A report by former foreign minister Hubert Vedrine claimed French influence would not be improved by reversing Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to return to Nato’s integrated command structure. In an open letter, former government adviser Regis Debray disagrees.

The Kerguelen Islands, almost in Antartica, are among the most isolated places on Earth. That may sound romantic, but the leaden hand of French bureaucracy has imposed its own world of rules and regulations