Nicolas Sarkozy has had it with Barack Obama. Reports leaking out of the Elysée Palace indicate that le président français is “needled by the adulation for an unproven US leader whose stardom has eclipsed what he sees as his [own] established record as a world troubleshooter.” The American president may be a rock star in Europe, but, sniffs Sarko’s staff, his call "to free the world of the menace of a nuclear nightmare" is nothing but le hot air. Meanwhile,

Mr Sarkozy has put out a version of the proceedings at the London G20 economic summit which casts him as hero, in the classic French role of intransigent defender of principle in the face of the American steamroller.

For anyone who doesn’t know just how intransigent the French can be when it comes to defending principle in the face of evil steamrollers, you can look it up. Be sure not to miss the sections on Vichy, collaboration, and the deportations of French Jews.