Impatience and sharp elbows run in the genes, it seems. President Nicolas Sarkozy has been battling for space in the French headlines this week not just with his wife, not just with his ex-wife, but with his tall, blond, fast-moving son, Jean. At the age of 21, "speedy" Sarkozy Jnr has become a political and media phenomenon in his own right. He is, nominally, a second-year law student on his summer holidays. He is also - not entirely to his father's liking - the leader of the majority political group on the council of the wealthiest département in France.Jean Sarkozy's latest precocious exploit is to achieve something that even his father has not yet succeeded in doing. He has, involuntarily, created confusion and despair in one of the bastions of the French left-libertarian media establishment, the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.The President's son - who oozes charm and confidence - became engaged this month to one of the wealthiest young women in France. His fiancée is Jessica Sebaoun-Darty, heiress to the family which owns the Darty electrical goods stores - the French equivalent of Currys. Mme Sebaoun-Darty is Jewish. Persistent media rumours - finally denounced yesterday as false - claimed that Jean Sarkozy intended to convert to Judaism before his marriage. On the basis of these rumours, a radical cartoonist-columnist in Charlie Hebdo suggested earlier this month that Jean Sarkozy was an opportunist who would "go far in life". The Sarkozy family and his fiancée's family threatened to sue the magazine for alleged anti-Semitism. The magazine's editor asked the veteran cartoonist, Siné to retract. He replied: "I would rather cut off my balls."
Impatience and sharp elbows run in the genes, it seems. President Nicolas Sarkozy has been battling for space in the French headlines this week not just with his wife, not just with his ex-wife, but with his tall, blond, fast-moving son, Jean.
At the age of 21, "speedy" Sarkozy Jnr has become a political and media phenomenon in his own right. He is, nominally, a second-year law student on his summer holidays. He is also - not entirely to his father's liking - the leader of the majority political group on the council of the wealthiest département in France.
Jean Sarkozy's latest precocious exploit is to achieve something that even his father has not yet succeeded in doing. He has, involuntarily, created confusion and despair in one of the bastions of the French left-libertarian media establishment, the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The President's son - who oozes charm and confidence - became engaged this month to one of the wealthiest young women in France. His fiancée is Jessica Sebaoun-Darty, heiress to the family which owns the Darty electrical goods stores - the French equivalent of Currys. Mme Sebaoun-Darty is Jewish. Persistent media rumours - finally denounced yesterday as false - claimed that Jean Sarkozy intended to convert to Judaism before his marriage. On the basis of these rumours, a radical cartoonist-columnist in Charlie Hebdo suggested earlier this month that Jean Sarkozy was an opportunist who would "go far in life". The Sarkozy family and his fiancée's family threatened to sue the magazine for alleged anti-Semitism. The magazine's editor asked the veteran cartoonist, Siné to retract. He replied: "I would rather cut off my balls."
I had to fall off my chair with laughter. This is a typo, right? Considering how many arms Sarko senior had to twist to make his son get the position (the other, more senior members of the group were NOT happy), that really is rich. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
