My own rogues’ gallery
‘Emmanuel Macron? No, we have nothing at all. People were happy for a day or two after he was elected, but now they all hate him.” It was a disappointing response from a souvenir shop owner in the heart of Paris. Figurines of Marianne, models of the Eiffel Tower and tricolore-draped bric-a-brac were ranged on shelves by the Seine on my visit in 2018. But there was not a hint of the newish man in the Élysée. Not a single bust, figurine, badge or plate. Rien.
I have been collecting political memorabilia for 40 years. It is a pleasurable, but occasionally frustrating, business. Greed and obsession can be a problem, too – and that may well be an understatement. The truth is that I already owned a Macron, albeit encased in one of those tacky plastic snow globes, along with hundreds of other objects displayed on cramped shelves in our dining room, which friends, guests and neighbours are generally astounded by on first sight.
The main point, however, is in seeing how political
