As a foreign correspondent I used to report on dictators and democrats. Now I collect them
‘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 between the Boulevard St Germain and Notre-Dame. Figurines of Marianne, models of the Eiffel Tower and tricolore-draped bric-a-brac were ranged on shelves looking out over 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.
Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill globe cup celebrating the 1941 Lend-Lease agreement to provide support for the allies before the US entered the war. The inscription is: ‘Let’s drink to victory. Let’s drink to peace.’ Bought in Portobello Road, London, 2012
