Perspective

From UEFA refusing to light up Munich's stadium in rainbow colours over Hungary's anti-gay law, to the selection of a transgender weightlifter for the Tokyo Olympics, it's been a big week in the sporting world for questions about gender and sexuality. We speak to Sara Townsend, co-president of the European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation. She says we should be finding ways to make sport more accessible, rather than preventing people from competing, and that UEFA failed to live up to its own charter by not taking a stand against Hungary's regressive law.

While studying development-forced displacement, artist Carolina E. Santo became interested in France's Dordogne Valley, where five dams were built after World War II, submerging entire villages underwater and displacing hundreds. To embody her research, she decided to walk over 600 kilometres between the sites of two of those "drowned villages," all while listening to recordings of the people who used to live there. She defines the project as "geo-scenography": looking at the world through the lens of theatrical scenography. She joined us for Perspective.

Both the WHO and South Africa's president are warning that international attempts to provide the African content with Covid-19 vaccines are falling far short. Although there is some good news with the COVAX programme and plans for a first vaccine production hub to be built in South Africa, experts warn that far more needs to be produced and distributed. We speak to Martin Prince, a Professor of Epidemiological Psychiatry at King's College London and the Director of King's Global Health Institute.

This Monday's elections in Ethiopia should be a triumph of democracy, but major problems – not least a war in the country's Tigray region – are casting a dark cloud. Human rights groups are disappointed with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed after what was seen as a promising start to his mandate in 2018. He was credited with freeing political prisoners, putting women into high office and allowing more media freedom. But now jailings have increased and the war overshadows everything. We speak to Martin Plaut, a journalist and senior research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has prompted many of us to ask some big questions about the way we live our lives, while the upending of normality has pushed others to rail against the scientific evidence and embrace conspiracy theories. How can studying philosophy help us come to terms with a rapidly changing world? We speak to Nigel Warburton, philosopher and creator of the hugely successful podcast "Philosophy Bites".

Post-conflict peacebuilding is an international, multi-million euro industry that often relies on top-down initiatives. But what if the most effective methods of fostering peace happened predominantly at the local, community level? We speak to former humanitarian aid worker and political sciences professor Séverine Autesserre about her new book "The Frontlines of Peace", in which she makes a powerful case for entirely rethinking the traditional aid model to make peacebuilding not only more effective, but also cheaper.

Prosecutors in Myanmar have now laid out their arguments against Aung San Suu Kyi and a number of her allies. Critics and international observers say it's nothing but a show trial to discredit the country's ousted leadership in a bid to consolidate the junta's control of the country following their February 1 coup and bloody crackdown on protesters. We discuss what the future holds for Myanmar with Michael Charney, Professor of Asian and Military History at SOAS University of London.

Hot on the heels of his first NATO summit, US President Joe Biden will meet EU leaders Tuesday in a bid to re-affirm his country's commitment to multilateral cooperation. Top of the agenda: the Covid-19 recovery, both in terms of health and of the economy - all while moving toward green energy and countering what NATO leaders called a ‘systemic threat’ from China. But how in step are the US and EU on issues of trade and repeated provocation by Europe’s neighbor Russia? We speak to Sven Biscop, Director of the Europe in the World Programme at the Egmont-Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels.

She's sexy, seductive and a fashion icon. The traditional stereotype of the Parisian woman has long dominated movies, television shows and books about France - but is in line with modern times? We talk to American author and journalist Lindsey Tramuta, whose book "La Nouvelle Parisienne: The Women and Ideas Shaping Paris" deconstructs the stereotype.

Traditional gender norms dominate societies across the Middle East and North Africa, but young people who don't easily fit into well-established identities are increasingly speaking out. From Iraq to Tunisia, non-binary voices are demanding a platform and online magazines like My.Kali play a central role in helping to forge empowered non-conformist communities. We discuss queer culture, activism and community in the Arab world with Khalid Abdel-Hadi, the publication's editor-in-chief.