@FT writer. Now increasingly at @simonkuper.bsky.social. Latest books: World Cup Fever, and my memoir of modern Paris, Impossible City
Paris
Joined November 2011
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Very chuffed to get my hands on a copy of my book World Cup Fever - a story of the tournament told through my own nine World Cups. It's out in English and Dutch in early October, but you can already preorder it, e.g. here waterstones.com/book/world-c…
Agreed. I'm fine with people who know nothing about current events because they don't care and have other things going on in their lives. What bothers me is people who know nothing about current events but have strong opinions about them
1. There's been lots of debate about whether we're witnessing a return of fascism. Hard to say as ideologies of each era are different. What we are seeing is a return to 'collaboration', in the French sense of wartime Vichy//
Siding with a tyrannic invader against innocent citizens and democracies is collaboration. It's doing what Pétain did in 1940. Supporting Russia against Ukraine is collaboration. Any politician or party or person that backs Putin, or wants Ukraine to surrender, is a collaborator
Simon Kuper retweeted
My new book - out today in Britain. All good bookstores etc…Also out in translation in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands this week
New Book Alert: @chbiermann is always excellent. Game Theory: How Luck and Analytics Shape Football, by Christoph Biermann stanchionbooks.com/products/…
La France a des grands problèmes mais aussi des grands analystes. @MarionVanR publie demain son bouquin Femmes extrêmes, trois 'portraits croisés' de Marine Le Pen, Alice Weidel et Giorgia Meloni. Je viens de lire quelques chapitres, et c'est excellent arenes.fr/livre/femmes-extre…
Jean Tirole a reçu le prix Nobel d'économie en 2014. Il vient de publier, avec Karine Van der Straeten, l'essai Économie du désordre mondial: Comment la géopolitique a tout changé.
Ils proposent quelques solutions pour la France et l'Europe. albin-michel.fr/economie-du-…
EU gives Ukraine a huge amount of support - beyond what individual countries do. Le Pen could block that commission.europa.eu/topics/… and commission.europa.eu/topics/…
Marine Le Pen currently thumping all likely opponents in the 2nd-round runoff. Europe's big three - 🇩🇪, 🇫🇷, 🇬🇧 - haven't had a far-right government since 1945. She's not Vichy (though her party came out of that inheritance) but this would be a big moment. May 2, 2027
🔴🗳️🇫🇷 Premières intentions de vote présidentielles @IfopOpinion post-17 octobre :
Marine Le Pen en tête dans les cinq hypothèses de second tour testées, et elle n'a jamais été aussi haute.
⚫️ Le Pen 68 % -🔴 Mélenchon 32 %
⚫️ Le Pen 57 % -🟣 Glucksmann 43 %
⚫️ Le Pen 59 % -🟣 Hollande 41 %
⚫️ Le Pen 58 % -🟡 Attal 42 %
⚫️ Le Pen 56 % -🔵 Philippe 44 %
Sondage Ifop-Fiducial pour LCI, Le Figaro et Sud Radio, réalisé du 17 au 19 octobre 2026
Simon Kuper retweeted
This is a tour de force by @ShahinVallee on France’s fiscal impasse and the ECB’s machinations (and complacency over TPI) on Odd Lots youtu.be/JmM0sC1FKwU?is=qzfw…
This is gruesome but people need to look. This is Putin's war
A horrific Russian strike in the Kharkiv region. A “shahed” struck people directly – in a park near an ordinary café. Pure atrocity. Six people were killed, including children. A little girl was killed in a stroller – her name was Angelina, she was just over a year old, born in August 2025… Her mother’s name was Inna. She died in the hospital… Another girl who was killed was 11 years old. My condolences to their families and loved ones. Another 14 people were injured, including six more children.
I am grateful to everyone who supports Ukraine under these circumstances and helps us shoot down “shaheds,” shoot down missiles, and stop Russian assaults. These are horrific photos, but behind them are shattered lives and the truth about this war. Lives must be protected. Ukraine needs air defense. You can't think about making money with Russia as long as it continues its asinine war. We ask that sanctions on Russia stay in place as long as the killings continue. We ask America to be strong, and we ask it to apply the Lindsey Graham law. We ask Europe to continue its support. We ask that everything possible be done to bring peace and guarantee security. Ukraine wants peace. It is Russia that has insisted on continuing the killing all this time. The world has enough strength to stop the war. That strength must finally be used – against the murderers.
The demonstrations and the riots are not the same thing, nor done by same people. Mélenchon encourages (doesn't 'foment') former, and refuses to condemn latter
Simon Kuper retweeted
Schrijver Simon Kuper maakt de rellen in Frankrijk van dichtbij mee. Hij denkt dat ze bijdragen aan de populariteit van de radicaal-rechtse Marine Le Pen. "Ze was al favoriet, nu is ze torenhoge favoriet. Zij kan zeggen: ik ben de vrouw van orde, ik ga de autoriteit weer herstellen. Ik denk dat zij de grote winnaar is." #GoedemorgenNederland #WNL
Full agree. Violent French chaos sets stage for Le Pen to pose as strongwoman who will sort it all out at home (and then pull support from Ukraine)
This act of extraordinary vandalism will help no one but the National Front (RN) and Vladimir Putin. I wonder if Europeans really do want to save themselves. euronews.com/2026/10/18/spir…
