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Reactive features from Radio 4, exploring what's really happening behind the headlines and unearthing untold stories, both at home and abroad.

(C) BBC 2025
Ciencia Política Mundial Política y Gobierno
Episodios
  • Ireland's Pot of Gold
    Jun 15 2025

    As the UK Treasury grapples with a massive financial ‘black hole’, its once impoverished neighbour, the Irish Republic, is grappling with the dilemma of how to spend a bounty of €14bn.

    It’s a 'pot of gold' which the Irish government didn’t expect – and surprisingly didn't want - but was eventually forced to accept by a European Court ruling that the mighty US corporation, Apple, had underpaid taxes on its extensive Irish-based operations. Added to a mighty windfall from other companies, taking advantage of its low corporate tax policies, Ireland is now one of the richest countries in the European Union.

    Dublin's River Liffey waterfront, once a depressed, neglected area, has been transformed into 'Silicon Docks’, a gleaming hub of high rise offices, housing American tech giants including Google, Meta, Airbnb and Docusign.

    While other western economies haved struggled and stagnated Ireland has attracted new, dynamic American firms. It's estimated that 700 multinational tech and pharmaceutical companies have bases across Ireland, employing more than 150,000 people. Politically, the country may be tied to Europe but economically it straddles both sides of the Atlantic.

    Despite these riches, Ireland has a severe housing crisis, a crumbling health system, weak transport and energy infrastructures and a myriad of other demands on the public purse. While the politicians argue over how the money should best be spent there are growing concerns that Donald Trump's arrival in The White House, could bring these lucrative tax benefits to an end.

    For a country so dependent on global trade and the American multi-nationals in particular, it's a moment of serious economic jeopardy, as the BBC's Ireland correspondent, Chris Page, reports.

    Presenter: Chris Page, BBC Ireland Correspondent Producers: Kathleen Carragher and John Deering Sound Engineer: Kris McConnachie

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    28 m
  • Excluded
    Jun 8 2025

    Permanent exclusions from schools in England have risen over the last decade. Neil Maggs explores why this might be happening - and what happens to the children who are excluded from the classroom. He visits a pupil referral unit where children are sent if they are excluded from a mainstream school; a school in the North East of England that excluded just one pupil last year to see what it's doing differently, and speaks to experts to see what factors lie behind school exclusions. Presenter: Neil Maggs. Producer: Fergus Hewison. Technical producer: Richard Hannaford. Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith.

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    29 m
  • Madeira's Drugs Crisis
    Jun 2 2025

    The beautiful Atlantic island of Madeira has a chronic problem with a cheap synthetic drug imported through the post.

    The drug - nicknamed Bloom - is so easy to get hold of, so cheap and so addictive that authorities are struggling to cope.

    Helen Clifton has spent time with police and frontline services to get an idea of how big a problem Bloom now is across Madeiran society. She comes face to face with addicts, and hears about the desperate social impact of a drug more addictive than heroin.

    With authorities trying - but failing - to stop the supply, Bloom addicts are in full sight on the streets amongst locals and tourists.

    So how can Madeira get a grip on its Bloom problem, before it grows out of control?

    Presenter/Producer: Helen Clifton Additional reporting: Erica Franco Research: Liliana Jardim

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    28 m
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