Emmanuel Macron’s charm offensive

France’s President is respected but unloved. In September 2021, Sophie Pedder followed Emmanuel Macron to Marseille. The French President was on a quest to reconnect with the cultural crossroad that had lost faith in their leader. The trio came to feel like an informal launch of his presidential campaign, with a message that seemed to say, “if I can reconnect with Marseille, I can reconnect with France.” In this fascinating, comprehensive profile on Macron, Pedder tries to examine how he thinks and operates. He has fallen out of favour with the public in recent years. Are his efforts to rectify his position working? Or is his time simply running out? “Western democracies the world over are now bearing witness to the destructive social forces unleashed by politicians without parties or elites without empathy. These are hard to contain. French history marks progress through revolt: 1789, 1870, 1968. Its rulers disregard the people at their peril. A recent poll asked citizens what bothered them most about Macron. The most common answer? 'His disconnect from the realities of daily life.'”