Is France on the brink of revolution? Is President Fran?ois Hollande in danger of being dragged to the guillotine? These sound like silly questions. In fact, they are silly questions. Yet talk of a new revolution is surprisingly common in France these days. This week’s edition of Le Point, a leading news weekly, asks on its cover, “Are we in 1789?”, and illustrates the question with a picture of Mr Hollande, dressed up as Louis XVI, the hapless monarch executed by the revolutionaries. Even academics are making the comparison. Dominique Mo?si, a visiting professor at the University of London, has argued that the president “looks ever more like a modern Louis XVI” and that France is in the grip of a “regime crisis”.

Perhaps it was the delightful spring weather in Paris last week, but I had difficulty sniffing revolution in the air. The question that perplexed me instead was why the public and intellectual mood in France is so dark.

It is certainly true that things are not great. The economy is entering recession. Unemployment is high. The national debt is rising. Jér?me Cahuzac, the budget minister, has just had to resign because it was revealed that he had a secret bank account in Switzerland. Mr Hollande, in office for less than a year, has an approval rating of just 26 per cent.