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Episode details

World Service,07 May 2013,10 mins

Mexico's Rude Rich and Canada's Language Police

From Our Own Correspondent

Available for over a year

Today, two stories on social attitudes (and conflicts) in the Americas. Will Grant muses on the recent closure of a local restaurant near his office in Mexico City, which revealed plenty about what the Mexican elite thinks it can get away with. Several high-profile cases of the rich or famous abusing their social underlings have sparked furious comments - but the social media backlash might signal a change which most Mexicans consider acceptable. In Montreal, Lorraine Mallinder blows the lid off the "pastagate" affair and other recent controversies, including the case of a Metro passenger assaulted for asking for a ticket in English. Why is Quebec still so militant about keeping French first?

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