It has not been a happy week for the left. The sharpest blow
came on Sunday, no softer for being expected. Ségolène Royal's
defeat will extend to 17 unbroken years the right's lock on the
French presidency. Remarkable this, when you consider France's
place in the progressive imagination as the great European
bulwark against both globalisation and America's plans for
unipolar world domination. Even in France, which stands up to
Ronald McDonald and George Bush, the left cannot win.  Here in
Britain the gloomy tidings came earlier. The Conservatives
hammered Labour (and the Liberal Democrats) in England, bagging
a 40% share of the vote that makes a Tory general election win
utterly plausible. Defeats in Wales and Scotland only added to
the misery, suggesting that Tony Blair is making his exit just
as Labour's 10-year winning streak runs out. Pretty soon there
could be right-of-centre leaders in Europe's three great
capitals: Angela Merkel in Berlin, Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris and
David Cameron in London.  But look