How the French stole a march on British music

The French may be fond of telling the English how much better they are at various activities: cooking, painting, lovemaking... but the Englishman always had one trump card up his sleeve: "All well and good, Jean-Claude - but your pop is merde."

No longer can we afford to be smug. Daft Punk and Air led the French pop renaissance, redefining dance music in the Nineties - a legacy continued by monumentally heavy Parisian dance duo Justice and the ultra-chic Ed Banger and Kitsuné labels.

Then there is the inventive female singer Camille, the mercurial genius Manu Chao and the louche joys of crooner Sebastien Tellier - whose 2008 Eurovision performance was worth sitting through the rest of the show for. French hip hop has long been the choice of those tired of American braggadocio, while Paris is the first stop for African artists such as Amadou and Mariam.

These nouvelles vagues have sent we Anglo-Saxons back to the history books to judge Sixties legend Serge Gainsbourg the equal of the Beatles.

When the French take to someone, they treat them with respect and patience, enabling distinguished careers. Charlie Winston is quite right that our scene is fickle and shallow by comparison.