Gare du Nord

Terror has become banal in Macron’s France

The mother of my daughter was at the Gare du Nord on Wednesday morning when a man ran amok with a knife. Six people were stabbed but she was not one of them. I have a friend who wasn’t so fortunate. In July 2016, three members of his family were enjoying the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice when a Tunisian drove a 19-ton lorry along the Promenade des Anglais. They died, along with 83 others, who had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  This has been the fate of the French since 2015: fingers crossed and hope for the best, a philosophy encouraged by