Rockets, recipes and Le Pen(itentiary)

Rockets, recipes and Le Pen(itentiary)

Author: Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer April 3, 2025 Duration: 53:30
Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for the French presidency after this week's bombshell court ruling finding her guilty in a huge embezzlement case. But does she have any chance of a comeback? And could the far-right win the presidency without her? This week we're discussing the earthquake in French politics, as well as Europe's space ambitions. Plus, a delightful interview with Greek podcaster and hungry man Thom Ntinas, about what ancient Europeans ate.     Thom is the host of The Delicious Legacy podcast. Find it here, or wherever you're listening to this.    Thanks for listening. After some rather troubling financial news this week, this independent podcast needs your support more than ever. If you enjoy our work, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting us. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast!      This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.   This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: @forkranger on Instagram and 'How Stockholm Stuck' from Radiolab.   00:33 Damn clocks
03:43 Good Week: Marine Le Pen's enemies
20:36 Bad Week (?): The Spectrum rocket launch
33:59 Interview: Thom Ntinas on what the Ancients ate
46:27 The Inspiration Station: @forkranger and 'How Stockholm Stuck'
49:55 Happy Ending: The best place to lose your wallet   Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak  Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina   YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | hello@europeanspodcast.com      

Every week, Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer sit down to untangle the stories shaping the continent, moving beyond the headlines to find the human threads within European news, politics, and culture. Their conversations feel like joining two well-informed friends who are genuinely curious, offering clarity on complex political shifts in Brussels one moment and diving into a compelling film from Berlin or a novel from Lisbon the next. This isn't about dry analysis; it's about understanding the forces that define daily life from Dublin to Sofia. In this The Europeans podcast, you'll hear interviews with policymakers, artists, and everyday people, all contributing to a richer, more nuanced picture of a region in constant motion. The tone is engaging and accessible, designed for anyone who feels that Europe's narrative is too often reduced to stereotypes or institutional jargon. By weaving together current affairs with deeper cultural trends, each episode builds a more complete and surprisingly relatable portrait. If you've ever wanted to feel more connected to the ideas and debates circulating across the Channel and beyond, this is a consistent and thoughtful guide.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture
Podcast Episodes
The most confusing elections of all time? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:56
The far-right surged but the centre held; somehow the two are true at once. Nearly 100 members of the new European Parliament have yet to tell us which political family they’ll be joining. And as for who’s actually going…
Why give a damn about the European elections? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:04
They’re the second biggest elections on Earth. For the next four days, 373 million people are eligible to take part in the vote for the European Parliament. And yet in most EU countries, the prevailing mood is… ‘meh’. Th…
The Big-Agri Bully Boys [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:59
Protests by angry farmers have swept across Europe this year. But from country to country, powerful groups have taken these protests over and changed their agenda. Who are these people, and what are they up to? This is a…
What's more endangered: wolves or Eurovision? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:34
This week, the high drama of both European wolf policy and the Eurovision Song Contest. Wolves have made a huge comeback in Europe in recent years. How can we coexist peacefully with these hungry carnivores? We speak to…
Can food labels make us healthier? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:36
Across a fair chunk of Europe, we've grown used to seeing little traffic light symbols on our food packets that supposedly rate the healthiness of our food. But why might Dominic's chamomile tea get a Nutri-Score rating…
The regime that ended with a song [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:26
It’s the only revolution in world history (that we know of) that began with a Eurovision song. This week, Portugal marks 50 years since the Carnation Revolution ended decades of dictatorship. We speak to Alex Fernandes,…
Why the Swiss women’s climate victory is such a big deal [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:14
A group of Swiss women, all aged 64 and over, made history last week by winning the first ever climate case heard by the European Court of Human Rights. But what does their victory mean for climate policy across Europe?…
The biggest climate case that ever was [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:28
We are re-airing one of our all time favourite episodes following this week's landmark verdict on the biggest climate case that ever was: KlimaSeniorinnen vs. Switzerland. We reported on the case in depth last year, shor…
Nepo great-great-great-grand-babies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:42
We all know this continent has major issues with social mobility. But having a rich ancestor from *six centuries ago* shouldn't make it more likely that you're rich today... should it? This week we speak to Guglielmo Bar…
Less Beyoncé, more bouzouki [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:38
This week, music and politics collide. We're talking about Greece's plan to enforce quotas for Greek-language lyrics on the radio, and the racist backlash against Aya Nakamura's rumoured booking for the Paris Olympics. P…