Katy Lee

The Enshittificator Digital products and services keep getting worse. In the new report Breaking Free: Pathways to a fair technological future, the Norwegian Consumer Council has delved…

This video is gold. The Norwegian Consumer Council is hitting back against the crappy tech that is making things increasingly shitty.

vimeo.com/1168468796

« La boulangerie, je n’y avais jamais pensé » : venu du Sri Lanka, Sithamparappillai fabrique la meilleure baguette de Paris Sithamparappillai Jegatheepan, le boulanger du Fournil Didot (XIVe), est le vainqueur du concours 2026 de la meilleure baguette tradition de

We love to see it! Sithamparappillai Jegatheepan, a Sri Lankan baker who arrived in France in 2003, has just won best baguette in Paris. He wins €4,000 and a year-long contract baking for Macron

www.leparisien.fr/paris-75/la-...

‘It’s as if the women were cattle’: Fayed survivors look ... Victims of a sex trafficking network said to rival that of Jeffrey Epstein tell The Observer why Ritz Paris and Fayed organisations beyond Harrods must now be scrutinised, and why they are pinning the...

Survivors of Mohamed Al Fayed's abuse are fighting to have their cases recognised as trafficking similar to the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein. Requests to the Met have gone unheeded so they are pinning their hopes on a French investigation.

My piece for The Observer:

observer.co.uk/news/interna...

🚄✈️Why is it still so hard to choose train over plane?

On long-distance routes, choosing the train can feel borderline heroic. It’s often more expensive, takes longer, and you often miss connections.

We asked @jon@gruene.social what needs to change to make rail the obvious choice.

THREAD:

It started with an article that described women as a net deficit to the economy. Emma has spent years researching how the entire way we think about economics is geared against women. I loved talking to her about the arguments she makes in her book, 'Deficit':

Includes a great tidbit I learned from @emmapearson.bsky.social's excellent Talking France podcast: Emmanuel Macron holds the current record for the longest time spent by any politician at the Salon de l'agriculture (14 hrs 40 mins)

Come for the nougat fights, if not the cows Even in a boring year, the Salon de l’agriculture is anything but boring.

This week, I have written about the massive punch-up at a nougat stand at the Salon de l'agriculture. If you've ever wanted to see a fight involving a nougat knife, watch the video.

millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/come-for-t...

Oh noooooon

It hadn’t occurred me to tell myself I’m being eco-friendly when I microwave, I’m totally gonna do that from now on

Consumers are obsessed with food miles because it is easy to understand - why are my bananas from so far away? But moving fruit in bulk on ships is far from the biggest cost involved. It can also be more environmentally friendly than organic food grown nearby
www.worksinprogress.news/p/notes-on-p...

Gisèle Pelicot on rape, courage and her ex-husband: ‘He was loved by everyone. That’s what is so terrifying’ The case against her former husband shocked the world, while her response inspired awe. As she publishes a memoir, she discusses chemical submission, the abuse hidden within her apparently perfect mar...

Utterly floored by every interview of Gisèle Pelicot’s, and her ability to speak about the terrible things that happened to her with such eloquence.

And what a much-needed right it is in the world that she has been able to find love again. ‘Hope is allowed’

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

It’s got cannabis policy! It’s got vintage ski video recommendations! It’s unfailingly a good read, and I can say this because I’m not responsible for writing it:

Important listening this week.

Cincinnati enquirer headline about how Ohio depends on immigrants for growth

Love and support you always, Cincinnati Enquirer (support local media), but esp today

This is a Midwest daily paper. About as middle of the road as you can get

& they understand that this is an objective, straight news headline, in the context of a planned Trump/GOP onslaught in Springfield, etc

(seen a bunch of people sharing this/talking in general about how "normal" Mamdani is but imo this doesn't show a normal person, but an *exceptionally* skilled communicator - a normal person wouldn't react like that to having a speech interrupted by a child! give him his due!)

Lots in this episode for anyone who’s interested in how we make our podcasts, as well as anyone who’s interested in socks and/or owls

Thanks for sharing Alex 🙏

A man just died in Paris in police custody. Why aren’t we more outraged? His name was El Hacen Diarra. In a video of his arrest, he tells the officers: ‘You’re strangling me.’

Important reporting from @katyinparis.bsky.social:
millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/a-man-just...

A man just died in Paris in police custody. Why aren’t we more outraged? His name was El Hacen Diarra. In a video of his arrest, he tells the officers: ‘You’re strangling me.’

Essential reading from @katyinparis.bsky.social. El Hacen Diarra died in police custody this month, after video shows officers beating him on the street and screaming that he was being strangled. Very few people are talking about it.

millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/a-man-just...

A man just died in Paris in police custody. Why aren’t we more outraged? His name was El Hacen Diarra. In a video of his arrest, he tells the officers: ‘You’re strangling me.’

An important story by @katyinparis.bsky.social aris.bsky.social about a death at the hands of the French police that has too easily been ignored.
"You’re strangling me," El Hacen Diarra told police, in the latest echo of Eric Garner's "I can't breathe".
millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/a-man-just...

A man just died in Paris in police custody. Why aren’t we more outraged? His name was El Hacen Diarra. In a video of his arrest, he tells the officers: ‘You’re strangling me.’

This week I wrote about El Hacen Diarra, who died in police custody in Paris; about why his death is not front-page news; and about why we do not need to understand his death through the prism of what is happening with ICE in the US.

millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/a-man-just...

Had the time of my life co-hosting with my favourite Luxembourger @ninaism.bsky.social this week

Have you got questions about how we make The Europeans? We're recording a Q&A episode next week, so we'd love to hear them!

Drop your questions below, or even better, email us a voice memo so we can hear your voice on the podcast :) hello (at) europeanspodcast.com

This newsletter is honestly the read you need after the week that it’s been — it’s got nuns, it’s got Czech tearoom vibes, and it’s got incredible gifs

British crown was world’s largest buyer of enslaved people by 1807, book reveals Exclusive: Author of The Crown’s Silence tells how navy and monarchy protected slave trade for hundreds of years The British crown and the navy expanded and protected the trade in enslaved African people for hundreds of years, unprecedented research into the monarchy’s historical ties to slavery has found. The Crown’s Silence, a book by the historian Brooke Newman, follows the Guardian’s 2023 Cost of the crown report, which explored the British monarchy’s hidden ties to transatlantic slavery. Continue reading...

British crown was world’s largest buyer of enslaved people by 1807, book reveals

This week we speak to the UK gov minister negotiating a post-Brexit 'reset' with the EU. As @dominicinamsterdam.bsky.social points out, the fact that he even wants to speak on a pan-European podcast shows how times have changed.

But will the reset really go beyond anything symbolic? Listen:

The Paris electoral system, explained I’ve given up predicting who’s going to be this city’s next mayor.

This week in my newsletter: I figured out how the Paris electoral system works so you don't have to

(Actually, if you've got a vote in these elections you unfortunately still have to, but I hope this newsletter makes that process a bit less painful)

millefeuilleparis.substack.com/p/the-paris-...

I realise this isn't the main story, but can we talk about Emmanuel Macron's apparent allergy to punctuation?

Any other former prime ministers wanna come on our podcast? Or present prime ministers, we’re not fussy

Kind of love this as a retirement hobby