you’ll have a range of exciting excursions from which to choose
you’ll be treated to a series of distinctive experiences
from guided city tours to exclusive wine tastings and biking excursions
all while savoring the region’s exquisite cuisine and culture
Talented chefs prepare gourmet dishes from fresh
catering to different tastes and dietary needs
Dinners feature several courses paired with complimentary wines from regional wineries
On day two visit the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy in Dijon
Gaze upon the mosaic-tiled roof of the 15th-century Hospices de Beaune
You can enjoy a relaxing sail while tasting wines
Attend an exclusive wine tasting while en route to Mâcon
Enjoy breakfast on board before disembarking
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which means we may earn a commission if you purchase an item featured on our site.© 2025 AFAR LLC
The TimesFor true gourmands who know their escargots and cuisses de grenouilles
the region of Burgundy has long been the place to go to tuck in their napkins
This region in east central France is home to the world’s most expensive vineyards and numerous Michelin-starred restaurants
it produces renowned local specialities and there are wonderful ways to explore it all
Not least among them are the péniche hotel barges — smart liveaboard boats that cruise the region’s waterways with private chefs
sommeliers and crew members to cater to every whim as you glide past the vineyards
villages and rolling countryside of France’s gastronomic heart
But I nearly choked on my chardonnay when I saw that some of these cruises cost more than £75,000 a week
Surely there was a way to do a similar summer trip
I decided to copy the idea of a gourmet cruise
hiring a self-drive motorboat to explore the rivers southeast of Dijon with my family — husband
daughter aged 13 and my 11-year-old son — and self-catering with lovely local ingredients from boulangeries
We would eat like kings despite our pauper finances (and limited kitchen facilities) and try not to crash or sink
we arrived at Le Boat’s base in the sleepy village of Branges and were soon loading our luggage onto the boat
a 14.5m Magnifique that could have slept ten
Our plan was a five-night one-way cruise southwest on the River Seille to the River Saône
then heading north to end at Saint-Jean-de-Losne
On top of rental (five nights’ from £1,459) there would be fuel costs (£235 in total) and overnight moorings
• 25 of the best vineyard hotels to visit in France
The base manager Vanessa talked us through the route before her colleague Jérôme told us how to drive the Magnifique
It proved fairly easy and our 40-minute maiden voyage took us upriver to the nearby town of Louhans
where a short walk from the mooring was a cornucopia of food shops beneath the arches of its medieval arcades
supplied our first feast — gargantuan plates of salad
burgers and wine — among the chatter of French families on the pavement terrace (mains from £7; 00 33 385 72 44 72)
Louhans’s shops are nestled beneath the arches of its medieval arcadesALAMYThe next morning
we each emerged from the comfy beds of our own cabins (why not
until we were ready to hit the boulangerie near the mooring for baguettes and pastries
and while roasting a whole one in the tiny boat oven would be a stretch
smaller cuts marinated in mustard and simple sauces — a great shortcut to tasty meals when you don’t have a pantry full of herbs and spices
“Fait maison!” — homemade — said the butcher proudly when we bought his saucisson sec charcuterie
The greengrocer Arcad’Fraîcheur provided glossy tomatoes
small and yellow and the secret to an easy and delicious dessert
while in the Au Fil Des Fromages cheese shop
in which my son announced his arrival with “Cor
we ignored the bounty of cheeses from across France in favour of Burgundy-Franche-Comté’s own golden
a blue-striped Morbier and a bloomy goat’s cheese
• 25 of France’s most beautiful châteaux
By mid-morning we were used to our new life on the River Seille
my husband and I taking it in turns to rev the engines and steer as we gently relaxed into the tranquillity of being on the water
Now and again we saw a heron perched on low branches
the occasional blue dart of a kingfisher and fellow boat cruisers waving as we passed
Soon our hunger led us to moor up near a bankside picnic bench and tuck into the spoils of our shopping trip
Sitting by the water under the shade of a tree felt as good as it gets
Le Boat’s Magnifique river boats can comfortably sleep tenCuisery was our first overnight mooring and one of France’s eight “book towns”
Cités et Villages du Livre en France and are designed to sustain rural communities
While the children played in the swimming pool of the riverside campsite Les Bordes de Seille
I indulged my bookish nerdiness with a visit to a bookbinding shop
all twinkling eyes and ebullient enthusiasm
• 13 of the best things to do in France
4m-wide boat into a gap about 6m wide became less terrifying as we developed a system with each of us taking a role: me driving
husband and son opening and closing the gates
Leaving the River Seille for the wider River Saône just after La Truchère
we encountered giant river cruise ships charging south towards Lyons
creating a bumpy ride for us with their wash
The village of Verdun-sur-Le-Doubs has an attractive harbourALAMYAt Tournus
an attractive town with a two-towered Romanesque church
we stopped to replenish supplies: a bottle of crémant de Bourgogne
for £15 at the wine shop Cave Saint Valerien; homemade giant meringues (£1.70 each) from the Yannick Cordier boulangerie; thick cream from the fromagerie and strawberries from the greengrocer — dessert promised to be a treat
Our mooring that night was at the tiny and pretty hamlet of Gigny-sur-Saône
where we sipped the crémant on deck and tucked into our feast as the sun lowered and the stillness of the water reflected pink clouds
The next day our plan to reach Chalon-sur-Saône in time for the morning market was scuppered by a fly-away parasol swept off deck by the breeze (during the rescue we nearly crashed the boat into a concrete pontoon before I tried and failed to retrieve it from a riverbank thick with nettles)
The stress of the mission sent me scurrying to a sophisticated cave à vin
next to the town’s Cathédrale Saint-Vincent
• This is the best way to see the historic French countryside outside Paris
Joining the many diners at the restaurants in the cathedral square was tempting
but sticking to our plan to budget we opted for the French picnic cheats of parsleyed ham
cheese and pre-made carottes rapées and celeriac remoulade from a Carrefour City
Drinking and driving the boat is not allowed
a glass of local Côte Chalonnaise wine on deck was the perfect way to survey the pretty harbour of Verdun-sur-le-Doubs
made with a ready-rolled puff pastry sheet topped with halved
de-stoned plums — a trick I learnt from French cooks — was a triumph
Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25
Special discount available for Times+ members
This slash of glacial turquoise water in the mountainous Haute-Savoie is the site of Yelloh
lots of restaurants and a range of family cabins sleeping up to six — along with pitches for tents and caravans
One heated pool is fitted with slides and another serves as an entire aquatic playground
though your family may be drawn to the beaches at Lake Annecy
to enjoy the miles of isolated path around the lake to Annecy city.Details Seven nights’ self-catering from £200 (yellohvillage.co.uk)
Tignes and La Plagne aren’t any less beautiful
Book a mountainside cabin in the French Alps between June and September and you might do a double take at the cost
Lifts and gondolas scale the Grand Massif seven days a week in summer
for mountain biking and hiking in the area around Flaine
where you can go white-water rafting or horse riding
or simply hiking in the invigorating cool air
Check out websites like peakretreats.co.uk
which has the delightful Résidence Les Fermes de Saint Sorlin chalet
for packages.Details Seven nights’ self-catering for four from £209 (skifrance.co.uk)
The Seine cycle path continues almost uninterrupted — and regularly marked — from central Paris to the Channel
A few outfits organise self-guided tours but you can easily attack it yourself
hiring bicycles in town and rolling out westward with your backpack
noshing at waterside guinguettes and sleeping at inns directly on the route
The Seine à Vélo site separates the route in several easily achievable stages
with detailed maps for each marking out hotels and sights (laseineavelo.com)
Accommodation costs as little as £70 a night
and there are worthy diversions such as Monet’s gardens at Giverny and the cathedral at Rouen
Plenty of historic villages and towns pop up along the way
each with a train station that’ll whisk you back to Paris if you run out of steam.Details Seven nights’ B&B from £1,599pp
Sainte-Barbe Hôtel & Spa is right by the sea in Le ConquetELLIOT MITCHELLA seaside spa hotel in BrittanyFalmouth is just over the Channel but the darling Breton town of Le Conquet is far more reliable weather-wise — and more affordable too
modern Hôtel Sainte Barbe — so close to the sea that a staircase from the breakfast terrace leads right into it — is cheaper than it has any right to be
considering the round-the-clock amenities such as saunas
With sun terraces at every turn — outside every room and on the rooftop — the place seems legitimately obsessed with getting you your vitamin D fix
Sit here and watch the boats bob on the water
The ferry dock for ships to outlying islands is just outside.Details Room-only doubles from £143 (all.accor.com)
A week discovering the market towns and châteaux of Nouvelle-Aquitaine will transform your view of summer in France
With a guide from Great Rail Journeys at the helm
you’ll cruise the Dordogne on a flat-bottomed boat
hemmed in by towering cliffs where villages are literally built into the rock face
Then you’ll trawl the medieval town of Sarlat to sniff out pastries
Your base is the sunny riverfront town of Les Eyzies
where surreal prehistoric cliffs cantilever over the water
though wine is included with the provided meals
And there’s a rest day halfway through.Details Six nights’ B&B from £999pp
excursions and some extra meals (greatrail.com)
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Two plant expansions increase in Sherwin-Williams valPure V70 production
Link IconCopy linkFacebook LogoShare on FacebookXShare on XEmailShare via EmailLink copied to clipboardJames Kan-Chao Foo
and son of restaurateur Susanna FooA colleague said Mr
an investment analyst and portfolio manager
and the son of Philadelphia-area restaurateur Susanna Foo
of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
The family moved to Philadelphia in 1979 to help Mr
Foo’s grandparents run the Hu-Nan Chinese restaurant in Center City
and sometimes joined their parents on early morning trips to the Food Distribution Center to shop for fresh meat
a restaurant on Walnut Street featuring a fusion of Chinese and French cuisines
The venture was such a hit that Food and Wine magazine named her the best new chef in 1989
one in Radnor and the other on Sansom Street in Center City
where he excelled in academics and track and field
he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University in 1994 and an MBA in finance from New York University in 2002
Foo joined Ernst & Young in San Francisco as an analyst
a New York native who was working on the West Coast
Foo was offered a job as a researcher and portfolio manager at Bryn Mawr Capital Management
but chose San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum as the site of their 2005 wedding
Foo worked for 12 years at Bryn Mawr Capital
He rose before dawn to trade on European equity markets and developed expertise in analyzing international stocks
Foo was a partner at Tournus until early last year
“To work with him was similar to how he was as a person
and he had that patience,” Ravenscroft said
he really understood things fully and deeply
I can’t overemphasize the quality of his work
He witnessed the Phillies’ 2008 World Series win and the Eagles’ 2018 Super Bowl championship
Foo was happiest cheering at his children’s swim meets
He was diagnosed with ALS in November 2015
“One important thing that I have gained as a result of this devastating diagnosis is a new perspective on life and what is truly important,” he said after his diagnosis
“I am in great spirits and will not let this disease defeat me because my family and friends are too important for me to give up
but it will not take away my will or my spirit.”
At the 2018 Walk to Defeat ALS in Philadelphia and then in Silicon Valley
Foo and his wife raised a combined amount of $115,000 for the ALS Association
“Those who met him were taken with his gentle warmth and contagious good cheer,” his family said
he is survived by daughters Cassandra and Vivienne
Donations may be made to the ALS Association Greater Philadelphia Chapter
Metrics details
Strong size-dependent variations of the magnetic anisotropy of embedded cobalt clusters are evidenced quantitatively by combining magnetic experiments and advanced data treatment
The obtained values are discussed in the frame of two theoretical models that demonstrate the decisive role of the shape in larger nanoparticles and the predominant role of the surface anisotropy in clusters below 3 nm diameter
The detailed size-dependent variations of the different contributions to the magnetic anisotropy are
consistent and redundant determination of all magnetic values in question and their good agreement with geometric parameters underline the high quality of our data
TOF-MS spectra of cobalt clusters at different mean sizes (1.9 nm–5.5 nm) as produced by the magnetron cluster source
The cluster size distribution was determined from the TEM histograms adjusting a log-normal function and the results are in agreement with respect to the mean cluster size determined by TOF-MS
Magnetic characterization of the 2.7 nm sample
(a) Experimental ZFC/FC curves at 5 mT and m(H
T) at T = 300 K (points) with fits (solid lines); (b) comparison between geometric size distribution as derived from TEM (histogram) and log-normal magnetic size distribution as derived from triple fit; (c) IRM data (points) and fits with uniaxial (dashed) and biaxial anisotropy (solid line); (d) low temperature experimental m(H
T) data (points) and simulation using the parameters obtained from the fits (line)
Let us now have a closer look at the different contributions to the magnetic anisotropy30 and their possible size evolution
Here Eshape is the magnetostatic anisotropy related to the particle shape
Esurface is due to the symmetry breaking at the surface
if the particle experiences an external stress
the volume relaxation inside the particle induces a magnetoelastic anisotropy EME
Finally EMC is the cubic magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy arising from the coupling of the magnetization to the crystalline lattice as in the bulk
The MAE can be expanded in a power series of the magnetization axes in space
The shape anisotropy then only contributes with a second order term
the surface and elastic energies begin with the second order term whereas the cubic magnetocrystalline contribution starts at fourth order
EMC is thus too small to account for our observations
The magnetoelastic anisotropy can equally be estimated negligible in our case
as the Young’s modulus of Co (209 GPa) is much bigger than for Cu (117 GPa)
All strain can be expected to be relieved within the copper matrix
Experimental results for the mean effective anisotropy constant as a function of the aspect ratio c/a (points)
The horizontal bars for the experimental data correspond to the dispersions of the aspect ratio as estimated from TEM. The blue line shows the calculated shape anisotropy constants40
insufficient to explain our experimental findings
Adding a single facet does not significantly modify the shape of the particle but it breaks the symmetry and thereby induces an additional and very large anisotropy for the entire particle
A single unsupported facet of one atomic layer thickness will not have the same magnetic anisotropy
The resulting cluster keeps an aspect ratio close to 1
we consequently neglect shape contributions to the anisotropy in this part of the discussion
Comparison of the experimental values for with the magnetic surface anisotropy calculated using the Néel model for different example cluster sizes and single facets added along the [100] (blue
The horizontal bars for the experimental data correspond to the dispersions obtained for magnetic cluster size from the fits
The simulated structures close to 6 nm are only included to show the general trend of the surface anisotropy and have no relation to the particle shapes observed in the experiment
The aspect ratio for all calculated structures is close to one
The detailed study of the crystalline structures of the nanoparticles and their exact relation with the magnetic anisotropy as calculated by the Néel model is
beyond the scope of this article and will be addressed in the future
The work presented here illustrates the crucial role of the surface for small nano-magnets and its possibility to induce a size-dependent magnetic anisotropy
We have demonstrated the extraction of reliable magnetic parameters of embedded cobalt clusters and evidenced a non-monotonous variation of a factor of two of the magnetic anisotropy with cluster size
The values for clusters with diameters >3 nm can in our case be reproduced by simply converting deviations from a spherical shape into shape anisotropy
For smaller particles the surface has to be taken into account and we show that both the magnitude of the experimentally derived values as well as the increase with decreasing size can be reproduced with simulations based on the Néel pair interaction model
These observations underline the importance of the shape and the addition of facets to the nanoparticle
Our experiments are to be seen complementary to previous work on individual particles and open the way to the rapid and accurate characterization of cluster-assembled nanostructures
Furthermore they provide crucial input for continuing theoretical investigations of the magnetic anisotropy in nanoscale systems on a true quantum mechanical level
Notably the effect of the interface on spin-orbit coupling needs to be taken into account in ab-initio calculations as it has been proven essential in thin film systems
Size effects in the magnetic anisotropy of embedded cobalt nanoparticles: from shape to surface
Enhanced magnetic field sensitivity of spin-dependent transport in cluster-assembled metallic nanostructures
Biomedical nanomagnetics: A spin through possibilities in imaging
Magnetism from the Atom to the Bulk in Iron
Spin and orbital magnetic moments of free nanoparticles
Spin coupling and orbital angular momentum quenching in free iron clusters
Tuning the magnetic anisotropy of Co nanoparticles by metal capping
Interface effect on the magnetic anisotropy of CoPt clusters
Magnetic anisotropy of embedded Co nanoparticles: Influence of the surrounding matrix
Finite size effects on structure and magnetism in mass-selected CoPt nanoparticles
Finite-size effects in fine particles: magnetic and transport properties
Magnetic anisotropy of fcc transition-metal clusters: Role of surface relaxation
Magnetic anisotropy of nanoscale cobalt particles
Interplay between surface anisotropy and dipolar interactions in an assembly of nanomagnets
Tight-binding approach to the orbital magnetic moment and magnetocrystalline anisotropy of transition-metal monolayers
Bistable coupling states measured on single Co nanoclusters deposited on CoO(111)
Magnetic properties of nanophase cobalt particles synthesized in inversed micelles
Surface effects on the magnetic properties of ultrafine cobalt particles
Enhancement of the magnetic anisotropy of nanometer-sized Co clusters: Influence of the surface and of interparticle interactions
Magnetic behaviour of thin films produced by depositing pre-formed Fe and Co nanoclusters
Magnetism and structure on the atomic scale: Small cobalt clusters in Cu(001)
Magnetic anisotropy in icosahedral cobalt clusters
Accurate determination of the magnetic anisotropy in cluster-assembled nanostructures
Efficient hysteresis loop simulations of nanoparticle assemblies beyond the uniaxial anisotropy
Advanced magnetic anisotropy determination through isothermal remanent magnetization of nanoparticles
Monodispersed metal clusters in solid matrices: A new experimental setup
Filling of micron-sized contact holes with copper by energetic cluster impact
Controlled deposition of size-selected silver nanoclusters
Giant magnetoresistance in cluster-assembled nanostructures: on the influence of inter-particle interactions
Switching mechanisms in cobalt-phosphorus thin films
Magnetic Anisotropy of a Single Cobalt Nanocluster
Spin glasses: an experimental introduction (Taylor & Francis
Superparamagnetism and other magnetic features in granular materials: A review on ideal and real systems
Interaction effects in dilute cluster-assembled magnetic nanostructures
Magnetic interactions effects on magnetic measurements for nanoparticle assemblies
A nanoparticle replica of the spin-glass state
Magnetisation reversal by uniform rotation (Stoner-Wohlfarth model) in fcc cobalt nanoparticles
Giant Magnetic Anisotropy of Single Cobalt Atoms and Nanoparticles
Atomic-scale engineering of magnetic anisotropy of nanostructures through interfaces and interlines
Morphology and growth of metal clusters in the gas phase: A transition from spherical to ramified structures
Demagnetizing factors of the general ellipsoid
L’approche à la saturation de la magnétostriction
Magnetic anisotropy dispersion in CoPt nanoparticles: An evaluation using the Néel model
Temperature dependence of the effective anisotropies in magnetic nanoparticles with Néel surface anisotropy
Determination of the ground-state atomic structures of size-selected Au nanoclusters by electron-beam-induced transformation
Multi-L10 Domain CoPt and FePt Nanoparticles Revealed by Electron Microscopy
Exploring the phase space of time of flight mass selected PtxY nanoparticles
The 3d-architecture of individual free silver nanoparticles captured by x-ray scattering
Size effect on the crystal phase of cobalt fine particles
Direct observation of magnetic metastability in individual iron nanoparticles
Download references
This work was performed using the PLYRA and CML platforms
Véronique Dupuis & Matthias Hillenkamp
prepared the samples and performed the magnetic experiments
participated in the discussion of the results
The authors declare no competing financial interests
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Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (2020)
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Each guided tour will last about an hour and this will take place during the peak period from Jan 13 to Feb 21
This is to effectively manage visitor traffic on campus during this peak period
Singapore Tourism Board-licensed travel agents and tourist guides may choose to book a group tour guided by a NUS student ambassador or engage a registered student docent to give them a tour of the campus
said an NUS spokesman in response to queries from AsiaOne
Tourists who are not accompanied by a student ambassador or student docent will be asked to leave the premises
These tours will be conducted primarily in English and each group can accommodate between 20 to 40 visitors
"All tour groups will also need to submit their bus plate details prior to their visit
as part of the registration requirements," said the spokesperson
A paid tour by the school's student docents will also be available for groups without a STB license or Free Independent Travellers
NUS also added that students conducting campus tours are required to register with the Office of Provost to ensure that adequate training is provided
Unlicensed tour guides found leading tours in NUS will be reported to the authorities
while students conducting unreserved tours will be subject to disciplinary action
internal shuttle bus service will only be available to NUS students
and authorised person from Monday to Friday from 8am to 2pm
Access to some of the school’s food courts will be restricted to only NUS students
staff and authorised persons from Mondays to Fridays from 11am to 2pm
The campus will also be closed on the following dates due to school activities:
Earlier in August this year, NUS paid students to lead guided tours and educate tourists on guidelines after several cases emerged on the influx of visitors on campus grounds.
Shortly after that, the university announced that a limited number of daily slots will be available for tour buses entering the campus by January 2025, reported The Straits Times in August.
Tickets Plan your visit The Museo Nazionale del Bargello is housed in the oldest public building in Florence
and today showcases the most important collection in the world of Italian Renaissance sculpture
Not to be missed are the masterpieces by great artists such as Donatello
The Museo Nazionale del Bargello is housed in the oldest public building in Florence
is a monument of great fascination: built to serve as the first public building in medieval Florence
it was soon destined as the seat of the Podestà
the chief city magistrates whose many coats of arms are still set in the walls of the courtyard
Starting from the second half of the 1500s
the building became the seat of the “Bargello”
and was used as a prison for the following centuries
it was opened in 1865 as the first National Museum of the then newborn Kingdom of Italy
dedicated to the arts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
The rich and varied collections gathered here since that date
are today the pride of the Bargello Museum: built around a great series of masterpieces created by the major sculptors of the Florentine Renaissance
the museum collections display a wide variety of artistic genres
Many of these masterpieces are unique in the world also for their history
as is the case of the Flabellum of Tournus
or as with all the bronze or marble sculptures that belonged to the Medici family
who keenly treasured them in their art collections from the times of Lorenzo the Magnificent to the last grand dukes of the Medici dynasty
REST DAYS: The Museum is closed every Tuesday and on the second and fourth Sundays of the month
Last admission: 50 minutes before the museum closes
GUIDED TOURS by Museum staff: starting March 15
and 5 p.m.; third and fifth Sundays of the month at 11 a.m
are made up in the courtyard at the entrance
nor is there any additional cost beyond the ticket
The museum is equipped with facilities for disabled access
The pavement is seamlessly connected to the street level
The use of scooters and electric wheelchairs is limited and evaluated on a case-by-case basis to ensure the safety of museum spaces and artworks
except for the Chapel and the Sacristy; any elevation differences can be overcome with ramps (staff assistance is available) and an elevator
Access to the Michelangelo Hall is through the bookshop
Adequate restroom facilities are available on the second floor
Paths for Visually Impaired and Blind Visitors
Visually impaired visitors interested in exploring the Museo Nazionale del Bargello can contact the Educational Services to receive necessary guidance on the planned route within the museum, with the possibility of arranging a specific date for their visit: Tel. 055 0649444 (Tuesday and Wednesday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM) Email: mn-bar.didattica@cultura.gov.it
To touch selected sculptures and appreciate their volumes
available at the museum’s ticket office
a tactile path diagram for non-sighted and visually impaired visitors is available for consultation at the ticket office
The cloakroom is located in front of the ticket office
Visitors are required to deposit umbrellas
and excessively large backpacks are not allowed
The bookshop is located at the museum’s entrance
and items inspired by the exhibited works are available for purchase
Reservations are compulsory for school groups
up to a maximum of 25 per group + 1 accompanying person
Two groups are admitted in the morning and two in the afternoon
up to a maximum of 20 people + 1 accompanying person/guide
There is a changing table near the toilets
Reflet des mains de Richard Greneron sur un verre cathédrale
our family watched the illuminated Manhattan night skyline slowly diminish as our plane rose and took us to our new life in France
We rented several homes before settling on the ancient town of Tournus in Burgundy
As we adjusted to a new culture and neighborhood
we quickly became aware of the rich artistic influence and ongoing importance placed on the arts in the Saône-et-Loire region
which is truly rooted in the history of France
We became interested in the art of our neighbor
a local painter who spoke of his collaboration with a well-known photographer
who has been living in the nearby larger city of Chalon-sur-Saône since October 2021
Chalon is the birthplace of Nicéphore Niépce (1765-1833)
and is known as le berceau de la photographie (the cradle of photography)
Chalon is home to the Nicéphone Niépce Museum which opened in 1972 and highlights the history of the photographic image up to the present day
Greneron carries on the tradition in his work which continues to explore the many possibilities of photography as an ever-evolving art form
Photography and art in general have always been of primary importance in Greneron's life
his creations have become the imprint of his visual universe
a universe that constantly oscillates between the paths of reality and the imagination
Greneron's works are exhibited every year around the region
one of the latest being a solo exhibition entitled Réveil Printanier (Spring Awakening) at the Chapelle du Carmel in Chalon in the spring of 2022
Greneron has felt a strong desire to work on the theme of "the imaginary" in natural light to create a dreamlike universe through his photographs
This gave birth to Songes Coloré (Colored Dreams)
the more organic process I witnessed during a visit to his exhibition Réveil Printanier in April
I had the pleasure of meeting Greneron and seeing his work firsthand in this charming venue
a former convent of Carmelite nuns that is now a showroom for contemporary artists
Greneron took the time to show me and my companions around the exhibit
His passion and creative dedication were quite evident
each giving voice to a unique and multifaceted perspective
He presented images of plants photographed in natural light behind cathedral glass
the abstract and figurative blended together to create a unique statement
This approach does not involve computers or photoshopped programs but is a natural process
He described his approach as a desire to "sublimate the plant and transpose it into dreamlike worlds." He took these photographs in a horticulturist's nursery in Tournus and in the Parc de la Tête d'Or in Lyon and often seeks out natural locations to create his images
we see the ethereal reflection of Greneron's hands on the cathedral glass
Greneron often quotes the Belgian photographer Leonard Misonne (1870-1943) whose words have become prophetic advice for the direction and growth of his own work: "Observe the light
when you should only photograph them for what they appear to be
The subject is nothing; the light is everything
Learn to discover this favorable light; it is what makes the work."
There is an impressive mix of artistic currents in Greneron's imagery
His work puts into new perspective the typical clichés that can identify photography and painting
His moods and circumstances create the inspiration and dictate the direction of his approach to each project
When he feels he has sufficient images to accurately represent his singular vision
he presents an exhibition to collectively share his private perception that brought his creations to life
He has high standards that require a keen eye and an open heart
two qualities that are easy to recognize when you meet Greneron
His interest in incorporating multiple art forms into his work stems from a love of heritage or legacy
a cultural appreciation he shares with his fellow citizens
drawing and sculpture as creative expressions go back thousands of years
while the advent of photography and its progression as an art form is relatively young compared to other genres
But it has taken its rightful place as an evolving art form that is the foundation of Greneron's creative drive
It is interesting to note that in ancient times
the principle of projecting images by camera obscura revealed that certain objects could be visibly altered by exposure to light
an early recognition of this essential element that is so critical to the eye of any visual artist
the technology that enabled the birth of photography did not make its debut until about 1717
Johann Heinrich Schulze made the first attempts to capture images in permanent form but had trouble transposing them
The process was refined in 1826 when Niépce captured an image with a camera
but exposure times took hours or even days
developed what became known as the daguerreotype
This process allowed the first commercial photographs to be taken
A paper medium was introduced by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1839
The exposure time was reduced to a few seconds or less over time
The overall process was further refined with roll film and cameras becoming available to the general public in the mid-twentieth century
color became an available option in addition to black and white
the introduction of computers and image editing software took photography to a whole new level
the average person can take pictures of quite exceptional quality with a cell phone
The question is: what elevates a photograph to the level of fine art
Greneron began his apprenticeship around 1985 taking black and white photographs and acquiring the equipment and expertise to develop them
he devoted himself to aerial photography and from this period was born a series he calls En Chute Libre (Free Fall) mixing both symbolism and graphics
He began his first public exhibitions in 1999 and in 2001
Cuisery is also known as the village of books and has many bookstores and festivals celebrating literature throughout the year
Greneron's propensity to incorporate various artistic genres into his work is a testament to his innovative spirit
as illustrated in an observation by William S
a writer he likes to quote: "We are all time travelers
Art represents what is really going on in the human nervous system." Occasionally
some of his works have been accompanied by poetic texts from abstract painter Patrick Marceau or by Jean Philippe Gonot
Gonot writes that Greneron's photographs are of an "incomparable quality..
the mysterious evanescence rests like a caressing and untouchable hand on each of his achievements." In 2003
Greneron moved to a new studio he called Certains Regards (Certain Views) in the neighborhood of the famous St
a marvelous Romanesque structure that housed Benedictine monks and dates to the 11th century
Its ancient stone walls with vaulted ceilings provide a stunning atmosphere and complement any art exhibit
he was artist in residence at La Galerie du 2 à Essoyes (Village Renoir [1841-1919]) in the Champagne-Ardennes region where he developed his artistic approach and organized various exhibitions
Jean Claude Mazuir of the Chintreuil Art Museum in Pont-de-Vaux where Greneron has exhibited his work wrote a comparison of Greneron's work to that of author Lewis Carroll who
to go to the other side of the mirror." He added with poetic insight
"To penetrate into an equally astonishing universe
wet or fogged window; to offer us the image of an unsuspected
where each person finds through the recomposed elements the spectrum of references that mark out his own history." Mazuir concluded that André Breton would have been pleased with Greneron’s artistry
Breton (1896-1966) is credited with introducing the theory of surrealism that emphasizes the unconscious as the driving force of creative expression that merges both dream and reality
This is an appropriate reference given the intersection of artistic influences that include both the visual arts and fine literature that are integral to Greneron's vision
photography has become painting and painting a photographic snapshot
The latter is adorned with a wide expressive palette." He concluded
which has long since acquired its letters of nobility
to reveal to us an ever-richer vision of the world and to lead us on the infinite paths of beauty." Magic infuses Greneron's photographs as if he were crossing a mystical veil between two worlds with a sensitivity to detail that enriches our own vision of the cosmos
an ethereal but substantial blend between the real and the imaginary
his interpretations make us wonder where we might even draw a line between the two
Such perceptions have led him to further explore these boundaries
Greneron has continued to move away from realism
he experiments with image editing and retouching software to create fractal figures according to the Mandelbrot set
originally developed as a mathematical theory of complex numbers that gradually reveal fine points in increasing magnification
His latest photographs in 2022 represent work on human anatomy
Many of them seem appropriate for medical or anatomical material but with great artistic interpretation
He calls these photographs "an encounter between art and medicine." An exhibition will be on display in July and August 2023 at the Museum of Anatomy in Le Neubourg
a French physician internationally known as a creator of anatomical models
Greneron will be the guest of honor at the exhibition of Photographic Art of the Photo Club of Creusot at the beautiful venue L'ARC scene nationale in Burgundy
Greneron has integrated two new themes on his website (https://richard-greneron.odexpo.com/)
These are À Corps Perdu and Regard Céleste
The future of Greneron's innovative and visionary work is certainly expansive with exciting revelations to come
We are all beneficiaries of his talent and art
not only in the aesthetic sense but also in the enrichment of the spirit
Note: Some phrases have been translated from French
Her second book of poetry, Out From Calaboose
she has studied and read with notable poets Philip Schultz
John Ashbery and William Packard - she lives in France
Her website is www.karencorinneherceg.com.
Catering Insight
CED Fabrications has merged with Tournus Equipement
and employs around 150 people from its Accrington headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Liverpool and Sandwich
is a French market leader of stainless steel professional equipment for the catering industry
commented: “The merger between CED and Tournus provides an excellent opportunity to further the growth of the business both within the UK and internationally
“The existing management teams are looking forward to working together to enhance the range of products available to our customers.”
Tournus designs and manufactures a large range of products from its premises in the Burgundy region
The group is backed by investors MML Capital Partners
The corporate finance team at accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP in Manchester advised CED Fabrications
A DLA Piper team led by Yunus Maka provided legal advice to the vendors with Fidal
Mills & Reeve and Clairfield International acting for Tournus Expansion
The author and historian Jan Morris writes in the opening section of her posthumous book Allegorizings that she has two moral principles: “the supreme importance of kindness as a universal guide to life” and “the conviction that almost nothing is only what it seems—everything
is “one long allegory.” So are America and trains and indeed “perhaps the whole damned caboodle is itself no more than some kind of majestically impenetrable allegory.” Morris’s first principle is one of those clichés that is nonetheless both important and true; the second is in no way obvious
the assertions about allegory made little sense to me
I thought I must have forgotten or misunderstood what the word means
but when I looked it up I’d had the right idea
Morris herself cites the OED: “the description of a subject under the guise of some other subject of aptly suggestive resemblance.” Animal Farm
The difficulty is that allegories usually have one veiled meaning
Life and America are more complicated than that
carriers of multitudes of stories and meanings with no obvious structure or lesson
could be an allegory in the right story (Anna Karenina
and there is the neo-fascist world of Thomas the Tank Engine)
but in general allegory is low on the list of uses for trains
one about watching children playing in a square in Trieste and the other about having a wallet stolen in Venice—typically
Jan and her partner Elizabeth are consoled by being given dinner on the house at Harry’s Bar
And then the theme returns in “Transcendental Town”: “complexity
which is why whenever I’m in France I try to stop off at Tournus… most of all I like the suggestive complexity of its Frenchness.” Morris’s Tournus is a divided town
privileged look… fit to be embroidered by gentlewomen,” while to the south “the skyline grows more raggety
Morris is “submitting to the liberating summons of the south,” typically delicate and intriguing phrasing: the attentive traveller is transformed by geography
In this clause is exactly why we travel: to be changed in ways which we cannot initiate but to which we acquiesce
glancing towards the northern European’s longing for a beakerful of the warm south: “…when the river passes under the bridge it is celebrating
just the complicated frisson that I am feeling too
as I walk out of one sensibility into another.”
That “complicated frisson” is characteristic; the interest in pleasure and sensuality is part of what makes Morris an exemplary guide and writer
Her books about travel and place delight because she teaches us to have fun intelligently
gives enthusiastic permission to the postwar generation to revel in food
The movement of the rising river gestures towards
the northerner’s dream of la France profonde
the hard-working Protestant’s fantasy of dancing and eating and taking siestas beneath a Mediterranean sun
It is beautifully crafted writing—but not exactly allegory
I remember her famous telegraph from Everest
Then called James (she had gender re-assignment surgery in Casablanca in 1972)
Morris was reporting for the Times on the British Mount Everest Expedition
which reached the summit three days before the coronation of Elizabeth in June 1953
Morris remembered scrambling down from 6,700m in snow and ice as night fell to send her scoop by runner
radio and telegraph before anyone else broke the news: “the excitement of it
The romance of it.” Her dispatch had to be coded: “Snow conditions bad
All well!” “That’s what the message said but that isn’t what it meant,” she explained
Morris’s delight in her code resonates with some of her glee in a sentence in the US edition of Allegorizings: “this is a very intimate book… no revelations at all in it… unless you read between the lines.” She teases her reader
Some of the anecdotes have appeared in Morris’s earlier work
Here there is an Irish woman who produces an aphorism when accosted outside the GPO
in Pleasures of a Tangled Life almost the same aphorism is delivered by a man
who presumably also exists only allegorically
I don’t think it matters—most forms of non-fiction have fictional elements and I’m sure Morris is accurate where accuracy is a moral issue—but these light-fingered moments show priorities that are not necessarily associated with journalism’s model of integrity
the substitution of one form of truth for another
more than a theological justification for storytelling
To the extent that Morris’s work has dated
it’s because of an attitude to empire that seems flippant to modern taste
When it was published in the late 1960s and early 1970s
her magisterial historical trilogy on the British Empire was contrarian and provocative; now it appears beautifully written but misguided
For the statue-toppling generation there can be no defence of imperialism.
“Readers who love Morris’s work do so not because she is a historian
but because she celebrates her intellectual and aesthetic pleasures in grammatically gorgeous prose”
In 2018 Morris reflected in a programme for Radio 4
on the good intentions of most colonial rulers and administrators and on the beauty of imperial pomp and circumstance
but it fails to take seriously obvious truths
to leave a record of the British Empire that would be equivalent to a description of the Roman Empire written by a centurion
but the equation of the two empires itself is born of a mindset that was already dated when she wrote the first volume: the Roman Empire lasted at least four times as long as the British Empire
had a death toll nowhere near the scale of British genocide
caused much less environmental devastation and involved none of the curses and gifts of industrialisation
Only those with a vested interest—usually public schoolboys with Classics degrees—find meaningful similarity between the two.
Readers who love Morris’s work do so not because she is a professional historian or because she moves with the times
but because she celebrates her intellectual and aesthetic pleasures in deeply considered and grammatically gorgeous prose
Contemporary with Elizabeth David’s books on Mediterranean food
published when the ingredients were inaccessible to almost everyone in Britain
Morris’s writing revels in the pleasures of travel to places that most people could not visit
real-life presence in unfamiliar places.
it is easy enough to find problematic elements in her approach
The essay “Paradise Somewhere” describes the inhabitants of a village in Kathmandu—“the hilarious laughter of children
the shrill merry gossip of Sherpa women” mingling with the noise of a rushing river
a “coven of urchins” escorts her “prancing and tumbling and laughing… they provided a properly dreamlike envoi to a transcendental interlude.” And yet in that interlude
and a marvellously suggestive vegetable smell reached me—part fertile
like a subliminal and oddly comforting text of existence
The rain and verdure could not be more vivid
The writer holds herself open to the experience of place
writing with her body in its attention to sight and smell but also her memory of both the village experience and the cycles of life
These are words that could not have been written in the moment of the experience but also could not have been written without the closest attention to that moment—the rare fruit of sensibility and long remembrance
the ambition of most nature or travel writing—it was Wordsworth who defined poetry as “emotion recollected in tranquillity”—and not many others pull it off
A strand of naughtiness runs through this collection
“A Patron Sinner” argues that in remembering Princess Diana
“the nation mourned a martyr when it should have been celebrating a miscreant.” Morris imagines the fallen princess being given “the all but superannuated royal yacht Britannia… and invited to rollick her way around the world on the national behalf.” She adds: “The usual Royal Marine band would be supplemented by a rock combo” and “Diana
wearing a summer dress of flaming crimson and an amazing hat
goes ashore attended by the Admiral in full dress uniform.” There is all-night partying in the streets of the old town on a Mediterranean island
a vision of an alternative version of Englishness in the late 20th century
In a piece on “the joylessness of the word ‘maturity’” she writes: “Give me callowness every time
put out more flags and ring the bells!”
Morris’s interest in politics and history is always sweeping and focused on the aesthetic
sneezing and the author’s habit of travelling with a hot water bottle: “it is my modest equivalent of the grander eccentricities our forebears flaunted… It displays my contempt for every kind of trend or fashion… for all dullard bureaucrats and safety experts
for the whole miserable world of authority and counselling and suitable precaution.” The sentence reaches a rolling boil in an odd moment of simultaneous flair and conformity to stereotype—aren’t the Boomers forever moaning about health and safety
And yet the hot water bottle is a (knowingly) absurd emblem of rebellion
Morris is a writer who knows what she’s doing
I suppose we might all hope to go on writing and thinking and being read for so long that we can speak in the accents of a lost age
Our tipsters celebrate the joie de vivre of experiencing France’s inland waterways
View image in fullscreenGourgue d’Asque
Photograph: Andia/AlamyThe rolling hills and steep valleys of the Baronnies sit in the space where hills turn to the Pyrenees
and just beyond the village of Bulan it runs through the Gourgue d’Asque
Get here early to find a parking space at the end of the road and head off on the sentier de découverte on a 2½-hour walk through la petite amazonie des Pyrénées
And through this French jungle tumbles the Arros
fed by snowmelt and rain from the Pyrenees.Simon
View image in fullscreenSète
Photograph: Pascale Gueret/Getty ImagesA few years ago
I travelled around France using its extensive network of canals and rivers
My favourite bit was making my way from the Atlantic to the Med on the aptly named Canal des Deux Mers
starting at the Garonne River in Bordeaux and climaxing in Sète
It’s sort of France’s equivalent to the Panama canal
Hitching lifts on barges and working boats was a dream
and friendly owners frequently gave me a glass of red wine to reward my sense of adventure and attempts at French
the canal passing through fields of plums and peaches as blooming yellow irises greeted boats as they sailed by.Nick
and we stayed in cheap and friendly bed and breakfasts
often with noisy frogs to soothe you asleep
Some of the towns in the marshes offer cycle hire
such as at Coulon from where you can cycle to Arçais
Every week we ask our readers for recommendations from their travels. A selection of tips will be featured online and may appear in print. To enter the latest competition visit the readers' tips homepage
Thank you for your feedback.NORTHRediscovering a lost river in ParisView image in fullscreenPollution forced La Bièvre underground for much of its course but it is now revived
when I was looking for non-touristy activities in Paris
my hotel owner suggested a walking tour of the Bièvre River
It’s a tributary of the Seine and most of it is now underground
going from the Latin quarter to Park Kellermann
it once fed mills and factories but became so polluted that it was banished to the underworld by Seine prefect Georges-Eugène Haussman in the late 19th century
You can follow it by checking out a series of bronze and gold medallions on the pavements in the fifth and 13th arrondissements
Parts of the Bièvre have been reopened with footpaths to stroll along
View image in fullscreenÎle Haute and Roche Guyon at Chantemesle
Photograph: Hemis/AlamyRoche-Guyon sits in the splendid valley of the Seine
with a castle on the cliff and a Troglodyte church buried deep in the rock
Its single street winds down to the bank of the Seine
where there’s a grassy picnic spot opposite a private wooded island
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Burgundy's beautiful countryside is perfect for road trips © Philip Norton / Getty Images
The wine-soaked region of Burgundy in eastern France has been a classic drive from the French capital ever since the giddy 1920s when fashionable Parisian motorists tootled through the region
tracking the course of the scenic Seine and Yonne rivers
on their way to the sun-blessed Med and beyond into Italy
The road they followed, the now-mythical Route Nationale 6 or RN6, was known as ‘la route des vacances’ (the holiday route) – for good reason. Having a car makes it easy to get around Burgundy and road-tripping is a restorative
get-away-from-it-all journey through insanely picturesque landscapes peppered with vines
mustard fields and forests thick with truffles
Some of Burgundy's best places to visit - think family-run wineries and farmsteads, bijou châteaux, hilltop villages and ancient abbeys - provide ample excuse for long and lazy pit stops
Start – Cluny; End – Vézelay; Distance – approx
with an alfresco terrace eyeballing the bijou 11th-century village church
is a sensational lunch stop for modern French cuisine
Start – Châtillon-sur-Seine; End – Châtillon-sur-Seine; Distance – 120 km (75 miles)
Relaxing at sundown over the Burgundian version of a kir royale – local AOC Crémant du Bourgogne (instead of Champagne) mixed with a deep-violet dash of velvety blackcurrant crème de cassis – is a sparkling evening ritual on this indulgent weekend road trip in northern Burgundy
Brown road signs featuring the grape-themed logo of Coteaux du Châtillonais’s wine union guide motorists through 23 hamlets and villages – framed by vineyards planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – where sparkling white and rosé Crémant du Bourgogne is produced
The circular route begins in Châtillon-sur-Seine and heads west along the Châtillonais vineyards
before looping back west to Châtillon-sur-Seine
Wine-tasting is one of Burgundy's most famous things to do and this is the way to experience it with four wheels. Otherwise known as the ‘Champs-Élysées du vin’ or ‘Champs-Élysées of Wine’, this legendary route lives up to its Parisian-chic moniker
Romping past central Burgundy’s most acclaimed vineyards
the 1930s-mapped itinerary is best split across two days to fully savor its overdose of caves (wine cellars) perfumed with the heady bouquet of fermenting grapes and to indulge in memorable wine pairings with dinner
Think of the Route des Grands Crus as a golden ticket to grassroots dégustation (tasting) of France’s most prestigious reds and whites
in the very spot where they have been skillfully crafted for centuries
The southbound driving tour pootles off the starting blocks in Dijon and winds gracefully through the northern Côte d’Or and Côte de Beaune wine regions along tertiary roads west of the N74
Brown road signs featuring a bunch of grapes flag the route and you’ll be hard pushed to motor more than a few kilometers without pulling over
Start – Chalon-sur-Saône; End – Mâcon; Distance – approx
boutique wineries and market-sourced village bistros
Overnight in Tournus, a riverside town on the banks of the Saône with glorious abbey-church and Michelin-starred hotel-restaurant Aux Terrasses where chef Jean-Michel continues his father’s herculean gastronomic legacy
once-seen-never-forgotten poultry market starring Burgundy’s superstar Bresse chickens in Louhans
Start – Dijon; End – Bourg-en-Bresse; Distance – approx
tastiest poulet (chicken) and a world famous mustard can all be found in Burgundy
epicurean Burgundy doesn’t mess about – and cooks up so much more than classic boeuf Bourguignon and shiny black-shelled escargots de Bourgogne (snails)
En route, take a slight detour to restored 11th-century Abbaye de Cîteaux where monks have crafted stinky
orange-skinned Époisses cheese since the 16th century
dogs sniff out wintertime black truffles at Le Cos Piguet near Cortevaix
Stop by the organic truffle and saffron farm
as pretty as a picture in a traditional 17th-century wine grower’s house
Sensational craft beer paired with zero-kilometer local cuisine makes a refreshing change from Burgundy’s wine-fueled norm at Two Dudes
Stop in Mâcon to sample the wine town’s feisty andouillette de Mâcon (tripe sausage) and with a feast built around the region’s celebrity Bresse chickens
fatted hens and cockerels in the Bourg-en-Bresse area
Pair with a local white Chardonnay or red Pinot Noir for epicurean heaven on earth
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In 'Le Langage du corps' ('Body Language')
the designer presents a selection of works from her collection at La Fab
She talked to Le Monde about her relationship with art and artists
Interview by Claire Guillot
is showcasing an exhibition of various works from her collection
entitled "Le Langage du Corps" ("Body Language")
It's always like this: "We seem to be..." We seem to be at the airport
so we need a raincoat that doesn't crumple
and that's probably what has made my fashion house so successful
On our way down to the [southwestern] Midi region
like the one in Tournus [Saint-Philibert de Tournus Abbey]
one of the most magnificent places in France
I was brought up in such beautiful places that it inevitably had an impact on me
making bouquets of peonies for Saint-Louis Cathedral's high altar
artistic emotion is very close to spiritual emotion
I've included an anonymous sculpture of a child praying on a small cushion
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A Correction to this article was published on 04 October 2022
This article has been updated
the French Citizens’ Convention for Climate (CCC) tasked 150 randomly chosen citizens with proposing fair and effective measures to fight climate change
This was to be fulfilled through an “innovative co-construction procedure”
involving some unspecified external input alongside that from the citizens
Did inputs from the steering bodies undermine the citizens’ accountability for the output
Did co-construction help the output resonate with the general public
we build on our unique experience in observing the CCC proceedings and documenting them with qualitative and quantitative data
While succeeding in creating consensus among the citizens who were involved
failed to generate significant support among the broader public
These results call for a strengthening of the commitment structure that determines how follow-up on the proposals from a citizens’ assembly should be conducted
Deliberative mini-publics involve randomly chosen lay citizens who are invited to come together
deliberate and produce policy recommendations
Citizens’ assemblies are a specific form of deliberative mini-public involving a sufficiently large number of participants and lasting long enough for them to submit policy proposals to government executives or elected authorities
It was formally implemented by an engagement letter from the Prime Minister tasking 150 randomly chosen citizens with “defining structuring measures to achieve
a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990”
the selected participants submitted 149 policy proposals
some of which have been included in a new law after intense parliamentary debate
the word co-construction is quite elliptical
implying some nonspecified joint activity of creation
deliberately leaving one in the dark as to who (or what) might be acting in concert and what exactly is being jointly created”
the concept was brought up as a means to cope with the social justice imperative
but the government did not provide further guidance on how to implement it
Taken in the broadest sense that something is being jointly created
co-construction shares the same goal as a citizens’ assembly—increasing democratic quality
Yet the broad involvement of external actors alongside the citizens may appear at odds with the core principle of a citizens’ assembly: that it relies on a selected few
facilitators) are to play an active role in a citizens’ assembly
as a co-constructive approach would require
who then is responsible for the final output
can co-construction be envisaged without the broader public
which by design is excluded from a citizens’ assembly
we provide a synthetic account of the CCC proceedings and its subsequent developments
asking whether and how external input affected the citizens’ agency
we examine the interactions that took place between the citizens and the steering bodies at three key stages of the deliberation process—agenda-setting
drawing up of proposals and decision-making
exerted significant framing effects on the citizens’ deliberation
Yet the framework remained flexible enough to preserve the citizen’s independence
which for instance allowed them to take the carbon tax issue out of the agenda
the citizens selected ideas that were subsequently refined into detailed proposals with the help of the legal and technical advisory groups
We then turn to the second question and examine whether and how the citizens’ work resonated with the broader public
We find that the interactions between the citizens and the broader public were characterized by mutual skepticism
somewhat isolating itself from the broader public
seen as a potential impediment in their quest to produce a coherent and consistent set of measures
the citizens turned down the opportunity of submitting their proposals to referendum
the co-constructive approach to deliberative democracy that prevailed throughout the CCC did not undermine the citizens’ responsibility over the final output but failed to generate resonance with the broader public
The article closes with a call for a clear commitment structure giving the citizens more visibility ex ante on how their proposals are to be followed up on ex post
Our analysis builds on our unique experience as observers of the CCC
We were part of a group of accredited social science researchers who worked collaboratively to document and analyze the CCC
we exploit several different sources of research material: the qualitative observations each of us collected and shared with the group; quantitative data from internal and external surveys; and voting data generated during the proceedings
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows
Section “Background” provides some theoretical background and explains the research questions
Section “Methods” describes the materials and methods used
Section “The CCC proceedings: an overview” describes the CCC proceedings
Section “Interactions between the citizens and the steering bodies” examines the interactions between the citizens and the steering bodies
Section “Interactions between the citizens and the general public” examines the interactions between the citizens and the broader public
Section “Taking stock: Researching the CCC” provides feedback on our research experience
Section “Conclusion” concludes with some policy recommendations
Our analysis lies at the intersection of two research themes
namely citizens’ assemblies and co-construction
we review the associated literature and highlight the connections between the two themes in relation to climate action
Reaping these benefits however requires a great deal of transparency about experts’ interests and careful oversight of their interaction with the citizens
it draws a clear line between participants and non-participants
whereas the line is more blurred with co-construction
the public at large) play in a co-constructive citizens’ assembly
comprehensive scrutiny of the proceedings and their broader context
we describe the research protocol we implemented to achieve this
the CCC’s governance committee invited up to 40 researchers to closely follow the process
This led to the formation of a group of 30 social scientists from various disciplines—political science
law—actively working together to collect qualitative and quantitative data during the process
The governance committee and the facilitators granted us wide access to plenary and group discussions
we were allowed to observe the citizens’ interactions
take notes and make audio recordings of their conversations
We were also allowed (with camera and audio turned off) to follow the webinars that took place between the face-to-face sessions
we adhered to a charter in which each of us committed not to interfere with the process
This implied observing debates at a reasonable distance
engaging as little as possible with participants and organizers
refraining from publicly expressing personal views on the CCC during the process and from communicating preliminary research results (see Supplementary Appendix A)
Our group set out to cover the whole process as systematically as possible
We formed small teams of one to five researchers
We then scheduled individual attendance so as to meet two objectives: have all events covered at the whole-group level
including both the plenary sessions and the parallel group discussions; and maintain a permanent presence of each team throughout the process
considering the short notice (3 weeks) between the circulation of the call and the beginning of the CCC
the planning of the sessions on weekends and the many disruptions that occurred in the schedule (see section ‘Process’)
They were nonetheless to a large extent fulfilled
with attendance never falling below 20 researchers
about two-thirds of us being able to follow at least 50% of the proceedings
our plenary group would meet in person to discuss the protocol and agree on the allocation of teams and researchers across parallel sessions
we would meet remotely to share observations and discuss preliminary findings
A follow-up discussion was organized in July 2020 and the different teams shared their observations and findings in a public workshop held remotely on November 17–18 2020
The observations reported here are those that proved most convergent among us
What came to be known as the Gilets Jaunes (or Yellow Vests) movement made the headlines of French political life for nearly 6 months
the government organized what was termed the “Grand National Debate,” a forum including elements of participatory and deliberative democracy
in particular 10,000 local debates and 18 “regional citizen conferences,” each inviting 70 to 100 randomly selected citizens to deliberate for a day and a half
In closing the Grand National Debate in April 2019
Responding to a call from a group of activists called Gilets Citoyens
he announced the creation of a dedicated citizens’ assembly on climate—the CCC (see announcement in Supplementary Appendix B)
The President made the commitment that the measures submitted by the citizens’ assembly would be brought “without filter” to the appropriate level: referendum
In thus committing to take the citizens’ proposals undiluted or unchanged
the President asked in return that the citizens produce readily implementable bills
two committees were set up to organize and scrutinize the work of the citizens—a governance committee and a guarantors’ college
Bringing together representatives from various organizations
including members from the Gilets Citoyens group
the governance committee was tasked with setting the agenda
supervising the process and providing legal and technical support (cf
The Prime Minister nominated two think tank representatives
They in turn appointed 13 fellows from various organizations (think tanks
The governance committee further included two seats for citizens whose occupants rotated between sessions
The governance committee further appointed two spin-off groups: a technical advisory group of 19 experts with different backgrounds—policy
sociology—and a legal advisory group of six experts
The latter was to provide support for the legal transcription of the proposals
a prerequisite for them being followed up on “without filter” by the President of the Republic
such legal support has no precedent in other citizens’ assemblies
Their role was to oversee the impartiality and sincerity of the process
They produced a report at the end of each session
unlike in other citizens’ assemblies (e.g.
attitudes towards climate change were not part of the selection criteria
of whom 104 effectively participated in all sessions
56 participated in some but not all sessions
10 never showed up and 8 dropped out along the way
The number of citizens who were ultimately considered official participants is 159
its spin-off committees and the guarantors’ college
a consortium of facilitators was procured to fulfill the role of leading the debates
A budget of €4.5 million was initially planned to organize the CCC
compensation for the citizens—each participant received a daily allowance of €84 (hence €1462 over the whole course of events)
plus specific benefits for child care and lost income—and the facilitators’ service fees
Total costs eventually reached €6.7 million
The CCC was initially scheduled to span six three-day sessions (Fridays through Sundays)
protests against a pension reform led to France’s longest strike in decades
Public transport was nearly shut down from early December 2019 to mid-January 2020
the citizens had been granted a seventh session at their request
lockdown was ordered to fight the COVID-19 outbreak
After two interim sessions were held remotely during the lockdown period
the final session (#7) was held at CESE with social distancing measures on June 19–21—4 months later than initially planned
The CCC sessions combined plenary gatherings and parallel gatherings held in smaller thematic groups
The thematic groups were defined by the governance committee so as to cover five relevant sources of GHG emissions: housing (Se loger)
production and labor (Produire et travailler)
The citizens were randomly assigned to a thematic group
Within this governance committee-imposed framework
as we will see in Section “Interactions between the citizens and the steering bodies”
The CCC had several stages (See Table 2)
citizens heard from climate scientists and were introduced to the aims and scope
In a second stage spanning Sessions 2 to 6
they would alternate hearings with experts and round-table discussions
the citizens’ proposals would be compiled by the facilitators
assessed by the technical advisors and reformulated by the legal advisors in legal terms
the citizens would start with their reworked proposals and engage in another round of adjustment
each group presented their work in plenary gatherings to get feedback from other groups
all citizens were invited to suggest amendments to the final proposals and to vote for or against those amendments that were supported by at least 20 citizens
This resulted in 150 measures submitted by the thematic groups to the Convention as a whole
The histograms indicate the votes cast for each block of measures
The media were given extensive access to the CCC’s gatherings and proceedings
Participating citizens’ surnames were kept anonymous by default but they were free to go public on social or traditional media
They were also encouraged by the organizers to reach out to their local community between sessions and meet with various stakeholders such as businesses
members of parliament and local elected representatives
While some plenary gatherings were broadcast on YouTube
the governance committee decided that group deliberations and the drafting of proposals would be kept confidential from Session 6 onwards in an effort to prevent external influences from impinging on the content of the measures
plenary meetings were organized between the citizens and the highest executives of the French State—the Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition (Session 1)
the Prime Minister (Session 1) and the President of the Republic (Session 4)—to clarify their mutual expectations
participants approved two constitutional reforms—rephrasing the Preamble and Article 1 of the Constitution—and the proposal that recognition of the crime of ecocide be put to a referendum
a majority voted against putting those technical measures deemed legally fit to a referendum
of which 75 received majority support in a final vote (turn-out: 105)
Support was above 70% for a few landmark measures
carbon border adjustment) and introducing increasing progressivity into existing tax schemes (e.g.
increasing income tax for households whose annual income exceeds €250,000)
Most of the proposals were national in scope
other relevant dimensions of the problem were not ignored
a number of measures concerning agriculture
and public transportation were differentiated at the local level to take into account stronger vulnerability to climate change
the citizens made recommendations for France’s foreign policy relating to climate affairs
in particular by recommending that negotiations over trade agreements (in particular the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada) be paused so environmental conditions could be added
whatever the degree of follow-up that had been assessed by the advisory groups
suggesting that some citizens voted strategically to express strong disapproval
the citizens expressed positive feelings about citizens’ assemblies in general (Q3 and Q4)
After the eighth session, the bill was debated in Parliament for several weeks, generating over 7000 amendment proposals in the National Assembly—a high number by that body’s standards. The Senate and the National Assembly finally agreed on a law on July 20th.Footnote 13 Meanwhile, the President did not obtain the support needed from CongressFootnote 14 to organize the referendum to change the Constitution
many decrees remain to be passed for the law to come into force
The CCC involved a number of steering bodies alongside the citizens
the technical and legal advisory groups and the facilitators
such a plethora of supervisory bodies is unparalleled in other citizens’ and climate assemblies
We examine here the extent to which the interactions between the citizens and these bodies affected responsibility for the output
We focus on three key stages of the process—agenda-setting
drawing up of proposals and decision-making—and consider several dimensions of responsibility—agency
The Prime Minister gave the task of setting the agenda to the governance committee. Perhaps its most important intervention in this regard was in framing the five thematic groups around energy demand, leaving energy supply issues—and in particular the role nuclear power should play in electricity generationFootnote 15—largely unaddressed
Yet agenda-setting was not unilateral and the citizens exerted agency to adjust it on two important occasions
The question asked was: “To what extent [on a 0–10 scale] would you accept an increase in the carbon tax if the revenue were used to…”
Another adjustment occurred in the way cross-cutting issues were handled
The governance committee had initially planned to create a cross-cutting issues group on the carbon tax
the focus of the cross-cutting issues group shifted to financing issues and constitutional changes
The so-called “squad” group (l’escouade) was formed in Session 3
including both volunteers from among the citizens and others who were randomly chosen
all leaving their home thematic group when deliberating on cross-cutting issues
This raised two major criticisms from non-members
many of them arguing that cross-cutting issues could not formally be separated from specific ones
and that having members from their home group—often the most actively engaged ones—temporarily leave to join the cross-cutting issues group would weaken the former
the governance committee terminated the cross-cutting issues group at the end of Session 4 and scheduled cross-cutting issues to be discussed in plenary sessions
This was due in particular to the contribution of the legal advisory group
a body with no precedent in other citizens’ assemblies
Was expert input so significant as to diminish the citizens’ creativity and ultimately their role as primary contributors to their proposals
we examine the experts’ contributions in providing background
The background knowledge was provided by external speakers invited by the governance committee
We noted a lack of structure in the way technical information was conveyed to the citizens
The criteria that motivated who would be invited as an expert were not systematically made explicit and academic expertise and advocacy were not systematically differentiated
citizens made specific invitation requests that were not followed up on
When several experts were invited to speak on a specific topic
they were typically given turns to articulate their views
but no opportunity to challenge each other’s evidence
the steering bodies did not observe strict neutrality
We witnessed for instance one of the governance gommittee’s co-chairs intervene as an expert and some members of the governance committee and a guarantor give their own opinions to the citizens on some measures
As a result of these sustained interactions
our view is that some measures—in particular in the building sector or in relation to the EU Common Agricultural Policy—strongly reflected expert views while others—for instance the lowering of speed limits and the regulation of the food industry—were some way removed from what most experts had suggested to the citizens
Still other measures—in particular the legal measure on the ecocide crime and the constitutional changes—were even beyond what was asked for in the engagement letter
Lastly, but significantly, expert input did not go as far as providing feedback to the citizens about their proposals’ fitness for the 40% GHG emissions reduction target. While this might be a concern from a normative perspective, it can be argued that resources were too limited to produce such an analysis.Footnote 16
The steering bodies designed the deliberation and voting procedures framing the citizens’ decisions
Did their intervention affect the citizens’ freedom of choice
We noted a similar lack of preparation with voting procedures
Voting rules were communicated to the citizens only a few hours before the sequence of votes started in Session 7
Many reacted negatively to the short notice and to the voting-by-block procedure
arguing that voting instead on a measure-by-measure basis would allow them to express their views in a more refined manner
Our view is that voting by block effectively contributed to generating high approval rates
making it more difficult for citizens to reject a specific measure without rejecting a whole block
we witnessed trust build up among citizens throughout the process
partly as a result of the facilitators’ efforts
When asked in Session 7 to rate their degree of “confidence in the work of the other groups to come up with the best proposals to achieve the objectives of the Convention,” 63 respondents gave a mean grade of 7.79 (standard deviation 1.14) on a 0–10 scale
These results are in contrast with some skepticism expressed in the external survey with respect to the CCC (see Section “The general public’s perception of the citizens’ work”)
This provides another explanation for the high approval rates that applied to nearly all measures
despite the fact that participants had been actively involved in drawing up only about a fifth of them—those produced by their thematic group
The role played by each body and the citizens’ response to it is summarized in Table 6
the CCC framework involved two unique bodies—the governance committee and the legal advisory group
the former in imposing a highly structuring framework on the proceedings
the latter in adding technical detail to the proposals to a degree well beyond that of which the citizens were capable
the invited experts and the facilitators was more classic
The citizens embraced these external inputs inasmuch as it did not impair their agency
they opposed any form of hierarchical structure within their organization
as illustrated by the rejection of the cross-cutting issues group
These adjustments were made possible by flexible
the CCC output can be said to have been co-produced in the sense that input from external bodies was essential
but this does not imply shared responsibility
the citizens retain full responsibility for the outptut
several organizations publicly addressed contributions to the citizens through their own website and social media
These well-identified contributions were occasionally mentioned by the citizens in the deliberation
suggesting that they had more impact than the general public’s contributions
The citizens adopted a relatively distant attitude towards the broader public
When asked in Session 1 what best described their own role in deliberations
22% for themselves and on behalf of people like them
19% for the broader public and 3% for other groups and special interests (116 respondents)
and prominent figures among the governance committee and the guarantors’ college more or less explicitly encouraged the citizens to push for referenda
the citizens strongly rejected (with 60–80% of the votes) that route for their technical proposals—not without having hotly debated the issue
This is yet another example of the citizens showing independence from the steering bodies
they approved the submission of constitutional reforms to a referendum
proceeding with a referendum for constitutional reform would require the President to obtain approval from Congress
the citizens agreed to request the difficult referendum
with the anticipated congressional disapproval of the proposed referendum
Another argument was that the broader public would vote for or against the President of the Republic
instead of voting for or against the Convention’s proposals
Some counter-argued that such a voting strategy could be avoided by allowing people to approve of items from a menu of options
Yet another widely shared motive for not supporting the referendum was the anxiety many citizens expressed at the prospect of having to campaign for the Convention’s measures in the public debate
Getting involved in this way was resented as being well beyond what they had consented to when they agreed to participate in the CCC
the citizens were torn between some sort of empowerment
some feeling that their measures were too good to be left for others to decide
others having difficulties endorsing measures beyond the framework of the CCC
these tensions contributed to the same outcome: discarding referenda
This is not to say, however, that the citizens had no concern at all for the general public. In the deliberation, some repeatedly emphasized that the citizens’ proposals should be politically “credible.”Footnote 19 This was especially the case in the plenary debate about the two most sensitive proposals—the reduction in working hours
and the reduction of speed limits on motorways
eventually adopted by a small majority—many among their opponents arguing that adopting these measures would undermine the CCC’s credibility with the general public
despite lacking awareness of the CCC (22% knew about it in Wave 1
the respondents expressed strong skepticism about the representativeness of the pool of citizens (74% among CCC-aware respondents in W2) and about the government’s handling of the process
deemed “useless as the government [would] only take on the measures it likes” and “a government communication operation.” They expressed more mixed feelings when surveyed about citizens’ assemblies in general
only a minority showing confidence in “the ability of randomly chosen citizens to deliberate productively on complex issues” (32% in W1
28% in W2) while a majority supported the creation of a permanent “assembly made up of 150 randomly chosen citizens
with a right of veto on the texts voted in Parliament” (68% in W1
our view is that the CCC developed as an autonomous body whose primary goal was to produce a consistent set of measures
Such internal consistency was seen as a way to be as transformative as the target implied and to resolve the inherent tension between significant GHG emissions reductions and the social justice imperative
the citizens made an intensive yet selective use of the inputs provided by experts and technical advisors
they somewhat ignored comments from the general public
thus missing the significant effort they were putting into making the measures coherent with one another
This attitude somewhat isolated the citizens from the general public
the citizen’s handling of the referendum may appear to be a missed opportunity
the broader public would have approved of their measures
This is however subject to two important caveats
nothing guarantees that the President would not have applied a “filter” of some sort to their recommendations
nothing guarantees that support among the population would have remained high until the referendum
especially not with the high level of skepticism that emerged among the population
Our research protocol was unique in terms of its size—it actively involved thirty academics
instead of a handful in other contexts (the Irish assemblies and CAUK
for instance)—and comprehensiveness—it combined qualitative observations and repeated surveys
Such an ambitious setup allowed us to produce insights which we hope will be useful to both academics and policy-makers
This was achieved in a rather bottom-up way
with small teams coordinating with one another without strong centralization
while most plenary discussions were recorded by the organizers
this was not the case for the myriad group and table discussions
Despite significant efforts to cover as many of those as possible
it was technically impossible for us to follow everything
we had to resort to our own audio equipment
which unfortunately produced too many hours of wasteful recordings
leaving us with pretty much only our written notes to exploit
Recording and transcribing the proceedings as systematically and professionally as possible would greatly enhance research possibilities
the research charter we adhered to (see Supplementary Appendix A) was meant to avoid interference with the process—the so-called Hawthorne effect
In the Session 2 outburst that is described in Section “Agenda-setting”
one citizen pointed to a question from our questionnaire as proof of a hidden agenda aiming to get the citizens to endorse the carbon tax
our internal survey had not been subjected to a pilot test and
we recognized that a few questions could be interpreted as biased
We immediately proceeded with reformulating them in a more neutral way
This was a sobering reminder that pilot tests are essential
and accordingly should be planned well ahead
Third, the governance committee granted us very full access to the proceedings and we could effectively follow pretty much everything we wanted to. That said, we felt our presence was more tolerated than welcomed by the governance committee representatives and, to a lesser extent, by the facilitators. Strikingly, we were never given a chance to officially introduce ourselves, our research interests and our protocol, to the citizens.Footnote 20 This is unfortunate
for we think such an introduction would have helped avoid the misunderstanding that caused the Session 2 outburst
This feeling that we had from the outset only got worse after that incident
we could only rely on ourselves for the distribution of the questionnaire and the collection of the filled forms
Unlike in other assemblies (CAUK in particular)
the citizens received very little encouragement to fill in our questionnaires
Despite short meetings between the researchers and the representatives from the governance committee at the beginning of each session
the situation did not significantly improve over the course of the CCC
this somewhat adverse context only marginally impaired the tremendous research possibilities offered to us by the organizers
a research force of about twenty permanent academics and adherence to a principled charter were not sufficient to prevent significant losses (in terms of recordings and responses to the internal survey) nor some interference with the process
To facilitate research and increase its effectiveness
we recommend sustained dialog between researchers and organizers at every stage of the process
The former should pay the fullest attention to drawing up and testing their protocol and the latter should embrace the researchers’ work and brief the citizens about its potential benefits for society at large
Our group has now entered a post-assembly phase freed from the restrictions placed in the charter
Some of us are conducting in-depth interviews with key stakeholders
including voluntary citizens and members of the steering bodies
This will provide original material for further research
The CCC was the central part of a 3-year sequence of political events that shook up France’s climate policy
from the Gilets Jaunes crisis to the Grand National Debate to a new law adapting some of the CCC’s proposals
Its proceedings were seriously disrupted by national labor unrest and a global pandemic
the largest experiment to date with climate assemblies produced an outcome containing no fewer than 149 measures
some of which could be game-changing for France’s climate policy
While the CCC’s work can be said to have created political momentum
owing to the intense parliamentary activity it generated
follow-up is actually quite limited—to the citizens’ disappointment
In the light of its specific characteristics
The CCC was intended to follow an “innovative approach to co-construction of solutions.” This elliptical injunction implied that some external actors would play an active role
While this may be justified by the complexity inherent in climate issues
it is somewhat at odds with the primacy given to randomly chosen individuals in a citizens’ assembly
we focus on the interactions developed by CCC participants with various partners for co-construction and ask: Was external input so significant as to undermine the citizens’ responsibility for the final output
Did the citizens’ work resonate with the broader public
we provide evidence that the steering bodies imposed significant framing effects—e.g.
in the type of expertize the citizens were exposed to—yet kept the framework flexible enough to be responsive to the citizens’ concerns—allowing them for instance to adjust the agenda
in particular by dismissing the carbon tax issue
The framework proved effective at building consensus among the citizens and trust with respect to the steering bodies
to the point of creating a strange situation in which the citizens express ex post satisfaction with the process
we found that the relationship the citizens developed with the general public was one of mutual skepticism
To some extent the citizens worked in isolation from the general public in an effort to keep their proposals consistent and coherent
This attitude culminated in them not submitting their proposals to referendum
despite being given the opportunity to do so
the “co-constructive” approach to the CCC succeeded in the narrow sense of bringing the citizens and policy-makers closer together
but not in the broader sense of bringing the citizens closer to the broader public
What lessons can be drawn from the deliberative democracy theory perspective
the comprehensiveness of the proposals and the wide consensus that surrounded them confirm that citizens’ assemblies can contribute to improving the quality of deliberation
An important qualification here is that this was achieved with significant help from experts—which is somewhat normal with climate issues—and organizers—which is more peculiar
the outcome gives little support to the claim that citizens’ assemblies serve as a “body of trustees” to the broader public
This is due to a missed rendez-vous: the public showed mixed feelings about the process—support for the citizens’ proposals
skepticism about how the government would follow up—while the latter denied the former the chance to participate in a referendum
the CCC provides yet another piece of evidence of the lack of consequentiality in citizens’ assemblies
despite having generated significant parliamentary activity
the opportunity given to the citizens to make the call about the referendum—a provision that is
unique to the CCC—served as a grand experiment
the citizens’ refusal illustrates that concerns that a citizens’ assembly could be a shortcut to the general public are not unfounded
it is somewhat proof by contradiction that pairing a referendum and a citizens’ assembly can be a way to improve both consequentiality and legitimacy
With climate assemblies mushrooming at the sub-national
European and international levels and citizens’ assemblies being applied to a range of new issues (including vaccination and genome editing)
what then should be emulated from the French CCC
Items to be emulated include the responsiveness of the framework that helped empower the citizens and keep them engaged even after deliberation was over
we note that it raises a yet unspoken issue as to the extent to which individual citizens should be kept in the loop in the post-assembly phase
the French CCC lacked a clear commitment structure
The issue took a dramatic turn with the intense personification of the CCC
framed as a “no filter” interaction between the President of the Republic and the citizens
The “no filter” commitment generated widespread comment and
it can be said to have been defaulted on by the President on at least two occasions—first by claiming “veto cards”
second by having the government re-work the citizens’ proposals before submitting them to Parliament
the outcome could have been different had the citizens submitted their proposals to referendum
Our view here is that a more transparent and outspoken commitment structure as to how the government might respond to the citizens’ proposals could make the citizens’ assembly’s mandate more straightforward to both the participating citizens and the general public
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01390-3
we propose the following articulation between the three concepts: co-creation upstream
Adaptation to climate change was not mentioned in the letter
It was effectively left outside the scope of the proceedings
The CESE represents civil society in the third Assembly of the Republic
alongside the National Assembly and the Senate
It is a Constitutional Assembly which advises the Executive on legislation
Its members include non-governmental organizations
EU member states agreed to tighten this target to 55%
Protection of the environment was deemed important with an average score of 8.95 (on a 0–10 scale) among CCC participants
The transcript is available in French at https://www.elysee.fr/front/pdf/elysee-module-15714-fr.pdf
Despite claiming to play only three “veto cards,” the President effectively rejected more measures
While the citizens proposed to ban domestic flights when a train alternative of less than four hours was available
he lowered this threshold to two and a half hours
He also rejected organizing a referendum on recognition of the crime of ecocide
a measure he nevertheless committed to re-work with the government and back at European level
The citizens recommended that the following part be added: “The Republic guarantees the preservation of biodiversity and the environment and fights against climate change.”
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000043956924
The Congress of the French Parliament (Congrès du Parlement français) is the name given to the body created when both houses of the present-day French Parliament—the National Assembly and the Senate—meet at the Palace of Versailles to vote on revisions to the Constitution or to listen to an address by the President of the French Republic (Source: Wikipedia)
The issue was deemed settled by the governance committee
considering that nuclear power already significantly contributes to France’s relatively low GHG emissions
the budget of the CCC was already quite substantial—€6.7 million
to be compared with the £500,000 allocated to its closest counterpart
To get a sense of the extra cost needed for impact assessment
consider that it typically takes France several government officials working full-time for several months to assess the country’s pledges to the Paris Agreement
citizens’ opinions were surveyed by show of hands
which does not preserve anonymity and thus threatens sincere voting
One could also expect the output from the Grand National Debate—a much wider consultation involving 1.9 million contributions—to provide the starting point for the CCC
which was supposed to be continuation of it
these contributions were ignored in the CCC
Credibility was also invoked in the financial sense that each proposal should be matched by adequate funding
The only communication was an eight-minute video footage of the researchers’ work shot in Session 3 and published online soon after: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQAyvVjExPM
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All authors participated in the observation of the Citizens’ Convention for Climate (CCC) and contributed to the analysis within the research protocol that is described in the article
L-GG led the writing of the article and most authors contributed to the reviewing and editing processes
We thank Graham Smith and Jane Mansbridge for their invaluable comments on an early draft
Centre International de Recherche Sur l’environnement et le Développement (CIRED)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Centre d’études et de Recherches Administratives
Institut Pour le Développement Durable et Les Relations Internationales (IDDRI)
Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces (LADYSS)
Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Sciences Sociales (IRISSO)
Centre de Recherches Sociologiques et Politiques de Paris (CRESPPA)
Centre d’études Européennes et de Politique Comparée (CEE)
Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire en études Culturelles (LinCS)
Centre Européen de Sociologie et de Science Politique (CESSP)
Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation (CAST)
Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Espaces Créoles et Francophones (LCF)
Centre de Recherches Politiques de Sciences Po (CEVIPOF)
Christiane Rafidinarivo & Bernard Reber
Jacques Loeb Center for the History and Philosophy of Science
Ecole des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)
J-MF was a member of the Governance Committee of the CCC
The authors declare no other competing interests
The research protocol used in this study adheres to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki
Approval was obtained from the Governance Committee of the Citizens’ Convention for Climate
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01212-6
literally thousands of emails went out to collectors
No fact was too small to be run down (“Does the tail of the ‘R’ in BEDROOM extend below the text on the title page of your copy of The Bedroom Philosophers?”)
we continued to make new discoveries: an issue of Merlin published by the Olympia Press; two large
coffee-table books on architecture published by Girodias in 1955 (Sicile Grecque and Saint-Philbert de Tournus)
FedEx packages went back and forth between Kearney and Steve Mullins
the author of Venus Bound: The Erotic Voyage of the Olympia Press and its Writers
We were just wrapping up when our luck changed
Through the grapevine we heard Liverpool University Press was planning to publish a book on the Obelisk Press
A quick email to Liverpool resulted in a contract
They thought the Olympia Press bibliography the perfect companion to the Obelisk bibliography
The bibliography covers hundreds of titles
and variants and every entry had to be double-checked
which states Kearney is the author of A History of Gothic Literature
The Paris Olympia Press finally came out in early 2008
ten years after my visit to Kearney’s house in 1998
it was the culmination of a lifetime of collecting and study
a capstone to his career as an Olympia runner
Still, there was one last chapter to be written. Having completed his labor of love, Kearney put his collection up for sale at Christie’s. On Thursday, June 12, 2008, Lot No. 206—Kearney’s entire Olympia Press Collection, comprising over 400 volumes (it took eight full pages to describe)—went under the hammer
The collection was bought by Princeton University Library
It is now part of Princeton’s rare book collection
not to be broken up and sold piece by piece
a focal point for the study of censorship in the twentieth century
it is only because it was a bibliographer’s collection that it caught the attention of Stephen Ferguson
“When a collection formed by a bibliographer
I take special notice,” Ferguson said
“The chief reason is that bibliographers tend to be more aware of what research libraries are interested in supplying to the scholar: variant issues
all of which are vital aspects of publishing history.”
86 in the Traveller’s Companion Series was Bottoms Up
by Jock Carroll (the author’s father)
had met Monroe on the set of the movie Niagara in 1952 while on assignment for Weekend Magazine
Unable to get Bottoms Up published in Canada or the United States
Carroll turned to Girodias as a last resort
Unlike North American publishers who thought the book had too much sex in it
Princeton is no newcomer to the history of publishing
The University’s special collections include the archives of G.P
But the Olympia Press collection represented a special opportunity
“Civil authority versus individual liberty is an on-going conversation,” Ferguson said
“This collection helps document a fascinating chapter in that dialog
and as such can help support important future research.”
As the (self-proclaimed) Publisher Who Defeated Censorship
I think Girodias would have been happy to know that future scholars will use the Olympia Press collection to understand the history of censorship—and the role he played in it
Angus Carroll is head of the editorial group for Gale, a division of Cengage Learning, one of the largest educational publishers in the U.S. In addition to the Olympia Press, he collects Darwin and runs the Darwin Census, a joint project of the Huntington Library and Darwin Online
which is registering the surviving copies of the first edition of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species
To date the census has located over 300 of the 1,250 copies originally printed
He almost apologized or minimized his performance: "I am not an expert in time trial"
the 12% climb and the fast downhill where he reached 84km/h
but the Danish strong-boy didn't want to celebrate too much
Tour des Fjords: Kragh Andersen wins in Sandnes
Andersen wins Tour de l'Avenir opener
Tour de l'Avenir: Søren Kragh Andersen doubles up in Tournus
News shorts: Grmay animates Vuelta a Espana breakaway
Tour de l'Avenir: Rider profiles
News shorts: Andersen as neo-pro to Giant-Alpecin
Soren Kragh Andersen's promise fulfilled with Tour of Oman stage win
"He is very strong in his legs but also mentally," his coach Morten Bennekou tells Cyclingnews
"We like keeping our riders in the national team two to four years before they turn pro
But Søren is now ready to go to the next step."
Cyclingnews understands the two-time stage winner at the Tour de l'Avenir has already signed a contract with a WorldTour team but he declines to say more about his plans
Spain – where members of several pro teams have established their home base
Kragh Andersen is careful with his words as much as with his emotions
he mentions humble things like pain and team work
"The suffer is a good feeling when you are strong," he explains
"I really enjoy it when I am in a good shape and with good legs"
About his team playing he says he likes "riding for the others"
whatever they are his fellows in the national team or his old brother Asbjørn
who races with him at Team Trefor-Blue Water
"Actually I race more for my brother than he does for me
because he is a good sprinter," says Søren
I started cycling when I was eight because he did this sport and since then he always inspired me."
It's maybe not a coincidence that Asbjørn Kragh Andersen took the yellow jersey at the Tour de l'Avenir last year
who kept the lead until Swiss Tom Bohli went into a breakaway Monday on stage 2
the former-Junior road World Champion and Elite cyclocross World Champion
This year he went second of the Tour des Fjords
His successful season contrasts with his attempt to look low-profile when he talks or jump into podiums
but Morten Bennekou says his rider has worked a lot to be so relaxed
not aggressive but he had a lot of temper in his head on and off the bike
Since last winter he has tried to improve that
Søren Kragh leaves his parents' house in Strib
He has only a few minutes to drive to the sea cost and his little boat
"I went last time in July when I had a little break after the national championships
When he is on his bike and not in his boat – obviously the majority of time – he keeps in touch with a professor of psychology appointed by the Danish cycling federation
They also try to have one face-to-face meeting a month
The rider talks every day to the national coach too
"About why he did attack or not attack," he says
They both speak about next year too and the right balance to find between the bubble of sports and his relationship to his family
is Cyclingnews' correspondent at the Tour de l'Avenir
Discover the real France of farmers' markets
country B&Bs and small producers passionate about their vineyards
The Macconais region of southern Burgundy tends
tacked onto the better-known bits of Burgundy
such as the Côte d’Or to the north or Beaujolais to the south
Barely 50km from top to bottom and 15km wide
sunny valleys and distant views of Mont Blanc
and its compact size makes it ideal for a short break
The climate here is warmer than in Burgundy’s more northerly parts – you feel the difference arriving from the north when you catch the first glimpses of the broad
The architecture starts to hint at the Mediterranean – flattened roofs with rounded Provençal tiles replace the steep slate or glazed-tile coverings of further north
Pavement cafés pop up in summer along the Saône
which marks the region’s border with Bresse
and the towpath between Tournus and Mâcon (renamed La Voie Bleue) teems with cyclists
because the Mâconnais vineyards are still something of a well-kept secret
organised cellar tours or train rides through the vineyards; what you are assured of is a good range of welcoming country hotels and B&Bs
restaurants serving the kind of food you feared France had turned its back on
and a willingness from growers to show you their wines and to talk about their region
There’s still a huge cooperative presence here
but the story is increasingly one of independent
highly motivated vignerons dedicated to making distinctive whites (plus tiny quantities of red) at seductive prices
Some growers have wrested family holdings back from the co-ops
A significant number (including Bret Brothers
see box above) are members of the loose association of Les Artisans Vignerons de Bourgogne du Sud
founded in 2004 with the aim – to quote Corinne Merlin of La Roche Vineuse – ‘of confronting the power of the cooperatives
Their objectives are to make the most of the top terroirs in their possession
and to keep their domaines to a manageable size
its cobbled streets are thronged in summer with visitors to the magnificent Romanesque abbey
shoppers wielding baskets at the Saturday morning farmers’ market and browsers in the many antiques shops
the Route des Vins du Mâconnais wanders gently along a series of broad valleys flanked by rolling hills
vine-clad slopes and meadows grazed by Charolais cattle
Here viticulture sits peaceably with agriculture
Huddled in hollows are neatly tended stone villages with suitably vinous names (Chardonnay
A little sidestep off the Route des Vins takes you to Cluny
The French Revolution dealt a devastating blow to the monasteries and little remains of the original 10th-century Cluny Abbey and its subsequent embellishments
but the museum gives a vivid sense of the scope and power of the Cluniac order
Further south you can hook up with the Circuit Lamartine
birthplace of the famous Romantic poet Alphonse de Lamartine
and proceeds through Monceau and Milly-Lamartine
to the high point of the Château of Berzé-le-Châtel
From here you catch glimpses of the Mâconnais as seen through the eyes of the poet
has a terrific Saturday market by the St-Laurent bridge straddling the Saône
Further south the craggy outcrops of Solutré and Vergisson
at whose feet the celebrated Pouilly-Fuissé is grown
signal the end of the road and the beginning of Beaujolais country
As you plan purchases the two appellations that open the door to the region are
some of it white but the majority Gamay-based red and rosé
particularly those from the top domaines; both offer lip-smacking Burgundy quality and solid value for money (Cave Talmard in Uchizy and Jacques and Nathalie Saumaize in Vergisson are exemplary)
Then come the wines that are permitted to tack their village name onto the label – think Mâcon- Chardonnay (the village)
Finally there are the region’s five ACs: the famous Pouilly-Fuissé and its lesser-known siblings Pouilly-Vinzelles and Pouilly-Loché
one issue for the Mâconnais has been that the region is not as straightforward to understand as the Côte d’Or
the vineyards of the Mâconnais are scattered among the hilly country between the former Gallo-Roman strongholds of Tournus and Mâcon
A series of ridges that run roughly north to south along the Saône river are known as the Monts du Mâconnais
These limestone and sandstone hills, over a bedrock of granite, are protected in the west by the hills of the Charolais and to the south by those of Beaujolais and represent the last trace of Burgundy’s limestone before the granite of Beaujolais begins to dominate
A second issue for years in the Mâconnais was the lack of high-profile leaders
Erik Zabel.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Sylvain Chavanel wanted to keep the yellow jersey until the first mountain stage
he regained it.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) back in yellow after a superb solo effort.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) took the best young rider lead from Geraint Thomas of Sky.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) back in the familiar white jersey
but hoping to exchange it for yellow.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) was just a little bit happy to have yellow again.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Andreas Klöden (Radioshack)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Danilo Hondo (Lampre) and Jerome Pineau (Quick Step) were the last to survive the early break(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) marks Alberto Contador (Astana) closely
The shadow boxing ends tomorrow.(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)Eros Capecchi (Footon-Servetto)
losing his GC lead by many minutes.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)Damiano Cunego (Lampre) was aggressive again
but did not have enough for a stage win.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank) pulled away for third.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Alberto Contador (Astana) had a calm day.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)The favourites remained together
with no real fireworks on the first mountain stage.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)It was scorching for the first mountain stage
just as he also did in Spa at the end of stage 2
Garate got the green light to try and repeat Ventoux win
Chavanel kisses his medal again
the history books will show no asterisk against Chavanel's name after this victory - which
with the race neutralised behind him following the crash-marred descent of the Stockeu
there was only acclaim and admiration after a gutsy and perfectly-timed and executed counterattack
medallion-kissing celebration along the finishing straight
there were skirmishes and a minor sort out of the overall contenders
"We are on a roll on this incredible 2010 Tour," said Chavenel to Letour.com
What we did in the stage to Spa was extremely rare
a stage described as a "medium mountain" stage conformed exactly to expectations
The six classified climbs included two long category two-rated ascents towards the end - the Col de la Croix de la Serra and the Côte de Lamoura - and these saw the favourites gather at the front
"I think next year I will no longer compete for the month of May
considering the form I've currently got at the Tour
and I knew I was on climbs that suited me very well - a gradient of four per cent
hills more than a mountain," said Chavenel to Letour.com
But while the Croix de la Serra acted as the launchpad to Chavanel's victory
and effectively ended Fabian Cancellara's (Saxo Bank) spell in yellow
it told us very little about the climbing form of Alberto Contador (Astana)
Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) or Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky)
"I've had some nice days in the yellow jersey
and tomorrow I'll go back to my normal one
The 14km climb of the Côte de Lamoura
Contador had two Astana teammates set the pace
with the main group now whittled down to around 35 riders
it was enough to drop the day's darkhorse for the yellow jersey
With Thomas eventually conceding more than three minutes to that group
the white jersey for best young rider passed on to Schleck
I can get one of another color," said Schleck to AFP
"Fabian (Cancellara) was not on a good day
as French TV hailed the stage winner's panache
Chavanel embraced his countryman and Quick Step teammate Jérôme Pineau
who completed an outstanding day for the Belgian squad by featuring in the day's main break and significantly increasing his lead in the King of the Mountains competition
that he intended to try and score maximum points on the road from Tournus to Station des Rousses
being first to the top of five out of the six climbs
who scored double points at the stage finish
and he now sits second in the King of the Mountains competition
"I had to score points to consolidate my polka dot jersey
I've been criticized at times for attacking too much
but it's been paying off at the Tour," said Pineau to AFP
"Rather than trying to make the right break
I attacked and found myself with Samuel (Dumoulin)
The man in polka dots first signalled his intent early
attacking in the first kilometre and being joined soon after by Christian Knees (Milram)
Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis)
30 seconds - with Pineau first across the line
It was the Côte du barrage de Vouglans
the fourth hill of the day - and the first Cat
2 climb of this year's Tour - that began to inflict the damage
did Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) - as the main group split in two
and Damiano Cunego (Lampre) bridged across to a counterattack that included Thomas Voeckler and Cyril Gautier (Bbox Bouygues Telecom)
Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Mathieu Perget (Caisse d'Epargne)
and they reached the top of the climb together
with the peloton just over a minute behind
sensed that the group containing Cunego - with the Italian widely fancied for the day's stage - was the one to join
On the approach to the final climb Chavanel made another key decision
this time that Cunego's group wasn't going fast enough
It didn't take Chavanel long to catch a spent-looking Pineau
"He tried to lead me," said Chavanel later to Cyclingnews
was "exactly the type of climb I like." And it showed as he stormed up a gradient that averages five percent
"I began to think of the yellow jersey on the last climb
and I told myself that after having lost it
it was quite a coup to take it back again," said Chavenel to Letour.com
Pineau predictably dropped like a stone - he came in almost four minutes behind Chavanel - but Chavanel had a surprise pursuer in the form of Rafael Valls Ferri (Footon-Servetto)
who chased him all the way up the climb and came in just 57 seconds down
As Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank) - the winner of last year's penultimate stage to the summit of Mont Ventoux - came in for third
the other favourites were all there - Cadel Evans (BMC)
the Liquigas pair of Ivan Basso and Roman Kreuziger and Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack)
the only loser among those who might be considered top 10 candidates was Armstrong and Leipheimer's teammate
it was a very hard day," said Schleck to AFP
"I was surprised by the difficulty of the stage
Contador and his team pushed the pace a bit too high in my opinion
because of the sudden the others would not ride with them then."
Chavanel plans to defend his jersey in Sunday's stage 8
189km from Station des Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz
"Tomorrow I will do everything to defend it
but I know that the battle will mainly concern Contador
Schleck and Evans," said Chavenel to Letour.com
I'm floating and I don't know how else to describe it
But I see that I have great support on the road and everywhere
Le Credit en Ligne0:04:0046Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Bbox Bouygues TelecomRow 45 - Cell 2 47Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des JeuxRow 46 - Cell 2 48John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La MondialeRow 47 - Cell 2 49Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en LigneRow 59 - Cell 2 61Grischa Niermann (Ger) RabobankRow 60 - Cell 2 62Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team KatushaRow 61 - Cell 2 63Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Quick StepRow 62 - Cell 2 64Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en LigneRow 163 - Cell 2 165Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre-Farnese ViniRow 164 - Cell 2 166Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bbox Bouygues TelecomRow 165 - Cell 2 167Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en LigneRow 166 - Cell 2 168Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne1Row 3 - Cell 3 Swipe to scroll horizontallyMountain 2 - Côte des Granges - 69.0km#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3 1Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step3pts2Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi2Row 1 - Cell 3 3Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne1Row 2 - Cell 3 Swipe to scroll horizontallyMountain 3 - Côte d'Arinthod - 84.5km#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3 1Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step4pts2Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi3Row 1 - Cell 3 3Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne2Row 2 - Cell 3 4Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre-Farnese Vini1Row 3 - Cell 3 Swipe to scroll horizontallyMountain 4 - Côte du barrage de Vouglans - 104.0km#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3 1Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step10pts2Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi9Row 1 - Cell 3 3Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram8Row 2 - Cell 3 4Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne0:05:3135Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack0:06:0036Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank0:06:0137Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha0:06:0438Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team HTC - Columbia0:06:0539Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux0:06:1340Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne0:06:2641John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale0:06:2942Christophe Kern (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne0:12:3556Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi0:12:4757Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) Cervelo Test TeamRow 56 - Cell 2 58Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank0:13:1159Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quick Step0:13:4560Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi0:13:4661Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank0:14:5662Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) Caisse d'Epargne0:15:1263Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne0:15:4364Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne0:16:2665Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Milram0:16:3366Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram0:16:3867Sébastien Minard (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne0:42:31167David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Transitions0:42:36168Bert Grabsch (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia0:43:06169Francesco Reda (Ita) Quick Step0:43:15170Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Transitions0:43:16171Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank0:44:24172Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne0:44:39173Roger Kluge (Ger) Team Milram0:44:58174David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Astana0:48:27175Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Cervelo Test Team0:48:56176Simon Spilak (Slo) Lampre-Farnese Vini0:49:14177Nicki Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank0:49:24178Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick Step0:50:51179Andreas Klier (Ger) Cervelo Test TeamRow 178 - Cell 2 180Alan Perez Lezaun (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi0:50:58181Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne33Row 24 - Cell 3 26Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram30Row 25 - Cell 3 27Julien El Farès (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne9Row 73 - Cell 3 75Cyril Gautier (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom8Row 74 - Cell 3 76Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi8Row 75 - Cell 3 77Michael Barry (Can) Sky Professional Cycling Team8Row 76 - Cell 3 78Pierre Rolland (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom6Row 77 - Cell 3 79Damien Monier (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne2Row 143 - Cell 3 145Bert Grabsch (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia2Row 144 - Cell 3 146Francesco Reda (Ita) Quick Step2Row 145 - Cell 3 147Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Team Katusha2Row 146 - Cell 3 148Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank1Row 147 - Cell 3 149Christophe Kern (Fra) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne11Row 10 - Cell 3 12Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis
Le Credit en Ligne1Row 31 - Cell 3 Swipe to scroll horizontallyBest young rider classification#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult1Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank33:03:182Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo0:01:153Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Footon-Servetto0:01:444Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank0:02:075Cyril Gautier (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom0:02:256Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team0:02:427Pierre Rolland (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom0:02:448Julien El Farès (Fra) Cofidis
This was the first taste of the mountains for the riders and you could see that it was a bit of a shock for everyone: the guys who went on the attack and for the overall contenders who didn't
If you consider that most of the riders arrived in Holland on the Tuesday before the Tour de France
that means that they haven't done any big climbing for almost two weeks
That's a significant factor and explains why none of the big guys really went for it
The heat was also a factor and it often is in the Jura mountains because it can be a very humid but also very hot area in the summer
It made for tough racing conditions and explains why Cancellara quickly lost contact and the yellow jersey
none of the lack of aggression takes anything away from Sylvain Chavanel's ride
He is on form and is using it to spectacular effect
He has always been a gutsy ride and won it will again
Chapeau to him and his team for getting the stage and the yellow jersey again
Some people thought that Geraint Thomas might have a chance of taking the yellow jersey but while it would have been nice
I think Geraint still needs to develop and gain more experience before he's got a real shot in situations like that
He's super talented but he built his week in the spotlight on his excellent ride in the prologue and then a strong ride on the cobbles
Being able to transfer that to the climbs is a big ask
He perhaps went a little deep that he planned to this week but it was well worth it for him and Team Sky
His second place overall kept the team car in second place in the race convoy and so was quickly there for punctures
With Wiggins also under performing in the prologue
the strong ride by Thomas also kept the pressure off him and allowed him to get into the race
They are little details not everyone sees but they do make a difference
Brad looked good on the climbs and should be up their with the other contenders on Sunday
He is probably now motivated and ready for his own spell in the spotlight
It's time for the first real show down in the Alps on Sunday and it should be a cracker
I think the last time the Tour went up there from this direction was back in 1985 when Hinault was battling with Luis Herrera
It's a real climb and could produce a real old battle amongst Evans
They all need to be up there if they are to be true overall contenders and may give it absolutely everything because they know they have the first rest day afterwards
I understand that Evans didn't get his BMC team to go after Chavanel because he didn't want to take the yellow jersey straight away
That's a clever move by Evans and shows he's playing an intelligent and long game
it means that Quick Step will be happy to control the first half of the stage and then he can perhaps take the jersey at the finish
enjoy having it on the rest day and BMC will only have to start defending it on Tuesday after they've rested up
Decisions like that can make the difference between and losing the Tour in Paris
He is also a former racing cyclist who represented Scotland at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and Great Britain at the 1998 Tour de Langkawi
Hinault and the Greatest Ever Tour de France
will be published by Yellow Jersey in May 2011
Sky’s the Limit: British Cycling’s Quest to Conquer the Tour de France
will also be published by HarperSport in June 2011
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most of the events throughout our lives take place in beds
A rarely-seen trove of European drawings spanning 500 years will be on view at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art from January 16–April 27
the right light… and for a few seconds the viewer is immersed in a “living picture.”
Pierre-Alain Augagneur had led the cooking equipment manufacturer for 15 years
Charvet president Pierre-Alain Augagneur has suddenly and tragically passed away at the age of just 50
He sadly suffered a heart attack while in Dubai on 27 October
Pierre-Alain had been dividing his time between there and his native France to manage Charvet’s local office for the past few years
Joining the respected cooking equipment manufacturer as CEO in 2003
Pierre-Alain was passionate about the Charavines-based firm’s capabilities
telling Catering Insight last year: “Charvet is a promise
The Charvet brand means something to chefs
He also said of his staff: “People love it here
which is why we never want to devalue the product.”
Charvet UK MD Wayne Cuomo paid tribute to him
saying: “The staff of Charvet Premier Ranges extend our deepest sympathy to his family
“The loss has left all of us deeply shocked and saddened
as he was a wonderful colleague and a valued friend
“Pierre-Alain was just 50 and leaves a wife and four children.”
Pierre-Alain graduated as an engineer from the School of Industrial Techniques and Textiles of Lille
beginning his career in 1994 as head of research and development at SIL
In 2008 he also took up the post of president at France Kitchen
a kitchen design and manufacturing collective Charvet co-owns with Tournus Equipement
he was the president of the technical commission of SYNEG
the French national union of large kitchen equipment
then the union’s president between 2013 and 2016
He had been vice president for the past 2 years
Funeral arrangements for Pierre-Alain are not yet known
sober-minded and devoted friend and family man
We stand with the Augagneur family in this time of terrible loss