Upcoming legislative elections * The reason why Edouard Philippe wants Macron to resign * The strategies being deployed by French extremists * The current polling situation As always, remember to like, subscribe, and if you enjoyed...

Right, first of all: new format! Due to popular demand, I’ll be hosting a weekly European update, in the form of these Substack live sessions, starting today, where I’ll cover the biggest stories from the European Union and our continent. This week, we cover the Copenhagen meeting, and particularly: * The EU is putting its money where its mouth is on Ukraine, and EU defence and security * European...

So we’re back, and no longer working on our holidays! Dave Keating and I sat down to talk about: * Trump’s royal visit * The horrors of American politics and Jimmy Kimmel being censored by the American government * What it could take to wake Europeans up from their American subservience * Von der Leyen’s State of the EU speech , and whether her calls for independence and courage mean anything when...

With Commission President Ursula von der Leyen having signed one of the worst trade deals I have ever seen, I sat down with Dave Keating from Gulf Stream Blues to dig into the EU’s latest “deal” with the US, and discussed why it’s absolutely not an FTA, no matter how it’s being spun. We go over: * What’s actually in the deal (spoiler: not much) and why calling it a “trade agreement” is misleading....

* Did Ursula von der Leyen announce a geoeconomic and defence policy?? * What’s going on with the EU-US trade war? * Will Von der Leyen ‘survive’ her confidence vote? * Should we want her to survive it? * What the hell happened to the Rassemblement National? If these are the questions you were asking yourself, then you’re in the right place! Get full access to The French Dispatch at www.frenchdisp...

Today I sat down with friend of the publication, Dave Keating from Gulf Stream Blues to discuss the big stories of the past few weeks, including: * The on-off-on again US Tariff court rulings * The European Council blocking Spanish regional languages and giving Pedro Sanchez a political headache * Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban's Budapest pride ban, and the pathetically weak response from the Com...

On one of the most important days of the year, I sat down with friend of the publication, Dave Keating ( Gulf Stream Blues ), to discuss the big stories of the week, including: * Friedrich Merz’ two-round Bundeskanzler voting scandal, and who was to blame * How his relationship with Emmanuel Macron is looking * What is happening with the Weimar Triangle * What’s the story with the new pope? And wa...

* Can “The French” finally lead Europe’s re-armament? * Are “The French” doing victory laps? * Will “The Europeans” be able to do without “The Americans” when it comes to security? * Are “The French” “Arrogant”? I had the great pleasure to sit with Dave Keating from Gulf Stream Blues today for a fun discussion regarding the new paradigm of European security, the impact of Donald Trump’s Presidency...

With the results of the 2024 Legislative Elections having come in last night, and with a dispatch in the works to show you what happened, I met up with the incredible Latika Bourke and Tristan de Bourbon Parme to discuss what happened In this quick and dirty podcast that we put together today, we talk about what happened last night, what political tactics worked and didn’t work, what the key bits...

I had the great pleasure to be invited by Tim Sennett and Jennie to come and join them on the Mriya Report , a brilliant network that covers Ukrainian politics and how global events impact our future fellow member state. In a brilliant exchange with the audience, who had a lot of very interesting questions, we delved into : * 🇫🇷The French parliamentary election* 🇬🇧British parliamentary election* 🇪...

With the first round of the 2024 Legislative Elections taking place today across France, I wanted to share with you all a great podcast that I did with the incredible Latike Bourke and Tristan de Bourbon Parme. In it, we have discussed what led us to our current situation, covering everything from the popularity of Emmanuel Macron, what exactly has pushed so much support to the RN, why people will...

So, did you catch the #SOTEU? What did you think? How do you feel about the direction of the EU? and did it even matter? Last week I sat down with my friend Simon van Hoeve who runs a fascinating podcast called The Brubble to talk about the State of the European Union Speech given by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, breaking down why this was a historic speech and a good sign of things t...