But Sarkozy is both eager to transform France s relations with the Alliance and has a strategy to do so.

Taking it home, opening it when there is no one else at home, excited to play it in the home theatre and see what it s like after so much great review about the movie graphics and direction, he writes. He discovers that the DVD is for sale in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh only.

Meanwhile, other ministers circumvent government instructions to get from Brussels what has been refused in Paris.

The interbank market has almost collapsed, because banks do not trust each other in the same way that we tend not to trust an eager seller of a second hand car.

The current crisis killed off this optimistic scenario. The interbank market has almost collapsed, because banks do not trust each other in the same way that we tend not to trust an eager seller of a second hand car.

Do heady times of struggle always give way to a somewhat deflating taste of victory? Am I merely a veteran wistfully reminiscing about the old days of struggle?