Now he has not just Messrs Fabius and Lang on board, but Michel Sapin and Catherine Tasca too.

ECONOMIST: France shuffles its pack

Miss Tasca, who was Mr Rocard's communications minister, takes over from Mrs Trautmann.

ECONOMIST: France shuffles its pack

According to the NMC's list of charges, Mr Ngobele met the patient at a cafe in Romford and then went to a La Tasca restaurant with her.

BBC: NMC's Aldwych building in London

Across England, Northern Ireland and Wales, Which? found 18% of La Tasca outlets inspected had a rating of less than "generally satisfactory", while 13% of Little Chefs inspected had low ratings.

BBC: Food hygiene a 'postcode lottery', Which? report finds

Add to Mr Fabius, Mr Lang, Mr Sapin and Miss Tasca a quartet of lesser appointments, including one each for the Greens and the Communists, and Mr Jospin can fairly claim that his new team is both better balanced and punchier than its predecessor.

ECONOMIST: France shuffles its pack

And, as I learned on my first night, the hotel is right on top of Corso di Porta Ticenese, a frothing avenue of nightlife waitresses heft trays of cocktails in what amount to small fishbowls, and the crowd drinking outside Tasca, a tapas bar, is so thick that the tram creeps by, slowly forcing them back off the tracks.

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