We don’t often get to cover joyful policy news on this podcast, so this week we’re delighted to be discussing that rare thing: a European country that’s investing serious money in culture. For three years, Ireland has been experimenting with paying artists, musicians and other creative workers a basic income. And guess what? The scheme has worked so well that they’re keeping it going. But is the policy all it’s cracked up to be? This week we speak to John Baker, a co-founder of the Equality Studies Centre at University College Dublin and one of the coordinators of Basic Income Ireland, about the logic and limits of Ireland’s Basic Income for the Arts.
In sillier policy news, we’re looking at why Slovakia has been regulating the speed of kids cycling on the pavement. And we’re diving into Ukraine’s massive corruption scandal: what exactly happened, and just how bad is it for Volodymyr Zelenskyy?
You can read interviews with the artists who’ve been receiving Ireland’s Basic Income for the Arts here.
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.
This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations: ‘Dopamine’ by Robyn, ‘Choke Enough’ by Oklou, ‘West End Girl’ by Lily Allen and ‘La symphonie des éclairs’ by Zaho de Sagazan.
Other resources for this episode
‘The EU Parliament now has a right-wing majority’ - Gulf Stream Blues (Dave Keating’s newsletter), November 14, 2025
‘Rage, panic, and a glimmer of hope in Ukraine as corruption scandal unfolds’ - The Kyiv Independent, November 15, 2025
‘No, there is no ‘speed limit’ for pedestrians in Slovakia’ - Euractiv, October 30, 2025
‘Bratislava built under 4 km of cycle paths last year, leaving cyclists disappointed’ - The Slovak Spectator, April 1, 2025
Produced by Morgan Childs
Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak
Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
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