The economy is stagnant, ministers are complaining about austerity, Brussels wants more public sector reforms, crime is rampant in the capital and Mrs Thatcher is all over the front pages.

No, that's not the UK last week but France, as I know having spent a spring break in Picardy on the Bay of the Somme. The entire time I was there coverage in the conservative daily Le Figaro was dominated by three main stories, namely the scandal over a minister's secret Swiss bank account which has rocked the presidency, the dire state of the economy and whether France needs a Thatcher figure. Another curious item was the epidemic of pickpocketing gangs in Paris targeting tourists, especially in the Louvre.