I've discovered the Grande Reportage podcasts on iTunes, and have listened to several of them in the car. They're really interesting, and I've learned a lot along the way, not just French, but about news from around the world. What I have found though, is that I can get fixated on a particular word, which then sends my mind in other directions. My A Level French teacher particularly liked the verb "craindre", which seemed to pop up a lot and set off all sorts of sixth-form-based nostalgia.
With my former teacher in mind, I've also started having France Inter on in the background whilst I've been working at home. Every week, we would take in a cassette tape for her to record the news. Our homework would be to take a dictée and answer questions about the news report. I'm delighted that the same news reader, Claire Servajean, is still there after a good twenty years or more! As I've been working, I haven't been listening intently, but I figure that it's a good way of soaking up the language. I'd recommend downloading the France Inter app as you can listen live as well as to programmes which have already been broadcast, and there are plenty of news articles to read.
There are so many online resources; I wish that these had been around when I was at university. Getting a slot in the language lab to listen to pre-recorded material was never easy.
So, my confidence is building rapidly. I make a point of speaking to French colleagues in French, and in the space of a week, one of them has said that I'm notably more "fluide". More internal e-mails too, which I've run through grammar checks, which just been highlighting pesky missing accents. If that's the only area that it can pick me up on, then I'm happy that I'm making progress. I may brave sending a mail to a client next week.