There’s only one winner from Macron’s hardline response to pension protests: the far right | Oliver Haynes

In pushing through with this unpopular reform, the French president is doing the groundwork for Marine Le Pen

It's been a great few months for the rats of Paris. As they've grown fat, feasting on rubbish in the streets, citizens have been struggling to catch a train and facing fuel shortages at the pumps. Tomorrow, another rolling strike of refuse collectors will start and the streets of the capital will again fill with the pungent aroma of social conflict.

President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, is missing in action, hiding in the Elysee Palace or travelling abroad. A recent front page of the left-leaning Liberation newspaper declared that he was becoming increasingly out of touch with the people.