Three news items have briefly held my notoriously poor attention span over the last few days.

1.    M. Sarkozy claims that he was present when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, and has posted a photograph of himself on his Facebook site showing him hacking at the wall with his little tool. However, there have been many counterclaims, and even accusations that the photograph has been Photoshopped and he wasn’t actually there at the time.  I can’t see that it matters one tittle if he was or wasn’t. Surely it isn’t worth lying about?

2.     We have a new hero, Tony Musulin, the security van driver who calmly drove away with over 11 million euros in crisp new notes. He has been proclaimed “Best Thief of the Year”, and the Le Parisien daily newspaper commented: “Good move, well pulled off.” The common attitude seems to be that it was a perfect crime, pulled off without violence. I have to admit to a twinge of disappointment to read that some 9 million euros from the heist have now been recovered. On the other hand, Tony and the remaining millions have not (yet), and I can’t help hoping that they never will be. Why shouldn’t he get away with it, just like the banking bosses?

Here’s Tony! And when they make the film, I nominate Russell Crowe for the lead role.

3.     Ten kilometers from our door a man suspected of a triple murder has been arrested. The turgid surface of French rural life conceals a minor maelstrom of tragedies and disasters, and there have been a number of suicides and murders locally over the years. But I don’t think we’ve heard of a triple murderer in the area before.