It's the rentrée politique in Paris and Nicolas Sarkozy, son of a once-impoverished Hungarian immigrant, is glowing tycoon amber after spending the whole of August in Cap Nègre, at the vast home belonging to the family of his Italian-born wife, Carla Bruni. The president and first lady had an entire stretch of the security-scanned Riviera to themselves throughout their long holiday, providing evidence that not being wholly French need not be a barrier to living the leisured Gallic dream.
It was particularly disturbing, therefore, that Sarkozy should have aimed his sternest pre-vacation rant at those of us who share a similarly cosmopolitan background. In a speech in Grenoble, he suggested that all immigrants, as well as French citizens of "foreign descent", should have their nationality withdrawn if they are caught breaking the law. The trigger for the proposal was rioting in the city in mid-July, mainly by Muslim youths, who had taken to the streets after one was shot dead by the police following a failed robbery of a casino.
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