As voters decide in the second round of elections today, the far right’s shock success last week has left many asking what the future holds for the republic

In the past week, since Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) stormed into its daunting lead in the first round of the French parliamentary elections, a menacing graffito has appeared in my neighbourhood in Paris, on a busy street corner between the boulangerie and the wine shop. Written in black, in a clear and steady hand, it reads “Les nerfs sont tendus, les Fachos seront pendus” – “Nerves are being stretched, the fascists will be hung”.

As France has advanced towards the runoff second round of the elections, life has been quietly humming along in the quartier – Euro football matches in the cafes, shopping and commuting have all been as normal. But the graffito has always been there, an ominous backdrop to everyday life, a sinister threat and a warning about the tensions in France right now.

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Cabaret club’s sails collapsed in April and new ones are up in time for Olympic torch to pass by on 15 July

Paris’s Moulin Rouge cabaret club, whose landmark windmill sails fell down in April, has inaugurated a new set, a week before the Olympic torch was due to pass by the venue.

The home of the can-can was temporarily laid low after the sails of the red-painted windmill tumbled to the ground in the early hours of 25 April.

Lawrence Cheung received his card too late to post home, so went to the Gare du Nord to find someone who might be travelling to the UK

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If the swing constituency of the Cities of London and Westminster is won by a single vote, it may all be down to one man who was not even eligible to vote himself.

Moritz Hauschulz, a German citizen living in London, was about to board a Eurostar train at the Gare du Nord in Paris on Thursday morning when he was approached by stranger clutching an envelope.