Yeah, yeah, I have no illusions about Hollande - nor about the French electorate; in a better world I would have preferred Mélenchon; but H is GREATLY preferable to Sarkozy - and I find it difficult to believe so many still support Sarko. So let's just hope I'm right about H's win and, if so, how lucky we are to be rid of Sarko.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

No one will be surprised.

The optimistic scenario I posted some time back was posited on a strong showing from the left in the first round of the election, a more leftwing prime minister as a result, and pressure from social movements and unions. The first of those conditions didn't come through, since the strong electoral showing was from the far right. The second is 99% certain not to materialise: the bets for PM are on Jean-Marc Ayrault (whom I personally take for an apparatchik, but the media say he speaks fluent German, which is presumably going to be helpful placating Teutonic ire). The third, we'll see.

What I like about the Roosevelt2012 initiative is that it offers, precisely, civil society, social and union movements a set of firm alternatives they can take on board. There are ideas there to break the TINA stranglehold -- it's a TARA manifesto.

Another element is the support Hollande might get in other Eurozone countries for an alternative to blanket austerity. As I've said before, it can't work so it won't work, and that fact is becoming ever more painfully apparent.