Talking France
Hosted by Ben McPartland · The Local France
4.9from 129 ratings
- 181
- Episodes
- 24
- Transcribed
- 129
- Ratings
- Daily
- Cadence
- 2022
- First episode
About Talking France
Talking France is The Local’s weekly podcast where we discuss the big news and talking points in France as well as explore and explain the major issues that impact life in the country. We also answer your essential questions and look ahead at what’s coming up. In each episode presenter Ben McPartland chats about the most important news and must-know information with The Local France’s Emma Pearson and Emma Albright. They are also frequently joined by John Lichfield, a veteran journalist whose knowledge of French news and politics is second to none, as well as other expert commentators. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
- Publisher
- The Local France
- Category
- news · news · society & culture
- Language
- en
- Explicit
- No
- First episode
- 11 Feb 2022
- Latest episode
- 7 Oct 2026
Latest episodes
24 of 181 episodes have a transcript.
7 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT
'On the brink': Why French high school revolt is not the only problem facing France
30 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
Carte de séjour misery, French data centre battlegrounds and Brittany runs low on tap water
23 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
French fuel prices risk autumn unrest and the real danger posed by Le Pen
Inside a recent episode
'On the brink': Why French high school revolt is not the only problem facing France
Published 7 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Peter, thanks for joining us on Talking France Again. What's the problem with French lycées? Okay, well, thank you very much for having me on, Ben. I think there are several important problems here. And the first one is that the French system is very, very strained. It's very strained because there's not enough resources. The classrooms are very full. The teachers are not very well trained and feel inadequate. And there's a sense of... of a decline that's taking place. And it's more than a sense of decline. In fact, if you look at international test scores, you can see that French school kids are really doing much worse now than they did even three or four years ago, and certainly a lot worse than they did 10 years ago in things like mathematics and in reading. […]
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See plansWho has been a guest on Talking France
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
- Emma Pearson
- Emma Albright
- John Lichfield
- Peter Gumbel
- Katy Wright
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
- Apple Podcasts (US)
- 4.8 / 5
- 72 ratings
- Spotify
- 5.0 / 5
- 57 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 64 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
- Quality
- 91
- Social presence
- 0
- YouTube
- 0
- Engagement
- 92
Contact Talking France
- Guest appearances
- Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
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Questions about Talking France
Who hosts Talking France?
Ben McPartland host the show. Published by The Local France.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes daily, based on its RSS feed.
Does Talking France take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
Where can I read transcripts?
24 of 181 episodes have a transcript on Pod Engine. Full transcripts are available with a Pod Engine plan.
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