French weekly magazines review 4 January 2015

From inspiring individuals who achieved remarkable things in Marianne to those who "will make you love 2015" in Le Figaro mag, the French weeklies have chosen to focus on optimism for a great start to this new year. 

The cover of left-leaning Marianne this week offers a fizzy cocktail of stories which include: Whom do you admire? A question the magazine poses to the great and the good; Addiction, when sport makes them crazy; What if the Greeks are right? Out of the doldrums of Europe; And what it calls the false polemic of Houellebecq – that’s Michel Houellebecq a best selling French writer whose new novel “Submission” is sure to excite controversy.

The lede cover story aims to counter the prevailing mood of pessimism here in France by training the spotlight on inspiring individuals who achieved remarkable things. An admiral goal, certainly. Though I'm not convinced it will actually succeed in lifting the black dog of gloom off France's back.

Many of the usual suspects are there. From Mother Teresa, Aung San Suu Kyi and Gandhi to Socrates, Charles de Gaulle, Albert Camus and - that old chestnut - my father.

Among less likely picks is Deng Xiao-ping the Chinese leader who famously declared that "it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice." The phrase is credited with liberating China from the straight jacket of communist party rule and poverty and making possible today's straight jacket of communist rule and prosperity.

It begs the question whether there are magical words to rescue Europe from its economic stagnation. More than a few people in Greece believe they are "Bye Bye to the European Union and the euro currency".

If anyone in Europe is on the rocks its Greece, suffering massive indebtedness and unemployment and a savage austerity package imposed by Brussels. Greeks vote for a new Parliament later this month and the signs are that the Syriza the anti-EU party of the radical left might triumph. That will certainly put the cat among the EU pigeons.

In its culture section, Marianne looks at what it calls the ten surprises (good and bad) of the new literary season.

Pride of places goes to Michel Houellebecq, the controversial French novelist whose sixth novel is entitled "Submission" which will be published next week. The action unfolds in 2022 when the President of France is, believe it or not, a Muslim. An Islamist party has defeated the Far Right party, the Front National, at the polls.

France has "submitted" to Islam and regained a certain vitality. Houellebecq's Islamic state is portrayed mockingly not playing on our fears but our resignations, says Marianne. Civil war is not on the horizon. So what's the trap. It would be churlish to reveal the plot, you'll have to read it.

Either magazine editors have been lunching together or great minds think alike.

Le Figaro magazine's cover story tells readers "They will make you love 2015". They, it seems, are "the Optimists". It isn't a provocation or blindness, says the editorial. They haven't ignored the latest unemployment figures nor all the other reasons to be pessimistic of which there are plenty. Rather the paper offers a different perspective: to break the journalists' mantra that "Good news is no news".

It asks readers if they remember the proverb "The optimist inverted the aeroplane and the pessimist the parachute". Both inventions are useful. But not to the same extent. Not as potent as those black and white cats, I fear.

What's more, the first story following the opinion piece is about Alexis Tsipras, leader of that Greek party Syriza who is characterised by Figaro mag as "Brussels' nightmare".

The second is about the strike by self-employed doctors worried about the deterioration of French health. The system is routinely lauded as the best in the world. But for how much longer? The truth is that it is unaffordable. With a culture of entitlement, an ageing population and heavier workloads, medical professionals are less than optimistic.

Here we go again, you might be forgiven for thinking on opening Le Monde magazine: "Each of us can change the world" the headline assures us. You can relax. It proves to be an ad by a luxury Swiss watchmaker.

Le Monde mag has some fun with the first in its weekly news round-up. Headlined "Political animal", it tells us that French President François Hollande has adopted a dog, a black female Labrador aged two months. The paper thinks it is an attempt to boost his rock-bottom popularity and rejoin the political scrap.

He isn't the first, Le Monde reminds us. His predecessors in the Elysée palace, François Mitterand and Jacques Chirac adopted dogs (Labradors by the way) and both were re-elected to second terms in office. It worked for US President Barak Obama also. Will the pooch guarantee Hollande's political resurrection? The magazine doesn't say. Though it does carry a photo of the Russian President Vladimir Putin petting a tiger. The perfect pet for a strong leader perhaps.

As if to remind us that few political leaders surrender power gracefully - often they go out kicking and screaming or in a coffin - Le Monde gives us pictures and thumbnail sketches of what it calls "The grandpas in power". They include Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe who is 90. Cameroon's Paul Biya, 81. Cuba's Raul Castro, 83. And Italy's Giorgio Napolitano who is 89. The latter had the good grace to retire this month. The other wrinklies show no sign of calling it a day. Optimists to a man no doubt.