You couldn't make it up. What were Macron's ministers doing on the eve of the no-confidence vote to prove they deserved remaining in power and cared about the people's problems? Guillaume Kasbarian, Minister of Civil Service and the Transformation of Public Action, was doing his coming-out with a photo shoot for celebrity gossip magazine Paris Match 👇, in an article entitled "love despite the troubles". But why though? He explains: "Who cares who I live with, whether it's a man or a woman? I do this because I want to be sincere with the French people who follow me [...] There is no hidden communication agenda. The only communication I try to do on a daily basis is substantive communication about my ideas and my projects for the French people. That said, it doesn't prevent opening up a bit and sharing my intimate life with the French people." This man is a masterclass of contradictions... I personally agree with half of what he says: no-one cares who he lives with and he should concentrate on substantive subjects for the French people... The layers of irony run particularly deep for a Minister of Civil Service and Public Transformation who obviously confuses public service with public relations, and who obviously thinks that politicians need to be further transformed into tabloid celebrities. The only transformation on display here is the continued degradation of public office into personal brand management. Look no further for the reason these people are so immensely despised: whilst France is in the midst of one of its most serious crises in modern history, with exploding poverty rates, public debt costs surpassing Greece's, a war on its continent, extreme social tensions... these people are on a never-ending publicity campaign, so absorbed in their own image management that they've lost all sense of what public service actually means. That he chose the eve of a no-confidence vote for this magazine spread is perhaps the perfect metaphor for their utter disconnection from the gravity of our times.