English Language Broadcast

Rent prices have become one of the most impotant social problems in the last years. Prices have increased a 74.6% in the last 10 years, a number which is even bigger in cities like Madrid or Barcelona. Meanwhile, the average salary in Spain has only increased a 4% during that time. With these numbers it is no surprise that so many Spaniards struggle to pay rent and cannot afford buying a house, leaving little to no housing options for many. Almost a year ago, the new housing law was approved. This law aimed to alleviate the tension in the housing market, both in renting and in purchasing. But, has it actually caused any possitive effects in the market during this time? To tell us about it, on this broadcast we are joined by Valeria Racu, spokesperson of the Tenant's Union. Escuchar audio

Today we're going to talk about a drug that's infamous amongst Britons in Spain: Nolotil. Over the past few years, this pain medication has been making headlines, accused of being particularly dangerous for British and Irish people here in Spain, causing side-effects that have, in some cases, lead to death. In fact, it's a medication that is banned in most countries (including the UK and the US), but that is one of the most popular pain medications here in Spain. This month, Spain has agreed to open an investigation into the drug... and today, we'll hear from Cristina García del Campo, president of ADAF, the association that first brought attention to the danger this medication poses. Escuchar audio

Spain's central bank is the Banco de España, and its archives contain decades of information about its branches, its buildings and its employees. And many of the documents, from the last quarter of the nineteenth century onwards, contain photographs. The archivists at the Banco de España have spent recent years cataloguing all the photographs found within their archives that illustrate the history of the bank, but also the history of Spain and its people... As well as the history of photography itself, with its changing quality and aesthetics. And a selection of these photographs are now available to the public, in an exhibition that opened at the beginning of this month, and that will be open until the 20th of July... 'The Photographic Archive of the Banco de España'. We talked to archivists Elena Serrano and Patricia Alonso, curators of the exhibition. Escuchar audio

El Barrio de las letras is Madrid's literary district, full of history and paved with words of great Spanish authors... Literally. Felicity Hughes, writer for the new Lonely Planet Madrid tour guides, has just written a book all about the neighbourhood explaining its history and its authors. She joins us in the studio, along with David Price, English bookshop owner in the barrio. So, today's broadcast is a bookish one, as it coincides with World Book Day, which is also the anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes' death. Escuchar audio

This year, eighteen masterpieces from the Prado Museum's collection will be seen in museums in different regions all around Spain. Works from painters such as Murillo, Velázquez, Rubens and el Greco. In today's broadcast we talk to the Prado Museum's Manager of Preservation, Víctor Cajeao, to learn more about this project, which has the support of Telefónica, Spain's telecommunications company that celebrated it's one-hundredth anniversary on Friday. Escuchar audio

In Andalucía, the southern-most region of Spain, the city of Seville has come alive for the springtime Feria de Abril, the April Fair. This week-long celebration with medieval roots begins every year soon after Holy Week and is one of the the biggest event of the year for Seville-natives. Sevillanas, flamenco, casetas, bullfighting, horse-drawn carriages, music and lights make up this spring time celebration. We talk to Santiago García Dils of the Sevilla City Office, who tells us about the fair's history, and how this year's fair is going. Escuchar audio

A few weeks ago a Spanish judge ordered the closing of Telegram in Spain, an instant messagging platform with more than 8 million users in the country. This decision came after a complaint from media organizations Mediaset, Atresmedia and Movistar Plus, accusing the platforms of allowing users to share copyrighted content. The order sparked a wave of criticism and raised a lot of questions about censorship and free speech. Eventually, the ban was suspended by the same judge who, after a police report, considered it was "disproportionate". The ban of social media platforms is not exclusively a Spanish problem, recently the US passed a bill to ban Tik-Tok for security reasons, they argue its ties to China threaten national security because the Chinese government could use this platform to spy on Americans. To tell us about the difficulties that fast-developing technologies pose when it comes to their regulations, on this broadcast, we spoke with Enrique Puertas, doctor in applied information technologies and director of the Big Data master in the Universidad Europea of Madrid. Escuchar audio

"Tourists go home", graffitis with these words were found in the walls of the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. But what some British media have called a "war against the Brits" is not a rejection to tourism but the defense of biodiversity and decent living conditions for locals. According to the Canarian government, in 2023, the islands received more than 14 million tourists, a huge amount, especially taking into account that the islands have a population of around 2 million people. The mass tourism model that was developed in the last years is putting the islands' biodiversity in danger and also means worse conditions for locals. Several organizations from the islands have called for demonstrations to protest against this tourism model on the 20th of April. Under the slogan "Canarias tiene un limite" they will campaing for a change in the model. To tell us about this protest and their demands, we are joined by Ivan Cerdeño, a volunteer from the Asociación tinerfeña de amigos de la naturaleza. Escuchar audio

April 10th is the International Day of Science and Technology, a day established by the general conference of UNESCO to highlight the value of scientific and technological advances. This date also honours Doctor Bernardo Houssay, the first Latin American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1947 for his discoveries in Physiology and Medicine. To celebrate this important date, we will be meeting S.A.R.A.H. S.A.R.A.H., which stands for Smart AI Resource Assistant for Health, is one example of science and technology being used to provide a useful service for citizens. This AI system, developed by the World Health Organization, gives out information and resources about health issues and healthy habits. To learn more about her, we spoke with Doctor Ruediger Krech , Director of Health Promotion at the WHO. After that we learn abut an initiative in the Basque Country has been using a Picasso painting in their Palestine protests to help spread their message. We spoke with Kulturatik, the initiative, about what the town of Guernica, in the north of Spain, might have in common with the Gaza strip. Escuchar audio

Today we'll be talking about The Art of Manga. Manga, for those who don't know, are Japanese graphic novels, and anime is Japanese animation in the same style. This year, the anime film The Boy and the Heron won best animated film at the Oscars, and anime series and films are growing more and more popular outside of Japan... as are the manga they are often based on. The Art of Manga exhibition opened last week in Madrid, and it covers the history of manga with a section focusing on the arrival of manga and anime in Spain. We visted the exhibition in the Colegio de Arquitectos de Madrid and talked to Oriol Estrada, manga and anime specialist, about this art form, its history, and its Spanish appeal. Escuchar audio

April 7th is World Health Day, a day sponsored by the World Health Organization to draw attention about health and raise awareneess abour certain health-related issues. This year's theme is "My health, my right" which aims to "champion the right of everyone, everywhere to have access to quality health services, education, and information" and promote healthy habits and a healthy environment. On this broadcast we speak with two Spanish scientists who are involved in pioneer investigations that could potentially improve diagnosis and treatment for Alzheimer's disease and cancer. On the one hand Marta Cortés-Canteli, from the Fundación Jiménez Diaz, studies the connection between cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer's disease. And on the other hand, Hector Peinado, from the Spanish National Cancer Research Center, investigates about exosomes, the vesicles that stimulate cancer metastasis. Escuchar audio

It has been 85 years since the end of the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of the Francoist dictatorship. The war between the Republicans and the Nationalists took place between the year 1936 and 1939 and marked a dark period in the history of Spain. And even today, Spanish society continues to suffer the consequences of this conflict. Despite the obvious importance of this time period, there are no national museums to remember the war. On this broadcast we learn about the first and only museum about the Spanish Civil War, which is not based in Spain, but in Canada. The Virtual Museum of the Spanish Civil War has recently added new exhibits, and we spoke with the museum's co-founder, Antonio Cazorla, professor of Contemporary History in the Trent University of Canada . Escuchar audio

The word engineer has its origin in the latin "ingenium", a word associated with the mental capacity to develop and design new things. Any person who has the will to innovate and create something could be an engineer, regardless of their gender. Still, we find that women are a minority in the engineering field, in fact, according to data from the Spanish Institute of Women, women represent only 20% of engineers, when they represent a 54% of all university students. The reasons behind this are numerous, Sara Gómez, engineer and PhD in Materials engineering from the Poly-technic University of Madrid, advisor to the Royal Academy of Engineering and director of the Women and Engineering project, told us about this issue. Escuchar audio

On today's broadcast we retrieve a special program from our archives. Written by Jesus Carreras and translated to English by our colleague Alison Hughes, this broadcast tells us about how Holy Week is celebrated in the regions of Spain. Escuchar audio

It's Easter Week, celebrated in Spain as Semana Santa or 'Holy Week', and processions with hundreds of years of history parade the streets all over the country. In today's broadcast, we'll be focusing on one aspect of these parades. The nazarenos (or the penintents) don hoods eerily similar to those of the Ku Klux Klan, and every year, Spanish people have to explain to tourists that Holy Week celebrations have absolutely nothing to do with the white supremacist group. We talk to historian Javier Burrieza about the origin of this traditional Easter garment, and learn about possible explanations and links. After that, we'll learn about traditional Easter foods in Spain... And celebrations in Lebanon from our correspondant in Beirut. Escuchar audio

Recently, the European Parliament approved the first regulation on artificial intelligence, which establishes some requirements and obligations for AI platforms that operate in the European Union. This law is part of the EU digital strategy and aims to ensure better condition for the development and use of this technology while protecting fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability. To tell us more about the use of AI, the threats and challenges it poses and the key aspects included in the AI Act, we spoke with Javier Ramos, electric and engineering professor and rector of the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid. Escuchar audio

We are slowly approaching the end of the month of March and there are two dates that we could not miss. On the 21st of March we celebrated World Poetry Day, a date that was declared by UNESCO in the year 1999, to "celebrate one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity." And next week, on the 27th of March we will be commemorating World Theater Day, which was initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute. Here in Spain the association Soy de la Cuesta, have organized a poetic and theatrical tour under the name "De fieras a ferias. Alguien tuvo la delicadeza de enviar una carta" (From beasts to fairs. Someone was kind enough to send a letter) from the Retiro Park to the Cuesta de Moyano to celebrate these dates. The tour is also intended to celebrate the figure of novelist, poet, playwright and art collector, Gertrude Stein, and commemorate the Surrealist Manifesto, 100 years after its publication. Actress, writer and performer, Sasha Falcke, and writers Juanpe Sanchez Lopez and Maria de la Cruz will also be taking part in this celebration. To tell us all about this tour we spoke with writer, researcher, translator, and curator of the tour Helena Mariño. FOTO: Escuchar audio

Spain's social and political issues might sometimes be difficult to understand for a foreign audience and sometimes even for Spaniards... Separatism, nationalism, polarisation are some of the concepts that have been making headlines in the last years. English journalist and writer, Michael Reid, provides some context about these issues in his book "Spain: The Trials and Triumphs of a Modern European Country", published in 2023 and which now has been translated to Spanish. Michael Reid joined us in this broadcast to speak about his book and contextualize Spain's current social and political issues. Escuchar audio

In 2022, the Spanish Council of Ministers declared the 17th of March as Comic Book Day, a measure to promote the sector and recognize its social and cultural value and importance. This date was chosen to commemorate the first publication of the legendary comic magazine, TBO, back in 1917 and which became so popular that people started using the word "tebeo" to call all comic books. This year we participate in the celebration of comic books and graphic novels, which have been entertaining us for decades and spoke with Laureano Dominguez, editor from Astiberri, a Basque comic books publisher with more than 20 years of experience in this medium. Escuchar audio

Broadcast radio is the most popular source of in-car entertainment, with 70% of the content listened to in cars being radio but the car industry is slowly moving towards radio-less cars. New electric vehicles manufactured by BMW, Porsche, Audi, Volvo and Tesla have all dropped AM radio. In the face of this, UNESCO and broadcast organizations recently issued a joint statement asking the car industry to not axe radio receivers in their newer models. To tell us about this statement and the importance of keeping radio in cars, we spoke with Mirta Lourenço from UNESCO, Claudio Cappon, general secretary of COPEAM, a non-profit UNESCO media-communications association, and Tomas Granryd, head of digital partnerships in Swedish radio. Escuchar audio