The Agenda Podcast

Send a text

No sooner has the the Euros Football finished in Germany, than in just a few days  the Paris Olympics will begin with the largest opening ceremony in history. 

So with thousands of athletes and millions of spectators spending the summer in Europe - and alongside promises from both events they’ll be the most sustainable ever, this week on The Agenda, Juliet Mann looks at just how green global sport really is.

She’s joined by Marie Sallois, Corporate and Sustainable Development Director of the  International Olympic Committee and Dr Martin Cames from the Öko-Institut, who was a co-author of the UEFA feasibility study into how to minimise Euro 2024’s environmental impact. 

Send a text

It wasn't the swing to the far right many had expected, but President Emmanuel Macron's decision to call a snap election in the wake of the European poll in June doesn't appear to have done his centrist Ensemble group much good. Unexpectedly it was the left leaning New Popular Front that took the most seats - but not enough for an outright majority.
 
So what does this mean for the future of France - both at home and on the global stage?
In this edition of the Agenda, Juliet Mann looks at how the result might shape France’s future with Renaud Foucart, Senior Lecturer in Economics at Lancaster University, Jacques Reland, Senior Research Fellow at the Global Policy Institute, and Nabila Ramdani, French-Algerian journalist and author of "Fixing France: How to Repair a Broken Republic".

Send a text

China's Chang'e 6 is now back on terra firma with the first ever rock samples taken from the dark side of the moon. As well as Chinese technology, the mission involved cooperation with scientists from France, Sweden, Italy and the European Space Agency. So what does this mean for future lunar missions, and further international cooperation in space?

To find out, in this episode of The Agenda, Juliet Mann speaks to Andrew Coates, Professor of Physics in the Department of Space and Climate Physics at UCL, Clive Neal, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at Notre Dame and, to get a view from someone who’s actually been into orbit above the earth, Yi So-yeon, South Korea's first astronaut.

Send a text

The world’s population may have recently topped 8 billion for the first time, but where the worries were once about the world becoming too crowded, now the concern is about a drop in global fertility rates. 

There are very real fears that a shrinking, ageing population could be catastrophic for the global economy and its healthcare systems. But some experts argue that there might in fact be an upside to population decline – especially when it comes to the earth’s natural resources.

In this episode of The Agenda, Juliet Mann speaks to Stephen J Shaw, data scientist, demographer and Director of the documentary "Birthgap - Childless World", Peter Elwin - Director of Fixed Income & Head of Food & Land Use Programme at Planet Tracker, Haleh Nazeri, Longevity Economy lead at the World Economic Forum and Dr Jennifer Sciubba - demographics expert and author of the book "8 billion and counting: How sex, death and migration shape our world”.

Send a text

As the pollsters had predicted, far-right groups made big gains in last weekend's EU parliamentary elections. In France, Germany, Austria and Belgium to name just a few, there was a large swing to the right - even leading French President Emmanuel Macron to call a surprise snap election.
 
But with the centre-right European People's Party group still the largest in Parliament, what impact will all this really have on the future of Europe?

To consider the results, on this edition of The Agenda Juliet Mann speaks to Jean-Yves Camus - an expert on the far-right in Europe at the Fondation Jean Jaurès at the IRIS think tank , Frank Schwalba-Hoth, founding member of the German Greens and former MEP, Ariadna Ripoll Servent - Professor for Politics of the European Union at Salzburg University and Kristian Vigenin - MEP and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria.

Send a text

In just a few weeks’ time, the torch will be lit in Paris to begin the 33rd Olympic summer games. It’s promising to be the largest and most sustainable games ever, with around 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees expected to compete.

 But against a backdrop of global conflict, and huge arguments in sport over issues like prize money and transgender athletes, what will Paris 2024 say about the state of the Olympic movement?

 To find out, in this edition of The Agenda, Juliet Mann heads to Lausanne in Switzerland to the Headquarters of the International Olympic Committee to speak to its President, Thomas Bach.

Send a text

On June the 6th the first polling stations will open in The Netherlands to begin one of the largest elections in the world. Nearly 400 million people across 27 countries will get the chance to decide who will sit in the 720 seats in the European parliament.

So with concerns mounting over the conflict in Ukraine, the future of trade, the green transition and the rise of the far right - just what might Europe look like after the vote? And what might it all mean for European relations with the rest of the world?

In this edition of The Agenda, Juliet Mann speaks to Jacques Reland, Senior Research Fellow at the Global Policy Instiutute,  Karel Lannoo, Chief Executive of the Centre for European Policy Studies, Professor Amelia Hadfield, Dean International and Head of Politics at the University of Surrey and Klaus Jurgens, Director of Economy First to find out.

Send a text

Nearly 300 million people from across the globe are currently facing severe food insecurity. And according to the latest report from the United Nations, that figure is set to rise sharply unless immediate action is taken. Conflict in places like Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, as well as the rising impact of climate change has left the world facing a devastating struggle to feed its population. 

On this edition of The Agenda, Juliet Mann examines what can be done to address the looming catastrophe.

She speaks to Dr Bart de Steenhuijsen Piters, Senior Researcher in Food Systems at Wageningen University, Faustine Bas-Defossez, Director for Health, Nature, and Environment at the European Environmental Bureau, Morgan Ody, a French vegetable farmer and General Coordinator of peasants’ movement, La Via Campesina and Tess Ingram from UNICEF, who’s just returned from Gaza.

Send a text

China’s President Xi Jinping is now back in Beijing following his first trip to Europe in five years.

Stopping is France, Serbia and Hungary, the talk was of increased trade ties and new investment deals, and how China can work with European nations to improve peace and stability across the globe. 

 On this edition of The Agenda. Juliet Mann examines what the long term impact of the visit will be, for the three individual nations, and for the wider world.

 She speaks to Former French Finance Minister and ex-President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, Former Serbian Foreign Minister and ex-President of the United Nations General Assembly, Vuk Jeremić, and Sándor Mészáros, Hungary’s former Ambassador in Beijing. 

Send a text

With less than three months to go until the 2024 Paris Olympic Games the International Olympic Committee has unveiled its "AI Agenda".  As with so many other sectors, AI is set to revolutionise sport - from training to judging, identifying new talent to cutting the cost of hosting global events.

In this episode of The Agenda, Juliet Mann visits the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, home of the 2012 London Games, for the IOC launch and speaks to President of the IOC Thomas Bach, the committee's Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi, five time Olympic champion gymnast Nadia Comăneci, and Professor of AI, Amit Joshi.