Ankur Desai

If you have a story you think we should cover or would like to tell us what you think about anything in this episode, we'd love to hear from you.

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This edition was mixed by Rosanwyn Durrell and the producers were Holly Gibbs and Rachel Bulkley.

The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Ankur Desai.

Until next time, goodbye.

They used to raise funds for their own benefit.

We have seen the deployment of the military, the militarization of law enforcement in major cities that will actually be hosting the World Cup.

They used to raise funds for their own benefit.

Power having leached away from President Macron in that disastrous election of his 18 months ago, it's now here in the Assemblée Nationale, the Parliament, that politics in France is being played out.

Basically, MPs, parliamentarians have discovered that they now have the power to set the rules, to make the laws, to pass the budget, to govern the country, in effect.

The trouble is they're making a total hash of it.

The pinnacle of the absurd came with a vote on the budget for next year, rather an important vote, you might think, in which not just the opposition benches, but the government benches too, voted against.

Yes, every single MP, including the Macronites, voting against their own budget.

Well, actually, there was one vote for Harold Ewart, an independent and, incidentally, very anglophile MP.

Essentially, what's happening is that the beleaguered Prime Minister, Sébastien Le Corneau, has made a deal with the socialists.

They've then inserted amendments into the budget, like the suspension of Macron's famous pension reform, which the centre and right then find that they can't stomach.

Another item on the left's wish list is a wealth tax.

I'm an economist and I'm the director.