Selina Chen

Une intolérable campagne de haine

Clearing out old bookshelves and surprised to see this for sale on Amazon at £178. Any takers here- yours for a bargain £100

Tempted by Robert Musil’s Man without Qualities in a charity shop but wonder if it will just end up as a doorstoppper.

Awful news from Les Yvelines

Morning. Antidote to the miserabilism

My god this gets worse and worse.

My experience of recent protests in Paris is that they are also and have become quite joyful and fun collective moments- a bit like what we saw in the U.K. in the 2010s. Dancing, wit, dressing up, chanting. Recently mobile orchestras such as the one that got gazé without provocation at République.

Selon @insee.fr le pouvoir d'achat des Français va baisser pour la 2e année consécutive en 2026 (c'est déjà arrivé 2 fois depuis 1960 : rigueur de 1983-1984 et grande crise financière de 2010-2013). Depuis 2024, une famille Française a perdu 1.200 € en moyenne sur l'année.

Reckon Ryanair is paying for Facebook posts complaining about being charged for oversized baggage to get people to upsize for capacity they don’t need. It’s all too fishy.

Like wow- how lame is this?

Seeing press coverage of what happened in France makes me realise why people increasingly don’t trust the media.

Tip- not a good day to cycle around Paris if you haven’t got Kevlar-coated tyres.

Investment tip- glaziers

Something very French about the way that protesters and the police play cat and mouse on the streets- tear gas, pepper spray- whilst people walk their dogs around them and old ladies and their caddies full of shopping walk on.

Good grief the man’s an idiot. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Just an illusion- Imagination.

Collectively, 20 of the most valuable global AI and semiconductor stocks have shed more than $1 trillion in value so far this week. www.cnbc.com/2026/10/15/s...

On est là on est là même si Le Pen ne le veut pas on est là….

Is there a word when you’re so alienated from the password 2fa authentication palaver and you can’t remember the umpteenth changed password that you just give up and never log into any of your online accounts again?

Drop a film you saw on a first date. Audition by Takashi Miike. He looked at me a bit funny after. www.imdb.com/title/tt0235...

Okay here’s one that came out of the kiln this week. 😊

I seem to have lost the will to keep up the reading habit after I’ve struggled through to the end of a mediocre novel.

I think Didier Deschamps just walked into the coffee shop where I am having a coffee.

Sad news this morning- the Parisian institution les enfant du marché rouge where I celebrated my birthday last year has gone up in flames.

Well hope they enjoy it because they aren’t staying top for long.

Cherki is not a likeable player

Yes I do pottery

Listening to the Guns of Brixton.

Happy Caturday

All I want is a good local coffee shop that I can sit tranquilly with my reasonably priced flat white.

😳

Is google down?

Whole street in front of us awash with teargas now

I know it’s anecdotal but the jeunesse in the news seem far from the RN supporters the polls suggest many are. Dans l’espoir…🙏

Suspect that a good part of the electorate remember the Tory years not as ones of incompetence, austerity and self-harm through Brexit but as ones where they failed to control immigration.

Im tired of your storytelling.

Pig fat, cheese and carbs tonight for dinner

France hit by the same US, Israel, Russia disinformation network seen attacking Spain and Canada. In all instances networks related to the AfD and South American right wing parties have followed in the 2nd and 3rd wave of disinfo and manipulation, these are tied to the US / Trump too.

How do I have a cold again? Barely recovered from the other thing.

Regulators really need to do something about the penalties for digital contract cancellations. It’s a form of modern slavery.

The merdique international press that has friends from around the world message me to ask if I’m safe given the student protests. 🙄

Christ I hadn’t realised just how awful the UK news coverage of France was till now.

My algo is showing Italian and Irish admiration for the French school kids on protest and wondering why they haven’t got the same mettle.

In the streets today so we don’t have to be tomorrow.

Next house ambition is a palazzo/palazzino.

You have to give it to the lycéens. They feel strongly that they have rights and because of that they are less fearful.