Nature, nurture

It's not your fault you’re a paedophile - blame your parents.

Feeling suicidal? Get on with it, jump! There’s no point resisting.

Sarko has given an interview claiming he is a strong believer that nature (our DNA) predetermines our way of life. A convenient argument for anyone with a penchant for groping women, torturing animals or if his unemployment and homelessness policies start to fail.

It's a depressing signal to the young. One implying those born in the rundown estates of the Paris banlieue are predestined to live there and no amount of hard work will get them out.

Rather unwise Penguin Island thinks, seeing as youth unemployment and the banlieue unrest, are one of the election’s major issues.

The Little Napoleon’s comments are stupid but more importantly they epitomise a French system of politics that is highbrow and philosophical. You only need to glance over the number of epic length biographies, setting out each candidate’s vision of France, to get this impression.

It could be said that it's a refreshing break from the party driven, gutter politics of the British system. But critics claim that the French way is more elitist, chauvinist and out of touch.

With an electoral turnout similar to the UK’s, it is impossible to say which system works better. But you are left wondering, with a increasingly uncompetitive economy, unemployment anything up to 12% and yearly rioting, that the French have more to go to the polls about than we do.

Practice your French here.