The Europeans

Whether you're a European passport-holder or not, so much in life is determined by the paper we carry in our pockets. Our guest this week is the Yemeni photographer Thana Faroq, whose brilliant project The Passport explores what it's like to hold a so-called 'unlucky' passport. Her work is on show in New York right now, but she's not allowed to travel from her home in the Netherlands to see it with her own eyes. Also this week, Bram Hilkens is here to delve into the continent's hip-hop...

What's in a name? A lot, if you're Macedonia. Emil Atanasovski is here to talk us through one of the most confusing questions in the Balkans, thank god. Transatlantic movie man Kevin Sachs is on the line to explain why Netflix is about to get a lot more European, with his tips for stylish German television thrown in for free. Plus bears, trains, and ancient weapons, we've got it all this week. The Europeans is supported by Future Europe, a podcast from the European Investment Bank. Check it...

This week a tiny horse made a grand entrance to Europe, and one of France's finest singers took his final bow. RIP Charles Aznavour, trailblazer and source of the most embarassing story of Dominic's life (listen til the end). Our guest this week is Monique Van den Abbeel, a Belgian campaigner for the visually impaired who is soon to be welcoming Europe's first guide horse into her home in Bruges. Yes, this is a thing, and we are very excited about it. In Week 2 of our partnership with Are We...

This week on the Europeans: bad Italian wifi, a bad Danish bank, and badly behaved Spanish politicians. And spiders, lots of spiders. The Financial Times' Madrid correspondent Michael Stothard is on the line (kind of) to explain Spain's growing plagiarism scandal. And as part of our new partnership with the uber-cool magazine Are We Europe, we chat with its editor Kyrill Hartog about their latest issue The Ocean Between Us, all about Europe's complicated relationship with America. Check it...

There's a big difference between a shelter and a home. After Sweden's elections cast a spotlight on the integration of immigrants, this week we're asking how housing and urban design can affect your ability as a newcomer to settle in a new place. Alice Pittini, research coordinator at Housing Europe, talks us through some of the best examples of housing designed to help refugees and asylum seekers get stuck in and start building new lives. We also chat about Viktor Orbán and the battle for...

Dominic's singing in Berlin, Katy's painting in Paris, and a forest is quietly growing just outside Oslo. Our guest this week is Anne Beate Hovind, project manager of a strange and wonderful project in Norway involving books, trees and the passage of time. Also on the menu, Florence is taking things OFF the street food menu and Poland is harnessing the power of the howling wind. Plus, a glimmer of hope after some dark days in Chemnitz. Say hallo: Twitter.com/EuropeansPod...

This week on The Europeans: national branding done right (Sweden) and wrong (Theresa May's robot dancing). Or will the British PM have the last laugh on that one? The jury's still out. Swedish journalist Charlotte Boström is on the line to explain how her country successfully marketed itself as an eco-friendly feminist paradise. And as Dominic packs his bags for two months in Berlin, he and Katy talk clocks, democracy, fine food and Lego. Find us on the interweb, we love hearing from you!...

This week we're talking about a couple of journeys. Greece has gone from the depths of despair to something a little less like despair; Nick Malkoutzis of Macropolis (@NickMalkoutzis) is on the line from Athens to explain. And Frenchman Fabrice Pothier is here to tell us about his fun (?) 700-kilometre cycle from Foie Gras country to Santander, hoping to learn a thing or two about Europe. Also: an artistic mishap, virulent success, and a discordant initative by Berlin transport authorities....

This week, sex and the internet. For once it's not us making the filthy innuendos, although Dominic does his best. It's Lithuania's capital Vilnius! We ask tour guide Agneta Ladek (https://bit.ly/2BBRNyi) if her city is really 'the G-spot of Europe — nobody knows where it is, but when you find it, it's amazing'. Dimi Dimitrov is on the line to explain why changes to the way we regulate the internet in Europe would have made life harder for Wikipedia and more boring for everyone else. And one...

This week, something a little different: Deborah Cole, a Berlin-based reporter since 1995, reads us her beautiful piece about the race to collect the memories of elderly Germans who lived through some of the most tumultuous events in modern history. Follow Deborah on Twitter @doberah, she's our favourite person tweeting from Merkel Land. Also: an airborne mishap, an ingenious Spaniard, and irony, Slovenian-style, explained with the help of the brilliant Aljaž Pengov Bitenc (aka @pengovsky)....

As you'll see in this week's episode, we're warming to two themes this season: urine, and the far-right. Timo Lochocki (@TLochocki), an expert on populism in Europe, is on the line from Berlin to talk about why we SHOULDN'T talk about Steve Bannon's new venture on this side of the Atlantic. On a brighter note, Adrian Murphy's here to talk about Europeana, a lovely EU culture project that is currently collecting personal stories about migrating around the continent. Check it out at...

We're back! What's cooking, Europe? Apparently the whole continent. Greece has just suffered Europe's deadliest forest fires in a century, part of a spate of extreme weather all over the northern hemisphere. Just back from Athens, we ask incoming AFP science correspondent Patrick Galey (and his dog) whether this is the new normal. Follow @patrickgaley for the angriest climate tweets in town. Things have been heating up in Germany too, in the form of a huge debate over identity politics....

Smiling may not come easily to Russians, as you'll hear about on this episode. But here at The Europeans we've got plenty to smile about this week: 1) Katy's at a pig farm 2) Dominic's latest opera is going great 3) We have fantastic guest Aljaž Pengov Bitenc on the line to talk about what we can learn from Slovenia's recent election. Follow him at twitter.com/pengovsky and hear us on his podcast Evropska četrt: https://bit.ly/2sUjkDk 4)Spain's Mr Handsome is off to a good start and the US...

A longer version of our conversation with Akbar Ahmed on his book 'Journey into Europe' about Islam's role in the continent. twitter.com/EuropeansPod facebook.com/europeanspodcast instagram.com/europeanspodcast

In Europe our clocks may be slow (see our March 13 episode) but our politics moves fast. Two new governments in a week! Katy and Dominic get you up to speed on what's been happening in Spain and Italy. Our guest this week is Akbar Ahmed, one of the world's leading experts on Islam, who has just published a major new study on Europe's Muslims. We enjoyed our conversation so much that we'll be releasing it in full as a bonus episode, so look out for that later in the week. Plus: how Spain's...

What a week. There’s been wonderful news from Ireland and so much drama in Italy that we actually had to re-record part of this week’s show at the last minute. Speaking of Italian thrillers: we’ve been chatting to Giuseppe Porcaro, author of brand-new sci-fi novel DISCO SOUR (https://amzn.to/2IVCi7s), about why he decided to set it in a parallel European universe. And Katy’s been talking to Sweden-based Florian Tirnovan about his great project organizing a talent show for deaf people from...

This week we're going back to the 1970s to look at two great mysteries: an unsolved murder in Norway, and Britain's ever-enigmatic relationship with Europe. Norwegian investigative journalist Marit Higraff joins us to talk about Death In Ice Valley, the true crime podcast from the BBC and NRK hoping to uncover the truth behind a woman's death half a century ago. Also delving into the past is British comedian Kieran Hodgson, whose new show looks for laughs in the unlikeliest of places: the...

A big warm European welcome to the many new listeners who've joined us over the last few weeks! Here's a little bonus episode in which Dominic and Katy introduce themselves and suggest a few favourite episodes you may want to check out. Our guests are amazing people from all around Europe: chefs, designers, athletes, scientists... Here are the highlights mentioned in this show: May 7: Making a living from gambling on Eurovision March 27: A Michelin-starred chef on pizza and national identity...

First up, hello new listeners! We’ll be dropping a bonus ep shortly to explain what this is all about, but this week’s main show is a great place to start. We’re a journalist in Paris and an opera singer in Amsterdam. Welcome! It’s been week of highs and lows for Europe and The Europeans. Katy came back from Germany with empty pockets but a full heart (and a selfie). It’s been a bad week for euro diplomacy, but a great one for trashy pop. Someone who’s seen more than her fair share of highs...

Katy gets all mushy about Europe as we talk to a very clever man who makes his living by speculating on Eurovision. Daniel Gould (Mr Gould to Dominic), is the founder of www.Sofabet.com and gives us all the latest from Lisbon. We then head over to Spain to speak to the activist and writer, Brigitte Vasallo about Spain's #MeToo movement and the public reaction to the shocking court ruling in a rape case in Pamplona. Plus, we have meatballs, terrorists, Harry Potter Royalty and a healthy...