On the 24th of February 2022 Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation to “demilitarise and denazify” Ukraine.

A full-scale invasion and a major land war in Europe had begun.

It was a scenario that seemed unimaginable for so long. Four years later, the geopolitical landscape seems utterly changed.

But in 2022 there were experts warning that the invasion was coming. So why didn’t the people who mattered listen?

On today’s podcast, Ciara Doherty speaks to Shaun Walker, eastern Europe correspondent for The Guardian.

Content warning: This episode contains discussion of sexual abuse and rape.

For years, Gisèle Pelicot was unknowingly drugged by her husband and raped by dozens of men he invited into their home. When the case came to light, she refused anonymity and chose to face the trial publicly — a decision that stunned France.

Now, with the publication of her memoir A Hymn to Life, her story returns to the spotlight. On today's podcast, journalist Roe McDermott reviews the book, and Paris-based reporter Elaine Cobbe joins Ciara Doherty to discuss the reaction in France and the wider cultural impact.

A Hymn to Life by Gisèle Pelicot is published by The Bodley Head. The English-language audiobook is read by Emma Thompson.

A heated Cabinet row, a leaked digital strategy, and one big question: should Ireland limit access ban social media for under-16s?

As tech giants face court battles in the United States over alleged harm to children, the Irish Government considering its options. Instead of an outright ban, Ministers want to trial a state-backed “digital wallet” to verify age online — promising protection for children without handing social media platforms any more personal data.

But will it work? Critics warn that age verification could push users towards VPNs and expand data-sharing, while supporters argue it’s more realistic than a blanket ban that might fall foul of EU law.

Ciara Doherty is joined by Elaine Burke of the For Tech’s Sake podcast to break down what the strategy really means, while Olga Cronin from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties weighs in on whether this digital fix could become a privacy risk.

Is this smart child protection — or the start of age-gating the entire internet?