Day: 9 January 2017

One of Monaco’s most eminent residents, Sir Roger Moore, has taken up arms against the use of animals in circus acts. In a letter to British Prime Minister Theresa May, the former Bond actor urged her to stick to a Conservative Party promise to ban wild animals in circuses.

Critics of Sir Roger have accused him of changing his stripes. Thirty years ago, in the film Octopussy, he played a short scene with a tiger and famously told it to “sit”.

The target of Sir Roger’s ire is the nephew of the man who played his stunt double in the movie, John Chipperfield, of the circus family that has trained circus animals for 300 years. Thomas Chipperfield, 26, has applied for a licence to tour England later this year with two lions and three tigers.

In his letter to the premier, Sir Roger said: “Wild animals in real life must feel as if they’ve been captured by the fictional Dr No. When they’re not being forced to perform confusing tricks under threat of the whip they’re chained up or tied down.

“Madam Prime Minister, it’s time, past time, to do the right thing and finally bring a ban on this outdated form of so-called entertainment. I will put a bottle of Dom Perignon ’52 or Bollinger ’69 on ice for the occasion and gladly pop the cork with you.”

Anthony Beckwith, a co-owner of Chipperfield’s Circus, described the letter as “ludicrous”. However, several animal rights organisations have sided with Sir Roger, with one commenting that the famous Bond films show that performing animals are no longer needed to entertain people.

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Marcel Ravin, the Michelin-starred chef of SBM’s Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort, has been promoted to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honour (Overseas).

“I am very moved and touched by this decoration,” he said.

The National Order of the Legion of Honour is the institution that is responsible for awarding the highest honorary French decoration. Since its inception, it has been awarded to the military but also to civilians who have rendered eminent service to the French nation.

Since leaving Martinique to learn the art of cooking, Mr Ravin has taken up the challenge of a creative culinary style combining Caribbean origins with Mediterranean dishes. Chef Ravin has starred in the Michelin Guide since 2015.

He brings with him the memory of the dishes of “there”: spices, and produce and recipes imbued with a distinctive Caribbean flavour. Through this atypical and very successful journey, the chef has become an emblematic figure in his native Martinique, where he plays an educational role by inculcating his experiences and passing on his know-how to the young people with whom he shares his passion.

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Pollution from private cars is a major problem in all of France’s major cities, including Nice, where there are frequent ozone alerts. A number of towns are taking action.

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has announced tough new measures to reduce the problem of car-caused pollution in the nation’s capital. Starting in 2018, a busy thoroughfare in the centre of the city will be closed to traffic, with the exception of public transport. While the one-kilometre stretch between the Place de la Concorde and the Pont Royal will be off limits to drivers, another stretch of road, to and from the Place de la Bastille, currently one-way, will revert to two-way traffic.

Outside the Louvre, only buses, taxis and bicycles will be permitted, while the Marais district will become a huge pedestrian zone.

Needless to say, drivers in Paris are up in arms condemning the moves in no uncertain terms, claiming they will add to traffic jams in other parts of the city. However, there is also growing consensus that such is the threat to public health that something drastic needs to be done. Ms Hidalgo has promised to ban diesel cars from Paris by 2020, and points to efforts in Lyon and Bordeaux to limit traffic.

It is estimated that pollution from traffic causes 48,000 premature deaths in France.

In other car news, an item on France 3’s 19/20 Monday night reported that in 1975, France counted nearly 47,500 petrol stations across the country but by the end of 2015, and despite twice as many vehicles on the roads, there were only 11,269 service stations still operating in France.

Another major development in the fuel distribution network is its structure. In 2015, there were 128 closures of petrol stations owned by oil companies or independents while 41 new ones were opened by “des grandes surfaces”, what the French refer to as supermarkets and hypermarkets.

The French government website Prix des carburants en France helps drivers find the cheapest (and avoid the most expensive) prices at the pump. 

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