Host Ben McPartland is joined by The Local France's Emma Pearson and Emma Albright to discuss France's brutal summer weather and how that will affect food prices, updates on the 2027 presidential race and one of the country's favourite pastimes: correcting someone else's French.
You can find the Talking France podcast on Spotify, Apple or the French platform Deezer or on World Radio Paris. You can download it here or listen to the full episode on the link below.
We start by discussing the wildfires and record-breaking heatwaves that hit France this summer, with fires burning tens of thousands of hectares across the country.Â
Firefighters are due to mobilise in Paris on September 29th, so we take a look at what is driving the protest and why France relies so heavily on sapeurs-pompiers volontaires (part-time firefighters).
We then look at how an exceptionally hot and dry summer has affected French agriculture, from fruit and vegetable shortages to the country's wine industry. And, of course, we tackle the question wine lovers may be wondering: could this summer's wildfires actually make French wine taste smoky?
La rentrée is just around the corner - France's traditional back-to-school period in September, when the country gets back into full swing after the summer holidays. It also brings a lot of changes, as well as the return of French MPs and political leaders.
And with the 2027 presidential election approaching slowly, the political race is set to heat up. We look at the challenges facing France and its political leaders this September - from the country's finances and political divisions to the questions likely to dominate the road to the next presidential election.
Finally, why do some French people feel so strongly about grammar? Is being corrected genuinely helpful, or does it simply make you want to stop speaking altogether? We finish by looking at a recent survey by The Local on how French people correct foreigners' French.
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