France’s radical left on brink of local election victory in Roubaix

Strong showing for Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s LFI party will suggest its electoral base is firm despite recent controversy Farouk stood at his doorstep on a row of redbrick terrace houses in the northern French town of Roubaix – once the glory of the textile industry before decades of factory closures and unemployment made it the poorest town in mainland France. “It feels like there’s a lot of darkness in the world and we just want to let in a little light,” said the 73-year-old former market shoe ...

By Angelique Chrisafis in Roubaix