The mayor of shark city takes a dip

The mayor of Paris lowered herself gingerly into the Seine yesterday. Anne Hidalgo, wearing a wetsuit, splashed about before declaring the water was lovely. She meant it was clean. Pollution in the river, and a too-recent discovery there of E.coli, had suggested otherwise. With only nine days until the start of the Olympic Games, Hidalgo had a point to make: the river is safe for the triathlon and open swimming events. She emerged safely, which is more than can be said for her fictional counterpart in the unlikely Netflix summer hit, Under Paris. This French film, which has topped charts across the world, features another mayor anxious to show the Seine is safe for a major event. Her problem is different: a giant man- and possibly mayor-eating shark, mutated by pollutants, has started chewing up the citizenry. Things end better for the shark than the mayor. Back in real life Hidalgo hopes her dip will reassure voters: one of the benefits of hosting the Games is supposed to be restoring the Seine as safe water for humans, not sharks.