[John Isbell]

Say the exit polls, by about 65% to 35%.

[Brian Allgar]

Well, I don't particularly like Macron, but thank goodness the French have for once shown themselves more sensible than the Americans or the British. It was unfortunately a choice between the lesser of two evils, but only extreme right-wing racist xenophobes could regret the result. Any takers? (I wait for the usual suspects to declare themselves ... )

[Orwn Acra]

Comme tous les stylos, Le Pen s'est épuisé.

[John Isbell]

Yes, I also wasn't a particular fan of Chirac, back in, what? 2002. But consider the alternative.

[Michael Cantor]

Thank God, at least one country got it right - and apparently by a bigger margin than projected. I hear all the talk about Macron being the lesser of two evils, but my feeling - and certainly my hopes - are that he will pleasantly surprise us.

[Brian Allgar]

Originally Posted by Michael Cantor

Thank God, at least one country got it right - and apparently by a bigger margin than projected. I hear all the talk about Macron being the lesser of two evils, but my feeling - and certainly my hopes - are that he will pleasantly surprise us.

I hope you're right, Michael. But as for "pleasantly surprising us", that's what my cousin, who voted for Trump and still won't hear a word against him, says about him.

[John Whitworth]

I am sure we are all pleased that Marine Le Pen was defeated, but Macron was an investment banker so I don't know that he is the White Knight. One thing I know is never trust a banker nor a very rich man. French Presidents lately have been a poor lot. But then so have British Prime Ministers. Until now.

[Michael Cantor]

For the three or four of you who don't know Andy Borowitz.

[John Whitworth]

But the French claim intellectual superiority over everybody. It can't be said to have done them much good in the last two hundred years, though it is true they have got rid of those disgusting pissoirs at last.

'Brittle intellectuals who crack beneath the strain' was Kipling's phrase.

It is true that the French fight gloriously in their wars. But they always lose them.

[John Isbell]

"It is true that the French fight gloriously in their wars. But they always lose them."
Hmm. I'm no fan of military adventurism, but they did conquer Europe, and also acquire a substantial overseas empire. It's true, they subsequently lost both, but they aren't alone in that.