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Last updated on August 10th, 2017 at 12:34 pm
The BBC’s Caroline Wyatt pens a profile of France’s “patrician poet prime minister” and “President Jacques Chirac’s personal protege”:
Poetry has always mixed with politics in [Dominique de Villepin’s] unusual life. His political writings are peppered with poetic references and, while a cabinet minister, he published a dense volume of verse, The Shark And The Seagull.
It was taken as a hymn of praise to the French social model. The seagull symbolises the subtle, praiseworthy values of France. And the shark stands for – what else? – the hungry, ruthless United States.
Dominique’s avian choice seems right on the money:
The seagull is best known as a scavenger. It is most often seen in large, noisy flocks congregating where food is available, around fishing boats, picnic grounds, parking lots and garbage dumps. Many people consider it a nuisance.
Sharks have been known to attack flying objects.
