There’s no denying it’s been a pretty dark week, but we’ve got a couple of bright spots for you. What could be a better job than dreaming up ways that Europe could be improved? That’s what this week’s guest, Johanna Fabrin, does each day at the Copenhagen think tank 21st Europe. Ahead of our miniseries Who Does It Best, Dominic sat down with Johanna to talk about the group’s “blueprints” for the continent, the importance of optimism, and who, exactly, is going to pay for a fantasy train system that links all of Europe together like a massive metro line. 

And not to be too negative, but…we decided it was a pretty Bad Week for basically all of the western world, thanks to the Russian drone incursion into Poland and Romania. But! It was a Good Week (er, a marginally, “meekly” better week) for the European Union, which is finally—finally—taking some overdue action regarding the war in Gaza. Did Ursula von der Leyen tune into our episode from a couple of weeks ago? We suspect yes. 

Europe's rarest butterfly lives on the outskirts of a single town in North Macedonia. So why is it possible to find specimens of this incredibly endangered animal for sale online for 30 euros? This week we speak to Kiril Arsovski Przo, one of the scientists behind an investigation into this troubling legal loophole. We're also talking about the farcical election in Belarus and Britain's crackdown on climate protesters. 

From Minsk and London, a story about the meaning of freedom. Hanna Komar, a poet, was jailed for her activism in Belarus. This week, she tells us what it’s like to move from a place where people have to fight for basic rights, to a place where people take them for granted.