Sarkozy runs into trouble
Updated on 04 July 2007
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President Sarkozy's "right-wing" jogging habits provoke the anger of French intellectuals.
Jogging - innocent, healthy exercise or a capitalist pastime designed to undermine democracy? That's the debate that's gripping France - where else?
Prominent intellectuals claim President Nicolas Sarkozy's love of jogging is un-French. They say it could even be a right wing plot to undermine French society.
Celebrated philosopher Alain Finkelkraut has said: "Western civilisation, in its best sense, was born with the promenade. Walking is a sensitive, spiritual act. Jogging is management of the body."
Sports editor Odile Baudrier agreed, saying: "Jogging is, of course, about performance and individualism, values that are traditionally ascribed to the right."
