Spotlight on France

Why songs in French are attracting new audiences in non-francophone countries. How are French schools using screens in classrooms? And the history of France's Nobel prizes.

The Paris Olympic Games and Paralympics gave French-language songs huge exposure, adding new fans to the global audience already growing on streaming platforms. But what kind of music are non-French-speakers listening to and why? A new exhibition at the recently opened International Centre of the French Language asks the question. Its curator, the music journalist Bertrand Dicale, based the exhibit on the idea that songs reveal who were are, and he talks about what popular songs reveal about France. He also highlights some surprising differences between French and foreign audiences, which have allowed stars like Aya Nakamura and Juliette Gréco to enjoy huge success abroad despite being scorned at home. (Listen @0'00)

France lags behind many countries in the use of technology in classrooms and there is no clear policy from an ever-changing education ministry. But the disorganisation may be buying educators time to consider the consequences. A report commissioned in the spring by President Emmanuel Macron advised placing limits on young people's use of smartphones and social media, and some schools are testing a smartphone ban this year. Founded by concerned educators, the collective Pour une éducation numérique raisonnée ("For a sensible digital education") has raised its own concerns about the push to digitise textbooks and get students learning on screens. We visit a class taught by one of its members, and see how technology is – and is not – used. (Listen @22'00)

In the midst of Nobel season, a look at some of France's 71 prizes, from the first ever Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 to the five won by members of the Curie family for physics and chemistry. (Listen @15'00)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

A shamanic ceremony in Paris prepares human remains to return to French Guiana. French villages finally get street names. And the 1970s court case that changed France's approach to prosecuting rape.

Native Americans from French Guiana and Suriname were recently in Paris to demand the restitution of the remains of six of their ancestors who died after being exhibited in so-called human zoos. Corinnne Toka Devilliers, whose great-grandmother Moliko was exhibited at the capital's Jardin d’Acclimatation in 1892 but survived, describes holding a shamanic ceremony at the Museum of Mankind to prepare her fellow Kali'na for the voyage home. But there are still legal obstacles to overcome before the remains can leave the Parisian archives where they've spent the past 132 years. (Listen @3'30'')

Until recently, French villages with fewer than 2,000 residents did not need to name their streets – but legislation that came into effect this summer now requires them to identify roads to make it easier for emergency services and delivery people to find them. While not all villages have jumped at the opportunity, we joined residents in a hamlet in the south of France as they gathered to decide their new street names. And geographer Frederic Giraut talks about how the law is impacting the culture and heritage of small, rural localities. (Listen @21'53'')

The closely watched trial of a man accused of drugging his wife and inviting others to rape her while she lay unconscious at their home in southern France has become a rallying cry for those who say society needs to change the way it thinks about sexual assault. Fifty years ago, another rape case caused similar outcry – and led to changes in how France prosecutes and defines rape. (Listen @13'25'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

How the Paris Paralympics have boosted interest in inclusive sports in France. A look back at the origins of the first international games for deaf athletes, 100 years ago. And why it’s difficult, but necessary, for France’s deeply divided National Assembly to embrace the art of compromise.

The Paralympics in Paris shone a light on disability and the challenges disabled people in France face in getting access to sport. Novosports, one of only 40 sports clubs in the capital open to players with disabilities, is entirely focused on inclusive sports, where people with and without disabilities can train together. Club founder Jerome Rousseau talks about developing inclusive volleyball, and club members talk about the importance of opening sport up to everyone. (Listen @1'55'')

Decades before the Paralympic Games were born, the world's first multi-discipline competition for athletes with a disability took place in Paris in the summer of 1924. Reserved for deaf competitors, the International Silent Games were a landmark in the history of inclusive sport and laid the foundations for today's contests. Historian Didier Séguillon, curator of an exhibition on the Games at the National Institute for Deaf Young People, discusses their origins and legacy. (Listen @10'15'')

Since recent parliamentary elections in France failed to give any political party a ruling majority, the three main blocs – the left-wing NFP alliance, the centre-right Ensemble coalition and the far-right National Rally – have been at loggerheads. The new prime minister has to form a unity government, but this involves compromise on all sides – a notion that's often equated in France with "giving in". Laure Gillot-Assayag, a researcher in political science and philosophy, argues that in such a politically divided landscape, France needs a culture of compromise more than ever. (Listen @17'10'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

France is reviving its industrial farming of hemp – 'green gold' – in the search for more sustainable, energy-saving building materials. French publishers are flocking to romance, as a new generation of authors are writing for a new and growing audience of young women readers. And when Paris hosted the 1924 Olympics 100 years ago.

Hemp farming nearly died out in France in the 1970s but is making a comeback in textiles and the construction industry. Fast-growing, pesticide-free, and a good absorber of CO2, the plant is proving to be an ally in the fight against climate change. Franck Barbier, head of Interchanvre, talks about cannabis sativus's bright future on a tour of the Planète Chanvre mill in Aulnoy. And Jean-Michel Morer, mayor of Trilport, shows us how his town is using hemp in buildings as part of its commitment to sustainability and the circular economy. (Listen @3'10'')

Romance literature has long been looked down on for its undemanding language, basic story tropes and steamy sex scenes. But French publishers are taking note as a new generation of authors, inspired by English-language best-sellers, are writing for a growing audience of young women, many of whom are newcomers to books. Publisher Benita Rolland, of Hugo publishing, talks about developing the genre for the French market, and CS Quill, who started out as a reader before becoming a popular romance author, talks about connecting with her fans. (Listen @21'50'')

As Paris prepares to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, a look back on the last time the city held the Games in 1924. Those Olympics were a smaller, more eclectic and more masculine event, which nonetheless marked a turning point and brought the Games closer to what they are today. (Listen @14'30'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

As France heads into snap parliamentary elections with the prospect of the far-right National Rally winning a majority, what powers would its prime minister have, and what would change in France? Also, a look at previous presidents who dissolved parliament and risked getting a result they didn't like. And the story of Jenny Sacerdote – France's Roaring Twenties haute couture designer, whose mould-breaking designs are finally being revived.

France’s far-right National Rally (RN) could well win a majority in the upcoming snap legislative elections, which would mean the party’s leader, Jordan Bardella, would become prime minister. How would a far-right government rule France? Economic journalist Romaric Godin lays out the RN’s economic policy based on national preference, while political scientist Nicolas Tenzer worries about shifts in France’s foreign policy and its relationship with the outside world. And Arnaud Schwartz of the France Nature environment NGO questions the party’s commitment to withdraw from solar and wind power in favour of nuclear. (Listen @0')

Jenny Sacerdote built up a huge fashion empire in the early part of the 20th century, clothing the likes of the Empress of Japan and silent movie star Mary Pickford with her elegant but comfortable silk garments. "Jenny's grey suit" was as famous in the US as Chanel's "little black dress". She was also a pioneer in her approach to entrepreneurship and defending workers' rights. And yet she fell into oblivion after World War II. Designer Anne Vogt, author of a biography of Sacerdote, talks about breathing new life into this forgotten icon through her label La Suite Jenny Sacerdote. (Listen @20'10'')

France’s snap elections are the sixth in the country’s post-war history. The most recent examples suggest that President Emmanuel Macron may not get the outcome he wants. (Listen @14'24'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

The United States played a key role in the Allied effort to liberate Western Europe from the Nazis, but not everyone sees it in the same light. As France marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, an American veteran reflects on the differing ways the US and France remember the war. Meanwhile, historians recall the large number of civilians killed during the Allied invasion and explain why US soldiers were not always welcomed as heroes.

As French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes world leaders, the real stars of the commemorations are the surviving veterans themselves – the men who landed on the Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944 and started liberating France from Nazi occupation. The youngest of the remaining D-Day veterans are now in their late 90s. Alan Shapiro, 99, was too young to take part in the landings, but joined the European Allied forces in the autumn of 1944 and flew transport carriers in the US air corps. He's struck by the love and recognition he's received in France, where war was a lived experience rather than a distant newsreel. He came to France through the association Retour des veterans en Normandie (Veterans Back to Normandy), based in the village of Créances. Its founder, Valerie Gautier, talks about the lasting need to show gratitude for D-Day and WWII veterans. (Listen @4'20)

The story of D-Day and its aftermath is told differently depending on which side of the Atlantic you're on. American historian Mary Louise Roberts discusses how France has been erased from the US perspective on the landings. Meanwhile French historian Emmanuel Thiébot, who directs a museum in Normandy dedicated to civilians during WWII, explains why Allied soldiers didn't always get a hero's welcome in towns that had been bombed in preparation for the invasion. And local survivor Henri, whose fiancée and uncle were killed by Allied bombs, recalls the mixed feelings he had about the troops sent to liberate France. (Listen @15'55)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

How student protests in support of Palestinians at Paris's political science institute are different from those in the US, a look at France's growing disaffection with Europe, and the long birth of the Channel Tunnel linking France to Britain – 30 years old this week. 

Student protests against Israel's war in Gaza came to a head in the past week, when the president of the prestigious Sciences Po university called the police to forcibly clear out an occupation of the Paris campus' main building. Some have called the protests an imitation of what is happening in the United States, but the scale, scope and politics are a bit different. Students talk about why they have joined the protest movement, their shock over reactions by government and police, and compare today's mobilisation with student protests of the past. (Listen @0'00)

On Europe Day, and with only a month to go before EU elections, surveys are showing France is an increasingly eurosceptic nation – only a quarter of the population place their trust in Europe and its institutions, and even fewer are optimistic about the EU's future. The disaffection with Europe comes as polls also show the far-right, populist National Rally is tipped to oustrip President Macron's ruling party in the elections. Laetitia Langlois from Angers University examines what's behind growing eurosceptism in France and what it means for President Emmanuel Macron. (Listen @16'30)

The Channel Tunnel turns 30 years old this week. Officially opened on 6 May 1994, it was the culmination of two centuries of dreaming about a land link between France and the UK. (Listen @9'30)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

Why French youth are once again under fire as the government vows to crack down on violent crime. The staying power of Ionesco's The Bald Soprano in one of Paris's smallest theatres. And why French women won the right to vote so much later than many of their European neighbours.

In recent weeks President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal have been looking for ways to tackle what Macron has called a wave of ultraviolence sweeping the country. They've put the focus on young people, but not everyone agrees with the assessment. Critics have denounced the government proposals as reactionary, fuelling yet another "war" on youth. Sociologist Laurent Mucchielli, who says statistics do not show any rise in violent crime committed by youngsters, talks about why France regularly targets young people, and how it is often linked to electoral politics. (Listen @2'15'')

The Bald Soprano and The Lesson, by Romanian-French avant-garde playwright Eugène Ionesco, have been running at the tiny Théatre de la Huchette in Paris five times a week non-stop since 1957. Two million people have flocked to watch the plays, which are performed in their original staging and set. But what's it like for the 45-member company, some of whom have been acting in Ionesco's absurdist universe for more than 30 years? We went along to the 20,024th performance to find out. (Listen @18'50'')

French women obtained the right to vote on 21 April 1944, later than most other countries in Europe. Historian Anne-Sarah Moalic talks about the long road to equal suffrage, which required patient activism along with a bit of geopolitical chaos. And a woman who voted in France's very first elections open to all adults, in April 1945, recalls the excitement and pressure of her maiden trip to the ballot box. (Listen @11'05'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

How France's new hardline position on Russia marks a major shift away from decades of pro-Russia policies. The fight to make hair discrimination illegal. And why VAT – a tax introduced 70 years ago – is so important to French finances, despite being deeply unequal.

French President Emmanuel Macron has recently done a U-turn on Russia:  having argued against humiliating Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he has now become one of President Vladimir Putin’s biggest critics. Journalist Elsa Vidal, the head of RFI’s Russia service, author of La fascination russe (The fascination with Russia), talks about France’s long history of Russophile foreign policy and how it has been coloured by a certain anti-Americanism. It led to complacency – even blindness – over Putin’s increasingly autocratic rule. (Listen @0'30)

France's parliament has begun debating legislation against a form of discrimination that's often overlooked: prejudicial treatment on the basis of hair. The bill is inspired by laws in the United States, where anti-racism campaigners have long argued that black people face unfair pressure to change their natural hair. Artist and activist Guylaine Conquet, who first came up with the idea for the French bill, explains why France is taking a different approach from the US: her proposal would classify hair discrimination as discrimination on the basis of physical appearance, not race. That's in line with France's universalist, "colour-blind" approach to racial discrimination, but also broadens the application of the law to everyone. (Listen @21'10) 

France was the first country to introduce a Value Added Tax (VAT), on 10 April 1954. 70 years later, the tax brings in more than half of France's revenue, and far more than income tax. Economist Julien Blasco explains that while VAT is regressive, it serves to fund crucial social welfare programmes. (Listen @16'30)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

Four years after the start of the first Covid lockdown in France, what has been the impact? What's stopping more men getting vasectomies in France. And why not everyone wants to accept that Rosa Bonheur, the most famous female painter of the 19th century, was a lesbian.

For 55 days, starting 17 March 2020, French citizens were confined to their homes as part of the government's approach to controlling the then little-understood virus sweeping the planet, which we now know as Covid-19. Historian Nicolas Mariot, co-author of a book about the lockdown, looks into the reasons behind why a majority of people in France accepted the harsh curbs on personal freedom, and asks why there has not been a broader reckoning about the impacts. (Listen @ 2'40) 

Vasectomies are rare in France. The procedure that cuts the tubes in men's testicles that carry sperm, serving as a permanent form of birth control, was only legalised in 2001. Urologist Vincent Hupertan describes the reservations patients and doctors have about the vasectomies, which have to do with both French culture and how the health system works. And we hear from one man before and after his vasectomy, who was told by his doctor to rethink it in case he ever planned to remarry a younger woman. (Listen @ 17'00)

Rosa Bonheur, born 16 March 1822, was probably the best-known female painter of the 19th century. Writer Anna Polonyi talks about how Bonheur's paintings of animals are attracting fresh interest from people curious about her personal life, notably her decades-long relationship with a woman. Yet some of the people in charge of guarding her legacy refuse to say that she was lesbian. Polonyi's web documentary series, The Rosa Bonheur Case, explores Bonheur's life and how queer artists are represented. (Listen @ 10'15)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

How a wave of #MeToo allegations against French directors is shaking up the cinema industry; the Cinémobile movie theatre bringing culture to the countryside; and the satirical news rag that appears just once every four years, on 29 February.

Seven years after the #MeToo movement shook Hollywood, Judith Godrèche and other actresses in France have broken the omertà around sexual abuse within the French movie industry, accusing several prominent directors of assault. Investigations are underway. Bérénice Hamidi, a specialist in the performing arts at Lyon University, talks about the extent to which this marks a turning point in French cinema culture, which for decades has fostered the idea that artists have "a free pass" to transgress the rules, and that the artist cannot be separated from his art. (Listen @0')

With unrest still rumbling among farmers, France's new culture minister says she wants people in rural areas to have more access to culture. A third of the French population lives in rural communities and Culture Minister Rachida Dati has launched a national consultation on schemes to serve them – schemes like the Cinémobile, a lorry that transforms into a cinema and visits small towns across central France. It's been running for more than 40 years and despite entertainment being easier than ever to find online, something about the mobile movie theatre keeps audiences coming back. (Listen @18'08)

French administration has not always made it easy for people born on 29 February – a date that occurs just once every four years. But the satirical Bougie du sapeurnewspaper has embraced and indeed lives for the date. Founded in 1980, its previous edition was on 29 February 2020. Editor Jean d'Indy talks about using humour to look at the news of the past four years in this year's edition. (Listen @12')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

No quick fix for French farmers who have been protesting by laying siege to Paris. And it's just the latest in a long string of farmers' demonstrations over the last 100 years. Plus, why French girls are faring worse at maths than boys, and what to do about it.

Farmers from across France have been rolling their tractors towards Paris to protest against their high costs, low revenues and cheap food imports that undercut their business. The protest movement touches on several fundamental issues such as inflation and high costs, climate change policies, food sovereignty, and how France relates to the rest of the world. A farmer in Normandy talks about his soaring costs and why paperwork linked to environmental regulations is keeping him from doing his job. And economists weigh in on the underlying problem facing French farmers – how to keep their small, mostly individual farms afloat while satisfying consumer demand for cheaper food. (Listen @0')

These are by no means the first farmer protests in France. The country has seen many memorable demonstrations over the past century – including a winegrowers' revolt that mobilised 800,000 people, and the hijacking of British lorries carrying imported meat that caused a diplomatic incident with the UK. (Listen @9'50'')

France produces some of the world's top mathematicians, but its elite is 80 percent male – hardly surprising given half of schoolgirls give up maths aged 17, compared to just one quarter of boys. As a recent study shows girls falling back in maths from the first year of primary, we look at what's going wrong and what needs to change. Sociologist Clémence Perronnet, author of a new book on girls and maths, talks about the gender bias and how to help girls overcome it. We also hear from mathematician Colette Guillopé of the femmes et mathématiques association about the nonsensical idea that "maths is only for boys".  (Listen @16'10'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

A critique that highlights the gap between France and its ideals. Protests to try and block the new "racist" immigration reforms. And the story of Françoise Giroud, journalist-turned-minister in the 1970s. 

France is a country of impossible ideals, built on the myth of a Revolution fought to secure Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité, but the reality is that not everyone benefits. This is journalist Nabila Ramdani's take in her new book, Fixing France, which dissects what she sees as France’s failures, both historical and recent, and reflects on how to fix them. Ramdani is well-placed to write about the subject – having run into barriers to working in journalism or publishing in France because of her North African background, she went on to live, work and flourish in the US and the UK, and wrote the book in English. (Listen @3'30'')

The government's hardline immigration reform was passed on 19 December thanks to the backing of the conservative right Republicans and far right National Rally, both of which added on provisions that differentiate between the rights of the French and non-EU foreigners living or moving here. Ahead of a court decision on whether the reform respects the French constitution, migrants, left-wing politicians, unions and activists have taken to the streets to denounce what they deem is a "racist" law, unworthy of the French republic. (Listen @19'55'')

Françoise Giroud, who died on 19 January 2003, was a "grande dame" of French journalism, having co-founded L'Expressand edited the weekly magazine for over 20 years. As feminism gathered momentum in the 1970s, she joined the government as "secretary of state for the feminine condition" – the first cabinet position dedicated to women's affairs. (Listen @13'45'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

How British people in France have been navigating visiting and living in France since Brexit effectively ended their visa-free travel to Europe. What to do with the human remains in French museums? And the story behind Louis XV's third mistress, the Comtesse du Barry, and how her name got associated with foie gras.

British people, no longer citizens of the European Union after Brexit, are stuck with the same rules as any other non-EU visitors: without a visa, they can only spend 90 out of 180 days in France. That's a sore spot for many of the roughly 86,000 Brits who owned second homes in France when the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016. As part of the contentious immigration bill being debated in parliament, the French Senate considered making it easier for non-Europeans who own a second home to spend time in France – but ultimately decided that Brits shouldn't get special treatment, nor should people who can afford to buy a second home. Emma Pearson, host of the Talking France podcast and editor of The Local France, talks about what what kind of choices British people are facing after Brexit, whether they want to visit or stay longer term. (Listen @1'05)

France has the largest collection of human skulls in its museums and public institutions – some collected in dubious ways. Returning remains to descendants is part of reckoning with colonial history, but it has been been hampered by a law designed to keep French public museum collections intact. Lawmakers, supported by historians and pushed by descendants and states that want these relics back, are finally passing legislation that will facilitate the return of human remains. Corinne Toka-Devilliers of the Moliko Alet+po association talks about tracking down the skeletons of her ancestors, who were brought to mainland France from French Guiana in 1892 to be displayed in a human zoo, and historian Klara Boyer-Rossol talks about how human remains got into French collections, and the best way to return them. Interviews conducted by Anne Corpet and Hodane Hagi Ali. (Listen @18'15)

The Comtesse du Barry died on 8 December 1793, executed by guillotine during the French Revolution. We look at the story of Louis XV's third official mistress, and how her name became associated with tinned foie gras. (Listen @13')

Episode mixed by Stephane Defossez.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

The man trying to save France's emblematic Gaulois doré rooster from oblivion. How online platforms are rivaling charity shops as thrifting and second hand products take off. And the story of Albert Londres, who left a lasting mark on French journalism.

Since the Middle Ages, the Gallic rooster has been a leading symbol of French identity – found on everything from coins to sports jerseys to church weathervanes and Made in France products. But the breed of chicken itself, la Gauloise Dorée, has been abandoned in favour of those with higher productivity. Convinced this ancient, feisty and elegant rooster is part of French heritage, Damien Vidart set up the Conservatoire du coq gaulois in 2021 to make sure the breed is not only preserved, but thrives. His hard work is already paying off. (Listen @0')

The secondhand market is booming in France, as taboos against buying and wearing used clothes fade. Online platforms like Vinted have made it easier to sell and buy, but they have impacted traditional charity shops, like Emmaus, which has a large network of thrift stores in France and uses the income for back-to-work schemes. Researcher Eva Cerio, of IAE Angers, talks about the appeal of consuming sustainably and the downside of making some extra money through the secondhand market. (Listen @17'30'')

On the eve of the the 90th Albert Londres journalism prize, a look at the man considered one of the founders of investigative journalism in France, who continues to inspire journalists today. (Listen @12'35'')

Episode mixed byDonatien Cahu.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

France is feeling the shockwaves of the war in Gaza with a rise in Islamophobia and a wave of anti-Semitic attacks that have got the public and politicians worried. Also, bikers rev up to fight school bullying. And the African-American fighter pilot who flew for France in WWI because the US would not take him.

The Israel-Hamas war has been imported into French society and politics, with the left unable to agree on how much to denounce Hamas, and the far right using the conflict to further bolster its support for Jews – an about-face for the party of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who famously dismissed the Nazi gas chambers as a "detail" of WWII. Nonna Mayer, a researcher at Sciences Po and the CNRS specialising in the far right,  anti-Semitism and racism, talks about the rise in anti-Semitic attacks in France, why Marine Le Pen is championing Jews, and whether the left-wing coalition can survive its differences over the war in Gaza. (Listen @0')

One in 10 kids in France will get bullied at school and after a recent series of teenage suicides, the government has rolled out a raft of measures to help prevent such tragedies. As part of national anti-bullying day, on 9 November, we look at the role  members of U.B.A.K.A (Urban Bulldogs Against Kids’ Abuse) are playing in the fight against school bullying. 76-year old Bernard Mignot, a biker and former bodyguard who set up the French chapter of U.B.A.K.A in Brittany in 2015, talks about going into schools to help kids open up and share bikers' values of respect for one another, and oneself. (Listen @20')

As France commemorates the 105th anniversary of the end of WWI, on Armistice Day, 11 November, we talk about Eugene Bullard, who made history by becoming the first black American to fly a fighter plane; but he flew for France, not for the United States, where racial segregation kept him out of the Air Force. (Listen @14'40'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

Is a referendum the answer to France's deadlock on immigration reform? Childless by choice in the European country with the highest birthrate. And the story of Félicette – the first cat to fly into space.

After the reform of the pension system, the next thorny political issue is immigration, with parliament set to start debating a bill in November. But finding a compromise on such a polarising issue will be difficult. President Emmanuel Macron has floated the idea of a referendum, which could allow people to have their say on France's immigration policies. Amanda Morrow talks about the bill and why a referendum on the issue could be problematic. (Listen @2'50'')

Women in France are having fewer babies and the birthrate, while still the highest in the EU, is at its lowest since the end of WW2. A small but increasing number of women are choosing not to have children, but they're accused of being selfish and contributing to France's decline. Bettina Zourli, 31, who launched the instagram account #jeneveuxpasdenfant (I don't want kids) in 2019 to connect with other childfree women, talks about never wanting to be a mother in a country where motherhood is idolised. (Listen @18'55'')

In the early days of the space race, France became the first – and only – country to launch a cat into space. A trained feline astronaut named Félicette completed her mission on 18 October 1963, but her success was short-lived. (Listen @10'32'')

Episode mixed by Vincent Pora.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

Police officers join a sociology degree programme and are asked to reflect on their role in society. A French start-up banks on insect protein to feed livestock and pets more sustainably. And the Frenchman whose claim to have cracked the code of hieroglyphics in the 19th century allowed him to decipher the Rosetta Stone.

After the riots in June and July, following the fatal police shooting of a young man at a traffic stop, the role of the police in France came under scrutiny. Issues of racism come to the fore with observers lamenting that relations with the public –- notably with young residents of disadvantaged city suburbs, or banlieues – have not improved in the two decades since the 2005 riots. A handful of police officers have been offered the opportunity to reflect on their role in society in a new degree programme offered by the University of Amiens. Sociologist Elodie Lemaire talks about giving police new intellectual 'weapons' to confront a changing world, and the police officer students talk about their motivations for wanting to question their profession in a university setting. (Listen @3'00'')

French start-up Ÿnsect is preparing to open the world's largest vertical insect farm in the north of France, breeding mealworms to provide insect protein ingredients for pet food, animal feed and fertiliser, to help ease environmental strain on global food production. We visit the company's first farm, launched in 2016, to look at their model for reinventing the food chain, and Ynsect's co-founder Antoine Hubert talks about how developing the pet food market could make the French less reticent about eating insect-based foods. (Listen @20')

On 27 September 1822, French linguist Jean-François Champollion announced that he had cracked the code of hieroglyphics, the Ancient Egyptian writing system that had puzzled scholars for centuries. The breakthrough revolutionised our understanding of one of the world’s oldest civilisations. (Listen @14'20'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

How France shifted its approach to heatwaves after nearly 15,000 people died in the summer of 2003. An urban planning concept gets picked up by conspiracy theorists. And the first TGV that started France's expansion of high-speed rail travel.

The world has just had its hottest three months on record. But France's worst heatwave in memory was 20 years ago, in 2003. In August that year nearly 15,000 people in France died from heat, more than any summer since. The disaster permanently changed how the country deals with heatwaves – and now, as climate change makes extreme heat more frequent and more intense, it's having to change tactics again. Historian of public health Richard C Keller, who wrote a book about the victims of 2003, looks back at what France has learned. (Listen @1'30)

When Carlos Moreno conceived of the 15-minute city, he did not expect to be pulled into the world of conspiracy theorists. The Paris-based sociologist came up with a new concept of urban planning to try to create neighbourhoods where all services – for work and leisure – lie within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from home. The city of Paris has embraced the concept, but elsewhere it has been picked up by people who say that it is part of a plan to limit people's movements and confine them to open-air prisons. (Listen @16'25)

France's first high-speed train line was inaugurated on 22 September 1981, with an orange-and-white "train à grande vitesse" – or TGV – making the trip from Paris to Lyon. It started an era of reducing travel times and chasing speed records. (Listen @12'10)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here), Google podcasts (link here), or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

As the dust settles on a week of intense urban violence triggered by the police shooting of a young man in the northern working-class suburb of Nanterre, we look at the causes and what, if anything, has changed in these poorer, multi-racial neighbourhoods since the 2005 riots. What role has police violence played in the worsening relations between the state and banlieues residents? And the life and music of singer-poet-anarchist Léo Ferré.

The fatal shooting of Nahel Merzouk by a police officer in the town of Nanterre on 27 June sparked a wave of violence, with mainly young men attacking symbols of the French state such as schools and town halls, damaging private property and looting shops and supermarkets. The unrest recalls the 2005 riots – also triggered by police violence against French youth of colour from the banlieues. Nearly 20 years later, little has changed, laments sociologist Julien Talpin. He argues that the violence during those eight nights was more political and far less random than the government and police portrayed it to be. (Listen @0')

Relations between France's police force and banlieues residents have worsened since 2005. There is mistrust on both sides –  with young people seeing themselves as ready targets of racially motivated police violence and officers feeling they are disrespected and under attack. While the French government denies there is systemic racism within the police, studies have shown the contrary. Political Scientist Jacques De Maillard, who studies the police in France and elsewhere, says racial profiling and racist attitudes are part of how the police function, but neither the authorities nor officers themselves are willing to recognise this. (Listen @13'50'')

Leo Ferré, one of France’s most important and admired singer-poets, died on 14 July 1993. Ever the rebel, he wrote and interpreted songs that shocked and broke taboos in the 1960s –  whether denouncing torture in Algeria or celebrating female genitalia. His raw passion on stage and way with words earned him a huge place in the ballad tradition known as French "chanson". (Listen @27'30'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here), Google podcasts (link here), or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

How Rouen, a city on the Seine, far from the open sea, became France's largest grain port; denim production returns to its place of birth in Nimes; and the story of Alice Guy, the world's first woman director, forgotten by history. 

French wheat exports got a boost with the war in Ukraine, and most are shipped out of Rouen, a port on the Seine, 100 kilometres away from the open sea. Manuel Gaborieau, head of agribuisness for Haropa, which manages the port, explains the historical and logistical reasons for an inland port. At the Simarex terminal, grain director Cédric Burg and operations manager Yannick Jossé talk about getting grain from field to boat, and how the war in Ukraine has impacted operations. (Listen @0')

Jeans were first manufactured in the US by Levi Strauss in 1873, but the denim fabric they're made from was first woven in the 17th century in the southern French town of Nimes. Guillaume Sagot has returned to his home town to take denim production back to its roots. We visit him at the Ateliers de Nîmes workshop to see how they're using traditional savoir faire to make durable jeans with a lighter carbon footprint. Lisa Laborie-Barrière, curator at the Musée du Vieux Nimes, reflects on links between Nimes and Levi Strauss. (Listen @17')

Alice Guy, born in Paris on 1 July 1873, was the first woman film director and is widely acknowledged with making the first narrative film in 1896. But her contributions to the history of cinema were largely forgotten – even ignored – during her lifetime.(Listen @11'40'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here), Google podcasts (link here), or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

How to get New Caledonians talking to each other; the incompatibility of being gay and a football player in France, and the naval officer who turned his world travels into fiction.

In the face of political deadlock over the status of the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, pro-independence and loyalist parties are struggling to even talk to one another. Caledonian journalist and writer Jenny Briffa has spenta good part of her life trying to get conversations going between the archipelago's different ethnic communities, and recently wrotea triptych of plays around the three independence referendums held in 2018, 2020 and 2021. She talks about the territory's colonial legacy, its shared cultures, and how she sees herself as a white Caledonian, born of French parents. (Listen @0')

Football remains a very macho sport in France, and failure to fit the straight, virile mould can lead to harassment, insults or worse. Ouissem Belgacem quit his career as a rising football star aged 20 when he realised he could never be an openly gay player. He finally came out publicly in his book Adieu ma honte(Farewell to my shame) in 2021, which inspired a recently released documentary series. While he's no longer in the football world, he hopes to become a role model – something he never had – for today's players. He talks about needing to wear a 'heterosexual mask' as a player, and how little that has changed since he left the sport 15 years ago. (Listen @19'38'')

Acclaimed writer Pierre Loti, who died on 10 June 1923, had a long career as a naval officer. He's in a long line of French public figures to have tried their hand at writing fiction, though with far less success. (Listen @15'25'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here), Google podcasts (link here), or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

The village of Oradour-sur-Glane continues to memorialise the massacre of 643 of its inhabitants by the Nazis in 1944. Are shortages of an abortion drug in France linked to the anti-abortion movement in the United States? And the French doctor who helped identify HIV in the early days of the Aids epidemic.

On 10 June 1944, Nazi troops entered the buccolic village of Oradour-sur-Glane in central France and massacred 643 men, women and children. They then burnt it to the ground. Later that year, General Charles de Gaulle declared Oradour a ‘martyred village’, giving instructions that its state of destruction should be conserved as a permanent reminder of Nazi barbarity.Babeth Robert, the head of the village's remembrance centre, talks about life among the ruined remains. Benoit Sadry, the head of the association of families of victims of the massacre, reflects on family history and the need to conserve the site against the ravages of time.(Listen @0')

As the US Supreme Court in April was considering a case to de-authorise the use of mifepristone – one of two drugs used in medication abortions – many abortion providers in France were experiencing a shortage of misoprostol, the other drug. Isabelle Louis of the Planning Familiale, which provides abortions in the Paris area, talks about the shortage and its impact on patients. Pauline Londeix, of theObservatory for transparency in drug policies, says the scarcity is likely part of a longer-running problem of medecine shortages in general. But the timing, given what's happening in the US, is hard to ignore. (Listen @21'38'')

On 20 May 1983, a group of French scientists published a paper in Science identifying the virus that caused Aids. Jessica Phelan speaks about the discovery and its origins in a sample taken by a doctor in Paris, Willy Rozenbaum. (Listen @13'25'')

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, iTunes (link here), Spotify (link here), Google podcasts (link here), or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).