My French fancy has no filter – ooh la la!

I’ve a new partner, who’s French. He’s lovely and can be absolutely charming, but there’s one problem – he’s the most tactless man I’ve ever met! When he meets my friends, he often says things like, ‘Are you really going out wearing that?’ Or, ‘Are you happy being that size?’ He doesn’t mean to be rude – he simply has no filter. Could this just be the way French people are? And how can I stop him offending my friends?

Eileen, Ipswich

I know a lot of French people who don’t have that tactless persona, so you can’t blame it on his nationality! I feel you need to be brutally honest and tell him that his blunt remarks are hurtful – or, for me, it would be ‘au revoir’…