LONDON -- 2004 marks the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale -- the accord between Britain and France of 1904 that marked a new era of friendship, the ending of numerous disputes and, as it turned out, intimate military alliance in two world wars.
Yet despite these heroic moments of the 20th century, it would be difficult to find a relationship between two nations that was more ambiguous, more full of contradictions, more conducive of hypocrisy and more prone to shifts of mood than the British-French one.
The situation here and now is a perfect example of all these characteristics. To mark the centenary, London is staging numerous events and exhibitions to prove just how much the British love all things French. French President Jacques Chirac is to visit London and will address both Houses of Parliament.