The perils of standing up to Iran from Europe
From Turkey to France and the UK, Iranians who've challenged the regime at home have often sought safety in Europe. But how safe are these dissidents, really? This week we speak to Fariba Nawa, host of 'Lethal Dissent', a fascinating new podcast series that investigates Iran's efforts to silence those in exile on European soil and beyond. We're also talking about Denmark's remarkable mass rewilding plan, and Slovakia's nationalist crackdown on the use of Hungarian and other minority languages.
What do the European Union and Barbie have in common?
Are European leaders living in a Barbie-like dreamworld? This week, the idealised fantasy of the EU versus its awkward reality. Far from being a continent of grateful europhiles, a lot of people feel apathetic about the European project at best. Paweł Zerka joins us to discuss why non-white, young and Eastern Europeans feel especially left out of the EU, and what we can do to fix this.
YOLO, Swiss pensioners
This week: two referendums and some dodgy criminal reforms. We're talking about Swiss voters' decision to treat themselves to bigger pensions, and Slovakia's battle to stop cronyism under populist prime minister Robert Fico. And ahead of Ireland's vote on International Women's Day, the historian Caitríona Beaumont joins us to ask: why, according to the Irish constitution, is a woman's place still in the home?