Host Ben McPartland is joined by The Local France’s Emma Pearson, Genevieve Mansfield and John Lichfield to take a look at all that’s happening as France begins a new year.

New year, new government – we’re taking a look at the new faces in the French government, Emmanuel Macron’s mammoth press conference, what it all means for the next three years and whether Macron is really ‘veering to the right’. 

You can find the Talking France podcast on Spotify, Apple of Google podcasts, download it here or listen on the link below

And do you have a French ‘dream town’? The French themselves apparently do, and it’s in the south-west département that is currently seeing the highest population growth due to people moving there, we’re taking a look at what’s so special about it. 

Moving back to politics – the education minister is currently embroiled in a massive row about private schools, but why do so many French people send their kids to private schools? Could it be that the average fees are only €300 a year? 

And finally we’re looking at restaurant etiquette, including whether it’s OK to ask for a ‘doggy bag’ to take home leftovers – and our team reveal how they have embarrassed themselves in French restaurants. 

We’ve recently released two special episodes of the podcast – our predictions for France in 2024 and questions from our listeners. You can find them, and our complete back catalogue, here.