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French fascist Jean-Marie Le Pen's visit to England was not the success hoped for by his BNP hosts.

THE BRITISH National Party's attempt to hold a fundraising event with the French Nazi leader Jean-Marie Le Pen spectacularly backfired last Sunday. A campaign organised by Unite Against Fascism trashed any hope the BNP had of favourable press coverage for their \"respectable\" black-tie dinner with Le Pen.

THE FRENCH Nazi leader Le Pen was due to come to Birmingham on Sunday. The leader of the National Front organisation announced on his website this week that he was planning an \"official visit\" in England on Sunday. He was likely to be speaking at an £80 a head fundraising dinner for the British National Party (BNP) in the West Midlands.

THE HEADLINE news in France's regional elections was that there was a big swing away from the ruling right to the parties of the "plural left"-the Socialists, Communists, and Greens. But, for the revolutionary left, the story was a different one.

'THESE ELECTIONS are assuming a national character. They are the first since the right wing UMP government won a landslide victory one and a half years ago. This came after the shock of the National Front's Le Pen getting into the run-off in the presidential election, and the huge protests that followed.

Over 1,000 protesters gathered outside the French embassy in London last Saturday. They were protesting against attempts by President Chirac and his right wing government to ban the headscarf worn by Muslim women, known as the hijab, from French schools.

ANGER IS growing over the French government's plans to ban the Muslim headscarf, known as the hijab, from schools.

MANY OF us here have watched with disgust how the French government has said it wants to ban Muslim women from wearing the headscarf in schools. However, we should not be complacent about Britain.

THE FRENCH government is proposing to ban Islamic headscarves in schools. It is a racist measure, whatever spin is put on it.

THOUSANDS OF activists from across Europe converged on Paris this week for the European Social Forum.

About 100 people attended a march round Bicester town centre on Saturday after the Bicester Refugee Support Group called a demonstration against racism and fascism. The demonstration was called after the National Front intimidated people not to shop at a French farmers market.

ANTI-CAPITALIST forces moved to the centre stage of French politics last weekend. The country's two main far left organisations announced their united electoral challenge in important regional and European elections due next June-the same time as similar elections in Britain.