Will the French be spending New Year’s Eve in slippers this year? That was the headline of the French daily Le Parisien, while the weekly magazine Le Point summed up the dilemma in three words: “Soirée ou canapé?” – an evening out or an evening on the sofa? It’s the question being asked in households across France ahead of New Year’s Eve, as cases of Covid-19 in the country soar to unprecedented levels.