My view of Macron has gone up about 20 fold in the past few days. I think he and the French, for all their faults, are one of the few countries with the confidence not to cringe before every force that hates European history and culture and, just occasionally, stand up for it.

I still deviate strongly from him in believing that the ultimate expression of this culture should be the EU. But in the broader context, when contending against the obscurantism of woke ideology and radical Islamism, that is but a family squabble.

Would we get such a robust national and leader response if Islamic terrorists starting butchering Christians in British churches? No, we'd get the liberal Left defending the terrorists and squealing about Islamaphobia, and the supine Right making some ineffectual protest

Whereas you have to look at the French and say to them: fair play. They still have some actual balls. They still know what they believe in. The spirit of De Gaulle is not dead yet. Long may they resist the squalid, spineless defeatism that has infected Anglo-Saxon countries