And this was even before the revelations relating to Jérôme Cahuzac, the budget minister responsible for cutting tax evasion. Despite his own denials before parliament to the contrary, Cahuzac turned out to have a secret Swiss bank account holding more than €600,000 (£515,000). How much and when Hollande knew about this remains unclear but his subsequent attempt to impose greater financial transparency on his government and France's parliamentarians has done little to endear him to the political class. Above all, Hollande's electoral promise to establish a post-Sarkozy, post-bling "exemplary republic" is in tatters.

The parallels with the earlier misfortunes of François Mitterrand are all too obvious. Hollande's ministers are falling out among themselves and criticism from his left-wing allies is getting ever more strident. Hardly a day passes without calls for an alternative strategy and new initiatives. 

Military intervention in Mali has brought little political advantage. Legislation on gay marriage united bitterly divided opponents on the Right and, like Mitterrand's earlier legislation on Catholic schools, brought many thousands of mostly young protestors out onto the streets. The only difference was that, this time, the demonstrators were met by tear gas.

Worst of all is the seeming unwillingness to address France's long-term problems. Something of their scale can be grasped by looking at the parlous state of France's car industry. Figures show that in ten years production has declined by 50 per cent. In the last year alone production declined by over 13 per cent. Several Renault factories are working at 30 per cent capacity. This is a picture common to large sections of French industry.

Unemployment, and youth unemployment in particular, is not a new problem. Nor is public debt. But both are much higher than they were in Mitterrand's day and membership of the euro now denies France the option of a quick-fix devaluation of her currency. France has the highest rates of corporation and capital gains tax in Europe. Public spending accounts for 57 per cent of GDP. The labour market remains rigidly inflexible.