Perhaps I have been mellowed by the imminence of summer (it cannot be long delayed, can it?) or by the glorious prospect of United starting another European run.

BBC: Sympathetic ear for 'flawed' social report

Given that President Jacques Chirac was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, it is perhaps convenient that Mr Dumas's Constitutional Council has ruled that a sitting president cannot be investigated.

ECONOMIST: France��s secret loves

Perhaps it should have been staffed by Latinos, who cannot see a Great Divide at all: only bridges to be crossed, chances to be seized, another day's march along the road to completing the world's greatest multicultural experiment.

ECONOMIST: A minority worth cultivating