Terrible week for ABBA

Europe is getting bigger, and so, it seems, are its problems. This week, Katy gives us a report from her home country of France, which for weeks has been embroiled in protests, some of which have brought significant destruction to French buildings and businesses. What began as a series of student demonstrations in early September has grown into a movement that has captured France’s growing anger over its government and the cost of living – grievances that are being echoed in similar protests across many other European countries as well.

Europe is in chaos, but we’re here to talk about it all, as long as the wifi holds out! This week, we’re chatting about Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s call for a snap election in light of his country’s recent housing demonstrations and a host of other controversies roiling Madrid. Please note: this podcast was recorded before news broke on Wednesday night of the death of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old whose eviction sparked Spain’s massive housing protests.

When it comes to the future of AI, we – like seemingly everyone else – have way more questions than answers. Could European legislation do anything to protect us from job losses and “rogue” models? Can the chatbots created on this continent compete with those being developed by the US and China? What would it mean to win (or lose) the “AI race”? And most importantly: how doomed are we?

When it comes to envisioning the future, what’s your type? The Positive? The Negative? The Uncertain? The Disconnected? No, these aren’t characters in a pop group or a teen movie – they’re the four ways of imagining a European future. So says Paweł Zerka of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a three-peat guest and true Friend of the Podcast. Paweł is back once more to walk us through this year’s European Sentiment Compass, “Future Nostalgia: Europe’s Unfinished Song”. Come for the Dua Lipa reference, stay because you’re a polling nerd like the rest of us. We’re also talking about British lawmakers’ quest to figure out why the UK does quite so badly at Eurovision and what the seizure of Nestlé and Auchan’s Russian assets says about the Kremlin’s finances.

This week, we’re attempting to solve some tricky problems. How can the EU tackle the ballooning housing crisis? Can we revive a cinema industry on death’s door? And how on earth can we get bureaucrats to communicate like human people in order to really, truly get something done? We’re unpacking plans for a new Affordable Housing Act and Macron’s attempt to save le cinéma, and we’re also getting an exclusive from the EU’s Directorate General of Memes, Satire, and Sober Fun, a.k.a. Fabio Mauri, the meme-maker who loves nothing more than to poke fun at Europe’s policymakers on Twitter and Instagram. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, et cetera.