The French political and gossip press, as well as some glossies, united over Christmas as President Nicolas Sarkozy’s girlfriend, model-turned-singer Carla Bruni, flew to Luxor with his family to stay at the five-star Hotel Sofitel Old Winter Palace (left), near the Karnak temple. The family flew on a Falcon 900 private jet loaned by billionaire Vincent Bolloré. This was confirmed by the Élysée.
   The Élysée states that President Sarkozy has an official visit in Egypt on the 30th, but has not elaborated on Ms Bruni’s role.
   The political left is critical of the relationship being in the limelight, despite an earlier poll showing that 89 per cent of French people regard it as a private matter.
   Given the state of the non-political media, the attention Sarkozy and Bruni have received is unsurprising and cannot be levelled entirely at the President. While he has been attacked over a lack of solemnity for the office by Jean Matouk, a leftist economist, one thinks that even the most restrained of conduct would not stop public and gossip media interest. The alternative, surely, must be to transport Ms Bruni as cargo—or hide the relationship altogether (as Sarko’s married predecessors once did with their extramarital affairs) in an age of transparency?
   The price of the rooms at the Old Winter Palace might be a better target for leftists: some of the top suites go for $1,100 per night, according to Libération.