Chirac

Many of us will have been pleased to see the conviction of Jacques Chirac, and to those, myself included, who would have liked to see the old fraud behind bars, we could never realistically have expected it. This is the first time that the Fifth Republic has prosecuted a former president and it has been worthwhile, not least for France, where the Head of State, following the constitution designed by de Gaulle, has far too much power, and too many means to keep his excesses quiet.

What interests me most is what this might do the candidacy of Dominique de Villepin, who was a protegé of Chirac and very much associated with those times.

Well, at least he isn't Sarkozy.