Spotlight on France
An in-depth look at what makes this country tick.
Podcast: Paris Attacks trial drama, school bullying, French anti-intellectualism
France's biggest-ever court case continues with dramatic interventions from witnesses and defendents. A bill to criminalise bullying at school and university raises questions. The 19th century roots of growing anti-intellectualism in France. The trial of 14 men accused of taking part and planning the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks is now at the halfway point…
Podcast: Political swearing, Molière and women, King Behanzin's surrender
Which Macron vowed to "piss off" the unvaccinated and why? The 17th century female playwrights around Molière, as France marks his 400th anniversary with pomp and circumstance. The African kingdom that made France tremble in the 19th century, until its king surrendered. President Emmanuel Macron shocked France when he used a curse…
Podcast: Inclusive language, improbable roommates, the Dreyfus affair
Inclusive writing and gender-neutral language divide France. The merits of homesharing across generations. And the trial that started the Dreyfus affair, kicking off a left-right split that's still felt today. The recent addition of the gender-neutral pronoun 'iel', a contraction of "il" (he) and "elle" (she), into the Petit Robert's…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Green hydrogen, sperm shortages and France's other revolution
A visit to the world's first green hydrogen production plant, in western France. Major delays in IVF for all women, months after legalisation. And the Canut revolt of 1831 – the first workers' protests of the industrial revolution. Is hydrogen the energy of the future? Some say the future is now…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: France's first Alzheimer's village, translation wars, Josephine Baker
An experimental centre near Bordeaux offers Alzheimer's sufferers more freedom and less medication; debate over whether a translator's identity matters following the Amanda Gorman controversy, and France honours Josephine Baker – performer, Resistance hero and civil rights activist – with a place in the Pantheon. The Covid pandemic showed the limits of caring for the…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Returning African art, dying in dignity in France, Brassens at 100
How France is dragging its feet in returning African art and artefacts housed in its museums. An advocate of euthanasia talks about fighting for the right to die when and how she wants. And Georges Brassens, the "French Woodie Guthrie", continues to thrill with his free-spirited songs, full of word play, 100 years…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: LGBT conversion therapy, crack in Paris, training France's elite
A historic vote in parliament as French MPs unanimously approve a bill criminalising conversion therapy for LGBT+ people; no quick fix for Paris's growing crack cocaine problem; and the changing face of elite school ENA, founded 76 years ago this week. France made history this week when MPs from every political…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Paris attacks trial, courtroom artists, Harkis to get reparations
How journalists are covering the 2015 terror attacks trial. The artists who have an important role in bringing French courtrooms alive. And France recognises Harkis' suffering, offering hope for reparations, nearly six decades after the end of the Algerian war of independence. Jihadists who planned and carried out the 2015 Paris…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: health pass protests, lavender beyond Provence, Canard Enchainé
Why are people protesting the Covid health pass in France? Challenging terroir by growing lavender outside of Provence. The birth of Le Canard Enchainé, the weekly that has brought down politicians and holds power to account. Spotlight on France is back! During the summer break the Covid health pass became an integral part of French…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Le Pen's strategy, French quinoa, birth of the Paris fire brigade
Is Marine Le Pen's 'softening' of the hard-right National Rally the right strategy to win the presidency? The American who pioneered quinoa farming in France. How a tragic blaze pushed Napoleon to launch the Paris fire brigade. Turnout was massively low in both rounds of last month's regional elections, even…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Regional elections, France's local languages, first paid holidays
The hijacking of France's regional election campaign, the fight to keep local languages alive and the first paid vacations for all in 1936. French people head to the polls on Sunday to decide what the country’s 18 regional councils will look like. The regions are intended to spread power away…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Medical cannabis, a refugee 'at home' with PSG, Haiti's superhero
A sufferer of chronic pain hopes to get relief using cannabis, as part of France's first ever experiment with medical marijuana. PSG striker Nadia Nadim on the thrills of playing to the crowds again. And Toussaint Louverture, the "black superhero" who defied Napoleon. France has embarked on an experiment with medical…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: exploring Sudan's pyramids, philanthropy 'a la française', Sophie the giraffe
How France is helping Sudan unearth its ancient kingdoms; the changing face of philanthropy in France; and Sophie la girafe, the iconic rubber teething companion, turns 60. For more than 50 years now, French archaeologists have been working with the Sudanese antiquities division to help excavate and preserve remarkable sites like the city…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: France's Covid trackers, flowers go local, Perrault the fairy godfather
The young geeks revolutionising health data in France with Covidtracker. How the pandemic has boosted demand for home-grown flowers. And Charles Perrault, father of the fairy tale genre. Some ten million people a day visit Covidtracker, which takes the government's official Covid data and presents it in an engaging and easy-to-digest way. Set…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Notre-Dame revisited, Napoleon on Saint Helena, laughing cow turns 100
Two years after a fire destroyed the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, archaeologists are digging through rubble to find clues to its history, and its restoration. On one of the most remote places on earth, preparations are underway for a virtual commemoration of the bicentennial of Napoleon's death. A…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Covid in France's prisons, sports journalists say MeToo, flying over the Andes
A call for prisoner releases as French prisons, already overcrowded, face extreme restrictions to try and stop the spread of Covid-19 behind bars. Women sports journalists set their #MeToo ball rolling, denouncing sexual harassment in and out of the workplace. And Adrienne Bolland, the first woman to fly across the Andes, on…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: France's lost Covid generation, 'islamo-gauchisme', the Paris Commune
Young people are struggling with France's Covid restrictions, but some are pitching in to help. A sociologist talks about accusations of 'islamo-gauchisme' in universities, and why it is important for France to embrace the academic study of race and racism. And the complicated legacy of the Paris Commune, 150 years on. Young…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Filming under a Covid cloud, surveying the French, the Foreign Legion
Why is France's Covid vaccination drive lagging behind other countries? Also, French film and TV productions are booming, despite new restrictions on set to stop the virus spreading. A large-scale health survey of tens of thousands of French people yields troves of information. And Foreign Legion recruitment woes as the elite…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Covid on the slopes, why France has no Black History Month
With ski lifts shuttered because of Covid, French ski resorts are taking a hit, along with the tens of thousands of seasonal workers they employ. A conversation about race in France and why a US-style Black History Month is needed, but difficult to put in place. And the story of Etienne Marcel, leader…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Homeschooling in France, banlieues talk for themselves, birth of André Citroën
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…