Spotlight on France

The French government wants to limit homeschooling in a bid to reign in radicalisation, but not all such families pose a threat to the Republic.  Also, a look at the shift in the French media's relationship with the banlieues, thanks to the Bondy Blog, founded during the 2005 riots. And the story of car maker André Citroën, who wanted to become the Henry Ford of Europe. The g...

A visit to a bakery where migrant apprentices learn a trade that is increasingly being shunned by French youngsters. A voiceover actress talks about the effects of Covid on the French dubbing industry. The Michelin Guide awards a star to a vegan restaurant for the first time. The first-ever winter Olympics in 1924, in Chamonix, France. The French consume a staggering 320 baguettes per second...

Why are France's elderly, and most vulnerable to Covid, not queueing up to get vaccinated? Frustrations with the slow pace of democracy after the Citizen's convention on climate. And France's presence in India: when it lost (and won back) Puducherry from Britain. France has decided to start its Covid vaccination campaign with the elderly in care homes, which partly explains why it has been so much...

French actors, directors and culture workers are chafing against Covid restrictions and calling out the government's double standards in keeping shops open but theatres closed. Researchers check in on people's well-being during France's second lockdown and find more negativity than the first one. And Emelie du Châtelet, the first woman to devote her life to science. The c...

The Covid-19 lockdowns in France have drastically affected restaurants, forcing some to reinvent themselves to stay afloat. As mistrust in the police grows following recent cases of police brutality, an officer talks about dealing with police-bashing. And five years after the Paris climate accord, France, like most countries, is still not living up to its promises.  Takeaway wasn’t a ma...

Most French companies were not set up for employees to work from home, but the Covid epidemic forced the change and managers and employees have had to adapt. The American conspiracy theory QAnon has caught on with some in France looking for answers. And the history of the 1905 law separating church and state and establishing laïcité in France. The Covid lockdown in Franc...

How can addressing France's colonial past make sense of today? A historian argues that recognising the country's colonial history will help with issues like inequality, immigration and France's relationship to Islam. A lesbian feminist activist, accused of being anti-men, talks about surviving in a patriarchal society. And five years after the 2015 Paris attacks, a subdued commemoration in a time...

As France reels from the brutal murder of teacher Samuel Paty, teachers weigh in on their role in transmitting French values, notably laïcité. A visit to a town in the Pyrenees Orientales, which until recently was something of a Covid-free haven. And the fateful day in November 1347 when the Black Death docked in Marseille. Teachers were understandably shaken by the beheading of S...

New mothers in France are being forced to wear masks during labour to protect medical teams from Covid-19, and some are calling it out as violence. Also, why France has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. Netflix's Emily in Paris offends with a clichéd portrayal of city and its people, but offers respite in trying times. And Mata Hari, executed as a spy but why? Giving birt...

Catching up on the Covid-19 situation in France. The controversy around a petition to bring Rimbaud and Verlaine to the Panthéon. A French comics writer takes on a bastion of British children's literature. And the story of Roland Garros. A recent petition to have 19th century French poets Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud honoured at the Panthéon has met with stiff opposition, despite...

Spotlight on France is back, bringing you stories from France ‘beyond the baguette’. We have a brand-new line-up of stories and interviews, taking you around France as it's struggling with a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and trying to get back on its feet economically. New episodes every two weeks, starting Thursday 1 October. Find us wherever you get your podca...

What does a filmmaker do when confined to a small Paris apartment? Film, of course. A personal look at the lockdown in Paris. Plus, sociologists check in on how the French are faring and discover a philosophical approach. And the labour history of May Day in France. With the end of the coronavirus lockdown in sight in France, people are starting to anticipate going back to work and piecing life ba...

Where has all the flour gone? The French appear to have taken to baking during the Covid-19 lockdown, upsetting supply chains. Also, how the pandemic has highlighted inequalities in French healthcare. And reflecting on Notre Dame, a year after the fire. French people are starting to bake, a lot - unheard of in a country which counts a boulangerie in every town and on nearly every street corner in...

It's possible that most coronavirus cases in France are not counted. We hear from one person who was diagnosed on the phone, and who waited out the quarantine at home, alone, with little to no official intervention. Also, an asparagus farmer is forced to find new ways to distribute after restaurants and markets are shuttered. And the French physicists who took the first-ever photo of the sun. Covi...

France is on lockdown to try and stop the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, but there have been contradictory explanations about what is and is not allowed. The woman who went on a road trip across France to restore her faith in love. And when France's colonies became departments.  In the first of a two-week (possibly longer) confinement to try to stop the spread of the Coronavirus in Franc...

France's youngest mayor on breathing fresh air into old, local politics. French billionaires and their relationship to power and politics. And when France banned absinthe during the First World War. Mayors are by far the most popular elected officials in France, particularly in small towns where people know them personally. In charge of managing many day-to-day services, including primary sch...

French farmers take to Twitter and Youtube to show a different side to their profession, the case for Paris becoming a 15-minute city, and how the nylon stocking helped the rise of planned obsolescence . Farmers in France are in the spotight at the annual agricultural fair in Paris, where urban and rural worlds rub shoulders once a year. We meet a group of farmers who have taken to...

A look at the use of force by French police, as weekly Yellow Vest protests continue. The legacy of feminist cartoonist Claire Bretécher in the male-dominated world of French BD. And how, in the wake of US tariffs,  getting a label can help you stand out in France's competitive wine market.   After teenager Lilian Diessé was hit and disfigured by a rubber bullet fired by po...

Finding work in France when you're over 60 is tough, but a team of "senior" Space Cowboys is proving they can be an added value. Also, how the new Citizen Climate Assembly is putting participative democracy into action. And 70 years of the minimum wage in France which protects people from poverty. The government's pension reform plan seeks to get people working longer. But as only one in thre...

British ex-pats in France feeling insecure as Brexit finally happens, raising horses to be wild in one of France's most desolate areas, how the Michelin star was born, and would rebel writer Camus be out protesting pension reform? France has the second largest British community in Europe after Spain, with around 200,000 citizens. Some already have French nationality, but those who don't are nervou...

As a French priest goes on trial for sexually abusing minors, one activist says the problem is widespread in France, and addressing it is a feminist issue. Also, how French prisons became laboratories for home-grown jihadism, which lead to the 2015/16 terrorist attacks. And, when Charles de Gaulle resigned from power, the first time. The ex-Catholic priest Bernard Preynat is in court this week for...

Why many French people continue to support strikes against changes to the pension system, freedom of expression in France five years after the Charlie Hebdo killings, and the blind teenager who invented braille.  France is in the throes of its longest continuous transport stoppage for decades, forcing commuters in Paris and other large cities to walk hours to get to work. Yet despite the...

Why the pension reform in France has everyone on edge and is blocking train travel through the holidays. Also, why keeping English out of the French language is more than a matter of words. And the search to unravel a mysterious inscription on a rock in Brittany. The Academie Française, founded in 1735 to protect the French language, is the butt of many a joke about the French. So...

Alcohol consumption is a problem in France, but the wine industry doesn't want people to know. We look at the paradox of having to address alcoholism in a country whose second biggest industry is wine and spirits. Also, a store in Strasbourg is trying to break gender stereotypes by offering gender-neutral toys and kids' clothes, not divided into pink or blue, just in time for the holiday shopping...

The French government has announced new measures to tackle domestic violence and femicide. What will it actually change for victims? Also, how women in France will be able to freeze their eggs and take more control over their fertility. And the day Napoleon crowned himself emperor. The French government announced a raft of measures and legal changes this week following a three-month "Gre...