Custom Search
How I've seen the France I love torn apart by hatred: LEO McKINSTRY - who has lived there for over a decade and witnessed growing tensions between locals and Muslim hardliners - despairs for the future
Leo McKinstrey
July 17k, 2016
Bastille Day is meant to be a moment of celebration in France. But when my wife and I had dinner on Thursday evening with neighbours near our French home in the Loire region, we encountered visceral despair about the state of the Gallic nation.
The company was charming, the hospitality magnificent, yet parts of the conversation were profoundly sombre. This was hours before the news of the Islamist atrocity in Nice emerged, but our friends' concern for France's future was palpable.
Mass immigration, the relentless growth of the Muslim population, the alarming spread of jihadism and the enfeebled stance of President Hollande's socialist government had left them with a feeling that their country is increasingly under siege.