As Benjamin Franklin remarked, ‘Experience keeps a dear school, yet fools learn in no other.’ He was brilliant enough to invent the lightning conductor but could not predict the formation of the (...)

The French go to the polls this spring to elect a new president. After the surprise of the US election, the UK vote for Brexit, and the rise of Europe’s far right, the world will be watching. In round one, on 23 April, all candidates with 500 signatures from elected officials will face off. Two weeks later, on 7 May, the two top candidates will face each other in a second run-off. These are the main candidates, from left to right of the political spectrum.

Emmanuel Macron projects himself as having no past and no allegiances. But he’s very well connected to huge networks of influence.