The election confirms the bold choice voters made in the presidential election to back reform. This is a country that ten years ago cheerfully elected the left on a promise of reducing the working week from 39 hours to 35 without loss of pay. Today, Mr Sarkozy's campaign mantra is the exact reverse: "work more to earn more". He was swept into power on a promise of "rupture" with the past and a determination to restore the work ethic.

The French seem very happy with their choice. Polls say that Mr Sarkozy is the most popular newly elected president since De Gaulle. In giving him a crushing parliamentary majority, voters are handing him an exceptionally strong mandate for a tax-cutting, welfare-tightening, business-friendly programme, part of which will be voted through in an extraordinary parliamentary session in July.

No points for guessing where this comes from

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes