Agnès Poirier François Hollande with his new cabinet. Photograph: Patrick Aventurier/Getty Images Nicolas Sarkozy promised a parity government in 2007, but failed to deliver. Five years later, newly elected president François Hollande has just done it. For the first time, France boasts as many women as men in its 34-member cabinet. It may have...
Alexandra Topping Supporters of François Hollande celebrate his win in the French presidential election on 6 May. Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images Just a few weeks ago François Hollande – then still a candidate vying to become the president of France – wrote a letter to one of the country’s leading women’s organisations. “The struggle...
Reuters Jean-Claude Mas holds a PIP breast implant. Photograph: Eric Estrade/AFP/Getty Images Jean-Claude Mas, the Frenchman who sparked a global health scare by selling substandard breast implants, has been jailed after not paying his bail, according to a judicial source. Mas was released from police custody on 27 January on bail of €100,000 (£83,000),...
Marie Darrieussecq Calling a woman ‘Madame’ and correcting it to ‘Mademoiselle’ is a classic chat-up line in France. Photograph: Alamy In France men are addressed as Monsieur and women as Madame or Mademoiselle. While a Monsieur is a monsieur no matter what, a Madame is a married woman and a Mademoiselle an unmarried woman....
The classic hot toddy is, of course, Irish whiskey-based. My recipe is 30ml straight into a thick glass, with 100ml very hot water, a couple of cloves, half a teaspoon of demerara sugar and a slice of lemon. Inhale the scented vapours while sipping. (Add a 25ml shot of ginger wine for extra soothing,...
Sarah Boseley and Kim Willsher Breast implants should be removed for free on the NHS if women are concerned, the government has said. Photograph: Durand Florence/SIPA/Rex Features Women who are concerned about breast implants made by the scandal-hit French company PIP should be able to have them removed for free, either by the NHS...
Sarah Boseley, health editor A plastic surgeon poses with silicone gel breast implants at a clinic in Nice, France. Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Reuters Labour is urging the government to give a much clearer lead to more than 40,000 women in the UK affected by the scandal over faulty breast implants. The shadow health secretary, Andy...
It’s a good idea to give your liver a break sometimes, of course, and not a bad idea for the waistline, too. Wine is not, as a friend warned me recently in ominous tones, ‘as rich in calories as cream’, but it can deliver over 200 calories per glass if you plump for richer,...
Kim Willsher in Paris Jean-Claude Mas of Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), at the centre of a breast implant scandal. Documents leaked to French newspaper Nice-Matin reveal links to a second company started by two of his children. Photograph: Eric Estrade/AFP/Getty Images The French head of the company at the centre of the international breast...
Esther Addley, and Angelique Chrisafis in Paris A breast implant made by Poly Implant Prothese that was removed from the left breast of Chantal Guerin, a 46-year-old accountant. Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP The British government has insisted breast implants made from a substandard silicone gel present no increased risk of rupture or cancer to women...
