S2E48: The two rules that Parisians broke in the hot summer of 2025

Nov 6, 2025

16:47

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Spoiler: Politics, and the private lives of politicians.

Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times catches up with its foreign correspondents about life and trends in the countries they're based in.

For more than a century, it was quite accepted in France that Presidents and male politicians could have mistresses, and no one would pry into their private lives.

But public attitudes are changing, and this is manifested in persistent curiosity about President Emmanuel Macron and his wife - who have now taken the unprecedented step of filing a lawsuit to battle scurrilous allegations.

In this episode, ST's foreign editor Li Xueying hosts global affairs correspondent Jonathan Eyal, who takes his skewer to double standards, culture wars and conspiracy theories that are fuelling the change.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:48 Paris in summer: A hotbed of scandals

4:11 Climate and political heat

7:01 Changing political privacy norms in France

9:29 The role of social media and disinformation

13:31 Macron’s political challenges and scandals

Read Jonathan Eyal’s article here: https://str.sg/cDua

Read Li Xueying’s articles: https://str.sg/iqmR

Follow Li Xueying on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/ip4x

Host: Li Xueying (xueying@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis