Une frite sur l'épaule

It seems that the robust British attitude to dwelling on the colonial past is beginning to filter down to the lesser breeds, not excluding even the beastly French. The famously moderate and sensible President of the Fifth Republic was filmed blaming the parlous state of Haiti on Haitians rather than on history, and calling its leaders "total morons" for removing the prime minister. Haiti, which became independent through a slave revolt, was used by the French empire and subsequently the World Cop as a perpetual proto-Cuban object lesson in the perils of not knowing one's place and failing to respect the property rights of one's betters. Macron's little indiscretion provoked the Haitian government to summon the French ambassador, who apparently pledged to keep under-funding a security mission in lieu of reparations.