Spotlight on France - Podcast: Actors want Covid curtain lifted, coping with lockdown #2, Enlightened Emilie

Loading player...
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 to science.

The culture world took to the streets in France this week to protest against theatres, cinemas and museums remaining closed as lockdown has eased. They say “food for the soul” is just as important as the food on your plate, and it is unfair for shops, public transport and churches to be open while they cannot work. Marc Lesage, director of the Theatre de l'Atelier, argues the government does not understand the economics of the sector. And actress Anael Guez talks about what it is like to feel "non essential". (Listen @2'55'')

As France eases out of its second lockdown, we check in with a longitudinal study that started asking questions about Covid in March. During the first confinement, people were relatively positive. Today, six months later, that is far from the case. Ettore Recchi leads the researchers in the Coco study (Listen @16'12'')

Emilie du Châtelet, born on 17 December 1706, defied patriarchal norms of the 18th century to become a renowned natural philosopher and mathematician. She is most famous for translating and commenting the Principia by Isaac Newton and sharing love, ideas and scientific discoveries with Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. (Listen @12'45'')

This episode was mixed by Cécile Pompéani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, iTunes (link here), Google podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here), or your favourite podcast app.
17 Dec 2020 English South Africa News

Other recent episodes

Podcast: in defence of paper Braille, Le French Gut, a pioneering midwife

France's largest Braille publisher struggles to continue producing embossed books in the digital age. Researchers delve into people's guts with a large-scale study on the French population's microbiome. And Louise Bourgeois, the French midwife who in 1609 became the first woman in Europe to publish a book about medicine. As…
18 Dec 33 min

Podcast: Fighting drug crime, France's military service, (re)wrapping the Pont Neuf

What France can learn from Italy's fight against the mafia as it tackles its growing problem with drug-related organised crime. A look at France's new military service. And wrapping Paris's oldest bridge, 40 years after it was transformed by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The recent murder in Marseille of 20-year-old Mehdi…
4 Dec 32 min

Podcast: Civil liberties vs terrorism, Pelicot trial revisited, the Pascaline

A decade after the 2015 Paris terror attacks, France continues to pass security laws, sometimes to the detriment of civil liberties. A feminist journalist's take on the Pelicot mass rape trial. And the auction of the Pascaline, one of the world's earliest calculators, is halted. Immediately following the Paris attacks…
20 Nov 29 min

Podcast: Brigitte Macron, lauding open-air markets, France's Brazilian colony

How French media silence helped false stories claiming First Lady Brigitte Macron is a man to go viral. The unsung praises of France's street markets, which bring people together around buying and selling food. And France's short-lived colonial foray into Brazil.  False claims that President Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte is…
6 Nov 31 min