Wesley Stevenson

speaker

1,470 appearances 54 recordings 1 series first heard Sep 2010 last heard May 2015

Wesley Stevenson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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More or Less · Is London France’s sixth largest city? · 29 Mar 2014 podcast

Well, listen to these clips broadcast in the UK earlier this year, quoting the same fact. matched

There are so many French people living in Britain these days that London counts as France's sixth biggest city. matched

And here's the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, recounting when he met Alain Juppé, the Mayor of Bordeaux. matched

Now, before we tell you if it's true, there are a few things you need to know. matched

There's a long-standing rivalry between the UK and France. matched

It goes back hundreds of years. matched

Which country can boast to be more successful, more sophisticated, more advanced? matched

I mean, obviously, it's Britain. matched

That London is the sixth biggest French city illustrates a popular idea that the UK's capital is booming. matched

It's good for entrepreneurs, easy to set up a business, and there are more jobs, while France is stagnating. matched

So we thought this was a good opportunity to see how true it really is. matched

The problem is we also got in touch with the UK's Office for National Statistics, often known as the ONS, and their figures are actually different. matched

They carry out a household survey once a year, and according to the most recent figures, there are less than half that amount, around 123,000 French nationals in the whole of the UK, and only 66,000 are in London. matched

We spoke to one of their statisticians, Pamela Dent, to ask her how sure she was of their figures. matched

So they're pretty sure their figure's right, but these ONS household surveys don't count everyone. matched

Students in halls of residence or people in care homes, for example, are left out. matched

So we're a bit stuck at this point. matched

The ONS are absolutely sure about their figure, but the French embassy are sure about their figure too. matched

So how do they count the number of French citizens in London? matched

This is a much bigger area than just the city of London. matched

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