Vive la France, Radio 4

Life is sweet on the other side of the Channel

In Vive la France, Joe Queenan blunts his usually sharp tongue to present a persuasive love letter to our neighbours across the Channel. Soundtracked by gentle café music, the American humorist roams the streets of Paris meeting friends, artists and intellectuals (French, British and American alike) to wax lyrical about the joys of la vie française.

Taking inspiration from an article in Time that bemoaned (and perhaps celebrated) the death of French culture, he declares: “Just about any dead French writer is better than any living American writer. Our painters all suck, there was never an American composer on a par with Berlioz, and Emmanuelle Béart and Julie Delpy both rock.” (I agree except for that fact that Cormac McCarthy is alive and better than most dead French authors.)

There is much that Queenan dislikes about France – “ their horrible little dogs, their refusal to stop at red lights” – but, as his companions point out, the food is fabulous, the wine even better, and the work/life balance teeters more towards “life”. And – as an expat British businessman points out – France’s aversion to free markets means that the country should come through the recession relatively scot-free. If you aren’t planning your next trip by the end of the programme, you haven’t got a pulse.