France in Flux: Budgets, Bling, and the Bataclan Decade episode artwork

EPISODE · Nov 5, 2025 · 41 MIN

France in Flux: Budgets, Bling, and the Bataclan Decade

from So French! · host Stefan de Vries & Sara Bertilsson

Ten years ago today, So French! was born — just one week before the terror attacks that would forever change France. As we relaunch our podcast in a turbulent political and social landscape, Sara and Stefan look back at a decade of transformation: from terror threats to TikTok-era extremism, and from François Hollande to Emmanuel Macron (and still, somehow, Nicolas Sarkozy).This week, we dive into France’s budget battle royale — a “Frankenstein” of a finance bill that might just sink the government. We track the scandal of the week, as ultra-fast fashion giant Shein opens its Paris flagship amid outrage over child-like sex dolls, and we check in on the Bling-Bling President now sitting in solitary.Plus: slow TV from Mont Saint-Michel, the Norwegians’ unexpected role in soothing French nerves, and what happens when you mix politics, pain, and the tides of time.🇫🇷 Politics. Culture. Outrage. Beauty. Only on So French.Tune in — and vive la relance!

Ten years ago today, So French! was born — just one week before the terror attacks that would forever change France. As we relaunch our podcast in a turbulent political and social landscape, Sara and Stefan look back at a decade of transformation: from terror threats to TikTok-era extremism, and from François Hollande to Emmanuel Macron (and still, somehow, Nicolas Sarkozy).This week, we dive into France’s budget battle royale — a “Frankenstein” of a finance bill that might just sink the government. We track the scandal of the week, as ultra-fast fashion giant Shein opens its Paris flagship amid outrage over child-like sex dolls, and we check in on the Bling-Bling President now sitting in solitary.Plus: slow TV from Mont Saint-Michel, the Norwegians’ unexpected role in soothing French nerves, and what happens when you mix politics, pain, and the tides of time.🇫🇷 Politics. Culture. Outrage. Beauty. Only on So French.Tune in — and vive la relance!

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France in Flux: Budgets, Bling, and the Bataclan Decade

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Ten years ago today, So French! was born — just one week before the terror attacks that would forever change France. As we relaunch our podcast in a turbulent political and social landscape, Sara and Stefan look back at a decade of transformation:...

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