Islamism

After just one year in power, the French president re-defines the word "unpopular". Only a quarter of the French population approve of him. His leadership is in question. Yet he does have several political achievements he can point to. Parliament has authorised gay marriage, François Hollande acted decisively in Mali to take the country back from jihadists and it seems he has managed to distance himself from the lies and deception of his former budget minister.

Douglas Herbert meets Syrian philosopher and writer Sadiq Jalal al-Azm to discuss the explosive mix of religion and politics in the Arab world. His guest has first-hand knowledge of how touchy the subject is. He himself was briefly jailed in 1970 after writing a groundbreaking book on the Six-Day War. He argued back then that the Arab defeat was due, in part, to their leaders' failure to rethink the role of religion in society.

French House Speaker Claude Bartolone gets a gunpowder letter telling him to delay Tuesday's vote on same-sex marriage. Continued tension over the vote is also seen in a homophobic attack at the weekend - a couple of guys were beaten up as they were leaving a gay nightclub in Nice. The US publication Mother Jones, meanwhile, argues that there is a Sushi Gap: a willingness to eat raw fish correlates almost perfectly with approval of marriage equality.

According to recent polls, many Turks have given up on EU membership. But Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arinç is determined as ever to revive EU talks. Even if Turkey’s regional influence in the Middle East is on the rise, he still thinks his country should be part of Europe’s destiny.