The invitees (all close friends) :
An engineer from Marseille, voluble Mélenchonist
A retired senior policeman from eastern France, mainstream right
A recently-naturalised Russian, who adores Macron
A young local-authority manager, Green
My wife and I, both immigrants, one of us Muslim.

There is a famous French movie, "Le Diner des Cons" (The Dinner Game). A group of friends take turns to invite some idiot to dinner with them so they can laugh at him.

There is a proverb in French : one is always someone else's idiot. Tonight will perhaps be like a circular firing squad. I'm looking forward to it.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}