In a predictably 🇫🇷 twist, unions are blaming the Louvre fiasco on lack of staff

They claim that 100s of jobs were cut in the last 10/15 years. The French press took these number for granted

So I did what no one did and looked at the annual reports:

The unions are wrong The unions are claiming that staff head count has gone down by 200.

In 2010 the Louvre's annual report claims 2100 employees.

By 2015 it has gone down somewhat at 2072

And in 2024? Would it be 1900?

Nope... it's even higher than in 2010 at 2242

People often assume that French politicians never touch pensions out of fear of the grey vote

This is only partially true:

Working age Frenchies are also delusional or ill-informed on pensions

This is how they end up backing "Turkeys for Christmas" policies

A🧵 French people don't see pensions as a big issue

When you ask them what to cut:

32% mention family benefits (≃50 bn)

31% digital policy (no idea of the value but single digit billions at most)

30% unemployment benefits (≃40bn)

Only 6% mention pensions (400bn+)

Is Catholicism making a revival in France?

Latin masses, baptisms, pilgrimages, Catholicism seems hip again!

But behind the vibes, what do the stats and maps show?

A 🧵 on the decline and transformation of Catholicism in post-Catholic France France is historically one of the most important Catholic countries in Europe

To this day the trace of Catholicism can be found everywhere in France

Here's a map of France with all the towns with "Catholic" names (with Saint or trinity in it for example)

French PM François Bayrou has been ousted by parliament. Macron's 3rd PM to lose his job in 18 months

The stakes are huge:

Will Macron dissolve parliament? Will the left take over? What about the IMF?

A 🧵on what happened and what happens next What happened?

Ever since Macron's snap election last july, his coalition has shrunk into a small minority government

Last December his previous PM Michel Barnier was deposed by parliament after 3 months.

Bayrou took over facing similarly impossible parliamentary arithmetics

Portugal being the first modern European colonial empire despite having a population of 1 million is seriously impressive. And then at a similarly impressive pace becoming a secondary political player for the five centuries that followed.

In 1582 Jesuit missionaries entered China

They could have been killed!

And yet in a few years they became the Emperor’s top advisors, brokering diplomatic deals and moving their pawns

This is a 🧵on how the Jesuits infiltrated China...

And how it all came crashing down! The Society of Jesus was founded in Paris in 1534 by students.

It rapidly grew and recognised by the Pope in 1540

They were big on missionary work and wanted to convert the world before the protestants

Here's a map of their colleges founded in the 220 years that followed

China's biggest threat isn't Trump... but its explosive local debt

After decades of relying on land sales and the real estate market the music has stopped with huge consequences.

A 🧵 on China's biggest and underreported economic challenge It might come as a surprise but China is in some ways very decentralised!

85-90% of all public spending is done at subnational level.

Even the US with its Federal model is at 50%

Americans have a unique superpower:

They naturally know how to dig entrenched political cleavages overnight to stick to their political tribe.

Even on issues where they previously didn't disagree much!

Some samples of America's hyper-tribalism This might come as a surprise but free trade has been unpopular on both parties for a while.

Until Trump's tariffs and now all of the sudden the Left are rediscovering the virtues of free trade

Basically overnight

Who are China's political elites?

What is the equivalent of their Ivy Leagues or the Oxbridge?

A thread on the (mostly) old men who run the People's Republic of China Here's how I define the Chinese political elites:

It's the 812 people who serve in China's top political bodies from Xi Jinping at the top all the way to provincial standing committee.

Most of them are provincial officials (61%)

The tiny island of St Pierre et Miquelon got a 99% tariff because somebody bought 3.4 million worth of goods in July 2024 (most likely crustaceans)

The 5,8 k inhabitants "only" bought 100k worth of US goods in 2024

But...

https://twitter.com/DrewPavlou/status/1907700160744095879

Trade was balanced for years (here's 2023), that one contract (which I have been trying to find) has landed them the highest tariff rate

Thankfully given that St Pierre barely imports anything from the US it won't have an impact but it's an insight on how unserious this method is

No wonder the US has soured on international organisations...

How often do countries vote with the United States at the United Nations (2000-2020)?

The answer is not much

A small thread on the US and the UN Who's backing the US most consistently?

Israel, the anglosphere and small island nations

After 6 months in China, it is time to take stock of the strangest pizzas I have seen and eaten this year.

My fellow Italian friends, if you think pineapple on pizza is too much for you to handle, I suggest you look away First up this special edition "goblin pizza" by Pizza Hut.

Yes that's a frog.

No, even the Frenchman in me didn't dare touch it

Net fiscal contribution of 1st generation immigrants in the Netherlands by country of origin

Red and orange is negative Work from @demo_demo_nl, very interesting and exhaustive stuff

Three years ago Marine Le Pen boasted about her ties with Putin

Now she is condemning Trump's decision to cut military aid to Ukraine.

This will do rounds internationally but here's why I don't think it is that surprising.

A few words on why Le Pen dropped Putinism

https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1896898383727788126

The photo taken above was supposed to feature in her 2022 campaign leaflet, it was recalled last minute when the war broke out.

Putin's war had made him toxic and she knew it

Harbin from 1898 to 1949 is one of the most interesting places in history!

The City of Ice was for 50 years a cosmopolitan battleground between White & Red 🇷🇺, 🇯🇵 Imperialists and 🇨🇳 Communists

A🧵on Asia's frozen Wild Wild East and powder keg Harbin is set in Manchuria, Northern China, a region historically the periphery of China to the North of the Great Wall.

Not a complete backwater however, as the Manchus eventually became Emperors of China as the Qing dynasty!

French PM Michel Barnier has fallen last night after a mere 3 months in office over the budget

The stakes are huge.

Who will replace Barnier? Will Macron resign? Can France avoid a US-style shutdown?

A 🧵on what happened and what happens next What happened? At a very basic level Barnier and his minority government tried to push through the budget (without a majority) and got deposed.

The Left and the Le Pen's nationalists voted to take his government down, 331 of the 577 MPs, making Barnier the shortest-serving PM.

The fact that the Brits have largely decided to move back to old English lands in France never ceases to amuse me.
They are the biggest group of immigrants in large parts of western France.

The growth of Paris throughout history! Humble beginnings in the Gallo-Roman era

How rich was pre-revolutionary Europe?

Despite major political divides, Northern Italy was still ahead on the continent!

England with its proto industrial revolution was just behind.

France was very poor in contrast. Using data on gold reserves and the places of birth/death of 563K (as sourced on Wikipedia), these researchers offer a very innovative way of estimating gdp per capita given the lack of data available

https://x.com/philippmkoch/status/1835937921360080962

France's fiscal situation is very dire and yet we refuse to consider cutting pensions (350bn a year, 25% of public spending)

Worse still we added another 14bn for pensions last year because we are afraid of upsetting pensioners

Boomers have put France in a fiscal chokehold

https://twitter.com/C_Barraud/status/1830911766282359182

Sorry for unfairly picking on (the very kind) Albert here, but this is reflective of a wider issue

No one in France realises that we are bleeding ourselves to pay for our pensioners

https://x.com/Albrochier/status/1831265020950310921

One good map = 100 articles

Here's the projected population growth in Germany, take a look at Saxony at Thuringia who just massively backed the far-right AFD Add to that it's the boomers that are keeping at bay the AFD, young people on the contrary are massively turning towards the AFD