I was too, but alas:

She [Sabine upon visiting the House of Commons] is dismayed that her new Tory friends are against further integration with the European Union. "Why take it so seriously? I am a classical liberal, but I am also pro-European.

Denis [MacShane, the Europe minister] and Sabine get on famously, agreeing that there is a need for the European constitution.

I am not anti-union, just anti the communist ones.

Oh, well. But she is young, let's give her time...

Well Francois Quesnay was considered free-market in his day, yet his national-accounts breakdown is still used to justify French dirigiste central-planning thinking, so I'm pessimistic.

Do most ordinary French people feel they have a problem which can be traced to the French way of doing things? Or is it just the current version of "someone else is to blame"?

After Gabriel's quote above, it sounds like being pro-European is almost a religious belief, the questioning of which is literally unthinkable.

Somehow these people have created a brand so powerful that saying you do not like the EU is for Continentals tantamount to saying you are a Nazi and would rejoice to see widespread war and torture.

...is it just me or do everybody, when clicking on the link provided, get a "Login: To see the report or section you have just selected, you need to to login..."?

Anyway, hope she's not an isolated case but that her views (except the pro-EU one) is/will be shared by many many others and not stopping with the Frenchmen.

Telegraph links are free but you need to set up a log-in first... it takes a couple mins at most

Johan, try this link

Mark, The average French person has absolutely no idea that France has a problem - except with crime and the non-assimilation of large numbers of N African immigrants. They don't realise at all that they have serious problems with laziness, statism and backwardness.

Laziness and backwardness are underrated.

Of course, a Frenchman would never have said "Vive LA Sabine". That sounds pretty odd and if anything, old-fashioned and vulgar.
Maybe it's like "double entendre" or "cri de coeur", a strictly English way of speaking.
"Sabine au pouvoir" would have been idiomatic.

Thanks a lot to Bwana Dik: how did you do that?

Pro-European? Oh well, guess we will have to look elsewhere for the Great French hope. There goes her cred. It is impossible to be a "classical liberal" and pro-EU. They are an anathema to each other.

X - Not by me.

I am all in favour of people being consumed with laziness and backwardness... just so long as they don't expect to maintain their stinking rat infested but oh so organic hovel with my tax money.

Perry & Bwana Dik: thank you, all sorted out...

..nice article, interesting..

She is also - ahem - quite an eyeful.

Where's the picture, damn you ?

Angos, probably in the print version... :-(

Interesting article.

What a dame.

There is another Telegraph article with a photograph
And a link from her website

Francois G, apologies if my use of the French language was poor. Grovel!

Yep, this woman is quite something. Let's ask us to write for this blog. Perry, let's make our pitch!

Love may be declared at:
Sabine Hérold
Sabine Hérold

Failed attempt, apparently. That's what the PREVIEW was for.
New try:

belovedfreedom@free.fr

sabine_herold@hotmail.com

Joan of Arc - Herold is really an interesting character:

------------------------------------------------------------

1/

Ma chère Sabine, come to Paris (you know in France). I don't think the shops are closed on Sundays, & neither are the ones located in major French cities.

Sabine: is lying your favourite hobby?

...........................................................................

2/

Sabine, la grande prêtresse de l'avant-garde.

Sabine: why are you dreaming about a very old fright who was kicked out of business in the last century?

..........................................................................

3/

Are you referring to yourself?

Don't you have a clue about how revolting (for yourself) that kind of stupid tirade can be...

..........................................................................

4/

Mademoiselle Sabine: why this immense brainless arrogance in robbering a famous quote by a no less famous communist poet (Paul Eluard).

Given your bright eloquence, I doubt you could be a poet ever.

Could it be you're a crypto-communist?

..........................................................................

5/

Oh well Sabine. Can you put up with Jews, gays, Blacks, disabled people & non-involved apolitical French?

..........................................................................

6/

No comments, Sabine.

Your socialising is filled by vacuity only.

..........................................................................

7/

Fortunately SuperSabine came here to cleanse that filthy France.

And ZorroSabine is soon to open a new business: balls renting for coward, sissy-like French businessmen.

..........................................................................

8/

Sabine: that was intelligent, at last...

..........................................................................

9/

Sabine: if I were a cruel person, I would translate this hideous text & e-mail it at random throughout France. Then you wouldn't dare to come back unless faking your true identity...

..........................................................................

10/

Sweetie, if you had the slightest notion of the opening hours in vigour in this country you don't seem to live in, you'd probably lower your bullshit-per-second rate as far as your depressing utterance is concerned.

------------------------------------------------------------

Sabine: le ridicule ne tue pas.

------------------------------------------------------------

Kodiak.

SORRY FOR THE TRUNCATED PREVIOUS POST JUST ABOVE

Joan of Arc - Herold is really an interesting character:

------------------------------------------------------------

1/ As it is Sunday afternoon when she arrives, I explain that most politicians are in their constituencies. "Well, maybe I have time to shop," she says. Going down Oxford Street, she is thrilled. "All your shops are open. In France, nothing is allowed to open on a Sunday."

Ma chère Sabine, come to Paris (you know in France). I don't think the shops are closed on Sundays, & neither are the ones located in major French cities.

Sabine: is lying your favourite hobby?

...........................................................................

2/ I love Margaret Thatcher

Sabine, la grande prêtresse de l'avant-garde.

Sabine: why are you dreaming about a very old fright who was kicked out of business in the last century?

..........................................................................

3/ I love the way you work so hard. In France, we have become lazy and staid.

Are you referring to yourself?

Don't you have a clue about how revolting (for yourself) that kind of stupid tirade can be...

..........................................................................

4/ she has set up an organisation: "Liberté J'Ecris Ton Nom"

Mademoiselle Sabine: why this immense brainless arrogance in robbering a famous quote by a no less famous communist poet (Paul Eluard).

Given your bright eloquence, I doubt you could be a poet ever.

Could it be you're a crypto-communist?

..........................................................................

5/ Anji Hunter, Tony Blair's former aide, explains how to get the best out of the unions. Sabine agrees: "I am not anti-union, just anti the communist ones."

Oh well Sabine. Can you put up with Jews, gays, Blacks, disabled people & non-involved apolitical French?

..........................................................................

6/ Iain Duncan Smith is waiting for her in his office. "My son has just been to an Eminem concert. You can't fight American culture," he tells her.

No comments, Sabine.

Your socialising is filled by vacuity only.

..........................................................................

7/

Fortunately SuperSabine came here to cleanse that filthy France.

And ZorroSabine is soon to open a new business: balls renting for coward, sissy-like French businessmen.

..........................................................................

8/ They admit that Le Pen is France's best speaker. "It is such a shame that what he says is so dreadful," says Sabine.

Sabine: that was intelligent, at last...

..........................................................................

9/ They suggest whisky, explaining that this is what Margaret Thatcher drank. "I will try some," she says, taking a sip. She nearly chokes, but keeps going. "Very earthy," she says. "In France, we are told that British Conservatives are all stuffy reactionaries. But you're very open-minded. You shall be my pen friends."

Sabine: if I were a ruthless person, I would translate this hideous text & e-mail it at random throughout France. Then you wouldn't dare to come back unless faking your true identity...

..........................................................................

10/ No - in France, our supermarkets close at 6pm, so I never get there in time.

Sweetie, if you had the slightest notion of the opening hours in vigour in this country you don't seem to live in, you'd probably lower your bullshit-per-second rate as far as your depressing utterance is concerned.

------------------------------------------------------------

Sabine: le ridicule ne tue pas.

------------------------------------------------------------

Kodiak.