DSK

President Sarkozy of France is certain that he can beat Ségolène Royal in the Presidential race, as he did last time. Equally he is certain he can beat her husband, François Hollande, or the insane communist Martine Aubry. And he knows that if Marine Le Pen, who is doing remarkably well in the polls, were to make it into a run off, the left would vote for him, holding their noses, as they did for Chirac when Marine’s father Jean-Marie was a contender.

The person he is worried about is Dominique Strauss-Kahn (by the way it is pronounced Stroasse – only Radio 4 seems to take the trouble to get it right), 62 year old head of the IMF.

Now DSK has been arrested in New York for alleged attempted rape of a chambermaid at an hotel.

DSK has a reputation, which he has rather encouraged, as being a grand séducteur, and was put on probation at the IMF a while back for having an affair with a subordinate.

Of course these things don’t get reported in France when committed by the great and good, because of their ridiculous privacy laws. But they do in America.

For DSK to continue either at the IMF or as a Presidential candidate this will have to be nipped in the bud pretty quickly, and even then, with his reputation, it is not going to look good.

Lucky Sarkozy?

There are whispers that luck had nothing to do with it.