Agnès Poirier



Profile:
Full name: Agnès Poirier

Area of interest: French politics

Journals: The Guardian - comment is free

Email: [mailto:agnes@agnespoirier.com agnes@agnespoirier.com] | feedback page

Website: Agnès Poirier.com (English & French lang.)

Blog: Comment is free...

Literary agent: Michael Alcock at Johnson & Alcock (London)

Networks:



Biography:
Education: ACP is a graduate from the Sorbonne, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po) and a former PhD student at the  London School of Economics

Career: French born Agnès Poirier moved to London in 1995 and started writing as an independent journalist for Le Monde (1996) and then for Le Figaro  as UK arts correspondent (1997-2001). Between 2001 and 2006, she was a political correspondent and film critic for Libération

Current position/role: UK editor for French and Italian weeklies Le Nouvel Obs, La Vie, L'Espresso


 * also writes/written for: regular contributor to the BBC, Channel 4 (100 Greatest Movie Moments), Channel 5 and Al Jazeera on French politics and films. ACP is also a regular commentator for The Guardian, The Independent On Sunday, The New Statesman and The Observer

Other roles: Agnès Poirier is an independent adviser on British films for the Cannes Film Festival  and a producer for Radio France (France Musiques) of special series about cinema

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:
 * Les misérables Anglais - Unhappy, ignorant, violent, disrespectful and obsessed with celebrity and money - that's how this French writer and London resident sees us - The Independent, 25th February 2007

TV/Radio: radio & TV updates

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Books & Debate:
Her first book, Les Nouveaux Anglais, came out in France in April 2005 (Alvik), followed by Touché! A French woman's take on the English published in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Her latest essay in French Le modèle anglais: une illusion française, an antidote to Sarkozy's politics, was released in France by Alvik at the end of 2006


 * Les Nouveaux Anglais: Clichés revisités, 2005
 * Touché: a French woman's take on the English OCLC 65203045, 2006

Latest work: Le modèle anglais, une illusion française, 2006

Speaking/Appearances: news & events update

Current debate: 

The Guardian, et al:
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Email:

Website: Comment is free...

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Varies

Regularity: approx. twice monthly

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Articles:

 * America's special friend'' - Britain may be outraged, but Barack Obama has good grounds for saying that the US has no 'stronger ally' than France - 12th January 2011
 * Monicelli exposed injustice with love and laughter'' - The king of Italian comedy leapt to his death last month. At least he avoided seeing Berlusconi survive the no-confidence vote - 18th December 201
 * the French street call the shots?'' - Sarkozy is taking a risk. France's strikers love little more than putting leaders in their place - 13th October 2010
 * the French looking glass with Claude Chabrol'' - Chabrol went behind the beautiful landscapes and homes of the bourgeoisie to lay bare the travails and turpitudes of the French - 14th September 2010
 * prurient hounding of Roman Polanski is over at last'' - The Swiss decision not to extradite the director is just – it was a vengeful demand and his victim wanted the case closed - 13th July 2010
 * is he worth it?'' - The scandal over the L'Oréal donation could bring about the French president's downfall - 8th July 2010
 * France in the grip of an existential crisis?'' - Agnès Poirier, French journalist and author, and film-maker Nick Fraser consider how the French team's inglorious exit from the World Cup has affected the mood of the nation - 27th June 2010
 * the film Berlusconi doesn't want you to see'' - A documentary film shown at Cannes has used the L'Aquila earthquake to expose the Italian prime minister's abuse of power - 20th May 2010
 * niqab ban: a legal nightmare'' - While boasting about human rights, the president has got the French state into a muddle about what it is trying to achieve - 28th April 2010
 * Sarkozy receives a warning'' - The low turnout in France's regional elections is not just due to apathy – let's hope the second round sends a clearer message - 16th March 2010
 * High Representative is letting Europe down'' - Lady Ashton does not cut la moutarde - 28th January 2010
 * committee': no outright ban'' - The panel set up by Sarkozy to consider whether full veiling should be banned in France has come back with fudge - 26th January 2010
 * French secret of fat'' - We French eat four times as much butter and 60% more cheese than the average American, but we stay thin. How do we do it? - 19th January 2010
 * Rohmer: un hommage'' - Rimbaud's mantra, 'one must be absolutely modern', guided the father of the New Wave, a director fascinated by France's bourgeoisie - 12th January 2010
 * it means to be French'' - Nicolas Sarkozy's national debate on French identity is meaningless, vain and too often descends into racism - 23rd December 2009
 * bite is deeper, Tiger'' - Without risk there can be no passion. Philosophers know that, beyond golf, romance is under threat - 8th December 2009
 * the scenes at French museums'' - The Louvre and the Pompidou Centre have closed their doors in protest at government cuts – and they could hurt the economy - 7th December 2009
 * Henry and football philosophy'' - Henry's handball in a World Cup game against Ireland has caused an existential crisis in France. What would Camus do? - 21st November 2009
 * Proust polemic a waste of time'' - Proust is too long, too expensive and impossible to read in the bath, says Germaine Greer. Has she had a bang on the head? - 10th November 2009
 * Moore can't persuade me'' - I know force-feeding is cruel, but the former James Bond's call to send foie gras the way of life's other pleasures must be resisted - 7th November 2009
 * need a visionary as EU president, not Tony Blair'' - What about Vaclav Havel or Simone Veil? - 29th October 2009
 * 'sacrifice' of France's Prince Jean'' - Sarkozy junior has put his ambitions to run La Défense on hold, but he can't convince France that they were legitimate - 24th October 2009
 * Rue de Robespierre'' - Parisian councillors have guillotined a plan to name a street in France's capital after the revolutionary leader - 3rd October 2009
 * arrest has shocked France'' - Given new facts revealed by a documentary about the Polanski case, the great director's arrest makes no sense - 28th September 2009
 * Clearstream Affair, Act 1 Scene 1'' - A courtroom drama driven by political rivalry and vengeance opens as Sarkozy and De Villepin go head to head - 23rd September 2009
 * eccentric man of the north'' - It's easy to laugh at Umberto Bossi's ideas to drop the national anthem, flag and language, but Italians should take more notice - 18th September 2009
 * the pregnancy scaremongering and let women make love in peace'' - Britain is obsessive and dictatorial when it comes to motherhood. Yet we get more real help – and babies born – in France - 14th August 2009
 * France's theatre of redundancy - From 'bossnapping' to threatening to blow up factories, French workers use spectacular stunts to highlight their situation - 17th July 2009
 * French vote with maturity - That an unpopular government did so well in the European elections indicates voters' ability to think outside national politics - 8th June 2009
 * To see ourselves as others see us - The parents of two French students murdered by men who should have been in custody are outraged. So should we be - The Independent, 7th June 2009
 * Sarkozy's royal gaffe - Excluding the Queen from the D-Day anniversary celebrations is crass even by Nicolas Sarkozy's dire standards - 3rd June 2009
 * French Socialists outplayed in Europe - François Bayrou has struck a chord with the French and will draw voters from the Socialists in the European elections - 24th May 2009
 * Cinema sans frontières - The Cannes festival can appear a tower of Babel, but it inspires a language that crosses all barriers - 22nd May 2009
 * The importance of being Eric - The French never really took Eric Cantona seriously. But playing himself in Ken Loach's new film, he has won us over - 18th May 2009
 * Quelle horreur! We miss Chirac - How can the politician we learned to despise for 40 years score a 74% approval rating? Answer: he's not Sarkozy - 21st April 2009
 * Protest in perpetual motion - Students and professors have invented a new way of protesting about the marketisation of academia: the 24-hour circular march - 7th April 2009
 * Three strikes and you're out, Sarko - Radicalisation has taken France by storm. Nicolas Sarkozy must listen to the public's demands to save his presidency - 20th March 2009
 * Abandoning independence, for nothing - France's return to Nato's military command is purely symbolic, or so say Sarkozy's lieutenants. So why do it at all? - 12th March 2009
 * Life sucks. Say it – you'll feel better - The French are good at fulminating loudly, and a number of websites make it easy for anyone to join in - 8th March 2009
 * Womaniser? He's just French - Dominique Strauss-Kahn has great charisma, intelligence and charm. For better or worse, his behaviour is part of our culture - 25th February 2009
 * Guadeloupe on the edge - This 'forgotten territory of the French republic' is erupting with anger. President Sarkozy must act, or face insurrection - 19th February 2009
 * Where's our Mitterrand? - The Socialist party badly needs a successor to the man who proudly took on the rightist De Gaulle - 30th January 2009
 * The fall of Rachida Dati - As France heads for a national strike this week, it's not just the ex-justice minister the public seems to have had enough of - 27th January 2009
 * The war of the wines - I'm all for teaching French vintners a lesson – but Malcolm Gluck's fierce criticisms seem like a case of inverted snobbery - 15th January 2009
 * French parliament fades to grey - The law hasn't been approved by the senate yet, but advertising is now banned on France's public broadcasting networks - 9th January 2009
 * The intriguing case of Rachida Dati - Brits are fascinated with the French minister's rapid return to work after giving birth – but in France, parenting culture is different - 8th January 2009



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Links:

 * New statesman articles