World at One Paris special

France: tradition of resisting globalisation

On the eve of Bastille day, we broadcast live from the British Embassy in Paris.

"It's going to be a hot summer" - shouted one newspaper headline here in Paris this week.

France, like the UK, has seen street violence in areas where second and third generation immigrants are concentrated: like the UK, poverty and race are coming together this summer in ways that increasingly disturb both governments.

Tension: between conservative President Chirac and socialist Prime Minister Jospin

The British response has been to talk tough - blame lawless thugs and talk of allowing the use of water cannon.

That was an approach tried in France since the mid-1990s. But its an approach that many are now backing away from.

Click on the link above left to hear Andrew North's report on riots in Paris, fuelled by racial discrimination and poverty.

Corruption

Paris has made its final bid for the 2008 Olympics. The result is announced this afternoon.

If French national confidence is hoping for an Olympic boost, the murky financial affairs of much of the French political establishment - with President Chirac the latest to face serious allegations - is not helping.

Christian Mallar, Senior Foreign Analyst for France 3 TV, tells us the latest scandal is being fought out between left and right.

Also: Does France's recipe for taming global capitalism - la exception Francaise - set France in perpetual conflict with what it disdains as the "Anglo Saxon" way?

We speak to the British Ambassador in Paris, Sir Michael Jay. Click on the link above left for the World at One's analysis.