LE PEN OR MACRON - NEITHER IS GOOD.

It seems that the French have as little love for their traditional political parties and the elites that lead them as do the British and Americans.

Last weekend's first round of voting in the French Presidential election ended with the people rejecting candidates of both main parties in favour of the National Front's Marine Le Pen, and Emmanuel Macron, who has his own newly invented party but very little political experience. The hopeless Presidency of Francois Hollande caused a total collapse in the vote for the Socialist candidate and the French will make their final choice between Macron and Le Pen on May 7th.

Neither choice will be a good one but it's highly likely that it will be Macron who comes out on top. The French establishment will put it's combined force behind the candidate seen to be the least divisive, that is, the one who threatens it the least, and that means that a Le Pen victory is virtually impossible. Macron is a fervent supporter of the European Union, or so he says, and that may not be good news for the UK as it negotiates its exit from this meddlesome and corrupt organisation. That said, Macron may well have difficulties of his own as he simply does not have the organisational infrastructure to be sure of being able to govern effectively. Should Le Pen achieve the near-impossible and win, it would be all change, with the French being offered a referendum on continued EU membership and the French government pursuing strongly anti-immigration and anti-free trade policies. Commentators reckon that this would also be bad news for the UK.

Whatever happens, France will have a period of potential instability. In the UK we have our own General Election in June and the Germans go to the polls later in the year to elect their Chancellor. Oh what a great time we're all in for !