Fleur Pellerin, France’s culture minister, has made what many deem to be a grave error. During an appearance on French TV she admitted that she had not sat down and read a book for more than two years, adding that she “read a lot of legislative documents, I read a lot of news ... but I read very little”. Ms Pellerin became a junior minister with responsibility for France’s digital economy in 2012 and assumed control of the culture and communications portfolio earlier this year. Her disclosure has prompted calls for her to resign.
Those cries of outrage expose the expectations that are placed upon modern politicians and a curious line of argument that goes beyond whether a culture minister should actually have an interest in culture to do her job effectively. These days, a politician’s evenings are more likely to be filled with policy than a page-turning novel. Ms Pellerin’s answer was not the one many wanted to hear, but it does suggest she is committed to her job.
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm kick-off UAE)
Bayer Leverkusen v Schalke (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Cologne (5.30pm)
Mainz v Arminia Bielefeld (5.30pm)
Augsburg v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Bayern Munich (8.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Freiburg (10.30pm)
Sunday
VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v Hertha Berlin (8pm)
if you go
It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus
To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.
The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.
SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.
But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.
