麻豆约拍

Governments which are strapped for cash and burdened with public debt, want to see the creation of an army of small businesses in order to generate new jobs and pay taxes. But how do you persuade people to take the big leap of setting up for themselves?

We look at how France has succeeded in boosting numbers of small businesses, by creating a new legal status for start-ups called the 'auto-entrepreneur.' The 麻豆约拍's Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.

And Lesley Curwen talks to Dr Ma Liang of the China National Governing Committee for Entrepreneurship Training, about how the Chinese government has spent forty billion dollars on providing skills training and tax-free loans of up to 8 thousand dollars for rural citizens.

Plus our technology commentator, Jeremy Wagstaff ponders on whether wearing headphones on the move can cut you off from the rest of the world.