French finance minister says "not personally moved" by Michael Jackson's death

It was of course the major story leading the news here in France on Friday; the death of US pop singer, Michael Jackson.

And journalists took every opportunity to pose the inevitable question (in slightly differing formats) to all their pre-invited guests, no matter what their background.

"How do you feel about the death of Michael Jackson?" Or the variant "Has the news of his death touched you in any way?"

It was the latter of the two that was put to this country's finance minister, Christine Lagarde, as the opening question to her interview when she appeared, as scheduled, on the early morning show of the French all-news channel, LCI.

And Lagarde didn't mess around with her answer, replying quite simply, "No." Followed by the briefest of pauses and then, "He was a great artist, who has received a lot of media attention worldwide for practically 40 years," she continued.

"Of course I'm sorry for his fans and for the music, but (his death) hasn't touched me personally."

A well-practised political grin into the camera, followed by the next question from the journalist that, after all, got to the nub of the matter and the real reason she had been invited in the first place; increasing unemployment in France, and when the country was likely to come out of the economic crisis.

So there you have it. The straightforward non-spun reaction from one of France's top ministers to "the question of the day".

Maybe though Lagarde could have thought a little before giving such a response, which seems more than a little heartless.

After all the 53-year-old former synchronised swimming champion (no it doesn't have anything to do with her current job, but it's a useful bit of trivia to throw in at the dinner table perhaps) speaks fluent English and spent several years living and working in the States.

It's perhaps hard to imagine that she did a great deal of moonwalking in her younger days, but she surely couldn't have been totally oblivious to the impact Jackson had on popular culture the other side of the Atlantic as well as elsewhere.

To that extent, maybe she could have given an answer that didn't appear to illustrate that she really was quite unconcerned by the news.

Just a thought.