Spotlight on France
An in-depth look at what makes this country tick.
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Baker shortage in France, Covid dubbing woes, the first winter Olympics
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Vaccinating the elderly, citizen voices on climate, India's "French" city
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Actors want Covid curtain lifted, coping with lockdown #2, Enlightened Emilie
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: French restaurants turn to takeaway, police-bashing, climate history
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Learning to work from home, QAnon spreads to France, when church and state split
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: France's colonial legacy, lesbian genius, commemoration under Covid
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Teaching French values, Covid in the Pyrenees and the Plague in Marseille
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: The battle to breastfeed in France, Emily in Paris and Mata Hari the spy
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: gay poet polemic, French touch for The Witches, & Roland Garros the man
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: We're back!
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Documenting confinement in Paris, checking in with the French psyche, May Day history
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: French flour shortages, coronavirus in the banlieue, Notre Dame in lockdown
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 -…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: Sick with coronavirus in France, new markets for asparagus, the first photo of the sun
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: France in coronavirus lockdown, love in a time of crisis, and the 'confetti' of an empire
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: France's youngest mayor, billionaires' relationship to power, and banning the green fairy
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…
Spotlight on France - Podcast: French farmers beef up against agro-bashing, the 15-minute city and origins of nylon stockings
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…