This week we head into rural France.

Listeners will no doubt know that you absolutely need a car if you're in the French countryside but can President Emmanuel Macron convince drivers to go electric with his new offer?

And what about pubic transport? Does the French government have any plans to improve trains and buses for those living in la France Profonde. 

We get the latest on the fuel blockades and look at whether this week's nationwide strike in France will give Macron and his ministers reason to be jittery about the months ahead. Will it really herald an uprising like May 1968?

And what's been happening with Notre Dame Cathedral. Will it really be restored in time for the Paris Olympics. We get the latest.

We also bring you some French films you really should find time to watch and discover why everyone has been talking about stretchy mash potato and cheese in the Auvergne region of central France.

Host Ben McPartland will be joined by editor Emma Pearson and journalist Gen Mansfield, who this week joined us on the line from the US. As usual we picked the brains of our politics expert John Lichfield.

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