Although expected, the election victory of the Rassemblement National (RN), the party of the extreme right in France, made big waves in the contry as a whole. For the first time under the Fifth Republic, the party stands a good chance of becoming the government. Still Jordan Bardella, who was the RN’s lead candidate made it clear he would go in as Prime Minister only if the RN got an absolute majority in the incoming Parliament. This will be known when the second round of voting in the elctions is over.

For the other parties could agree (as has happened in the past) to desist from competing in comstituencies where with their combined votes, RN candidates can be beaten. If this is done in enough constituencies, no political group will end up with an absolute majority in the French Parliament.

And if that happens, how will the country be run? Marine Le Pen, the RN leader, has stated that President Macron should then resign. He has already made it clear he will not do so and will carry on up to the end of his five year mandate. Macron generated universal susprise when he called for these elections in order to clarify the political situation in the wake of the European election results. Instead of having cleared, the situation appears to have become foggier.

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BIDEN

Following the debate last week between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, there remains little room for doubt. Biden will not be able to carry out for another four years the duities of the US presidency if he is elected in November. Indeed, the risk is very big tat he might even lose the election and the US would end up under Trump’s management.

If the latter were some Eisenhower, or indeed a Bush, or actually even a Nixon, there would be little cause for alarm about America spinning out of control. Given that Trump is a politician who specialises in lies, bluff and threats, this inded is a huge risk.

It all makes for a double risk: that Trump will win; and if he loses, that the US will be led by a President who lacks the basic abilities needed to govern in an appropriate manner.

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UNDERGROUND WATER

For as long as we’ve been relying on osmosis plants that convert sea water into potable water there has been a significant decrease in the attention given, publicly at least, to the levels of underground water. There used to be warnings in the past about the need to contain the consumption of water stored underground, for otherwise we would be irretrievably damaging the natural aquifers into which rain water percolates.

Already in those days, private owners of land would drill holes underground to draw up water and use it for farming and other purposes; the practice was illegal and widespread. It continued to spread and today, as far as I know, is still freely practised. All governments have considered it to be too politically dicey to try and brake the abuses.

Meanwhile, we have been getting less and less information about the state of the aquifers, and whether it has been improving or otherwise with the years, now that the population is increasing at an accellerating pace,