In this week’s episode, we have a long reflection on the trauma that's around at the moment. Some of it is faced by people who have campaigned against things like the battery storage plants that are abounding around rural Scotland. Sleepless nights, disappointment, disillusionment. That may not seem like a big deal in the face of all the other trauma going around, the terrorist attack on Jews in Australia, the enduring horrible genocide being experienced in Gaza, and the suggestion by President Netanyahu that you can't speak about one without getting on the wrong side of the other.

So we discuss all of that. Donald Trump's allegation that, putting it bluntly, Europe is crap, and perhaps the difficulty in managing to get a common position when giving funds to Ukraine would bear that out. We also discuss the Question Time furor over the question about school children and fluency in English, which turned into a debate about second languages among young people All that and more.

Links
Jen Strout - Night Train to Odesa
https://birlinn.co.uk/product/night-train-to-odesa-2/

Jim Sillars - The New Case for Optimism
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/the-new-case-for-optimism