The only reason they built the Eiffel Tower out of steel was to make it fireproof

There's a lot of talk at the moment about the failure of French society to integrate the growing North African population. As a former resident of Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon not dissimilar to the Paris district currently hosting an unlicensed barbecue, I feel I have some authority to comment.

To those who say that North African immigrants are disenfranchised, I say poppycock. If they were that culturally isolated they wouldn't be engaging so enthusiastically in the French national sport - rioting. From the papists massacre of the huguenots, through the glorious revolution (at least they had the right idea about the aristocracy), on through the Paris riots of the sixties and the more recent actions of their farmers, fisherman and lorry drivers, the French have a wonderful history of being a complete pain in the arse to anyone who doesn't share their unsound views.

Given that I'm discussing a nation here that is almost completely devoid of any latent sporting ability, with a list of battle honours that stopped abruptly after Agincourt, and who's greatest cultural icon remains a 4.5 ft high sex-pest. Given these inadequacies, it is perhaps not surprising that the populace have traditionally thrown their pride and passion (not inconsiderable in the case of either) into civil unrest. The main point is, well done to the Algerian immigrants and their sporting opponents the CRS, or as they say in Paris 'bienvenue en France, prenez un cocktail Molotov et joignez la fete'!

As an aside, the only time the French have kept a steely silence was when the Nazis were carting off all their Jewish people. And they wonder why I refer to them as 'collaborators'.