This week saw a political earthquake in Italy — albeit one that had been widely predicted. With Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy poised to lead the new government, just how scared should we be? We ring up the philosopher Lorenzo Marsili to help us understand what just happened. We're also talking about fair pensions for Swiss women, and a Spanish lagoon that can now call itself a person.

Lorenzo is the founder of the progressive civil society movement European Alternatives. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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This week's Isolation Inspiration:

'Flying to LA' by Maro feat. Lisa Oduor-Noah

'I'll Come Too' by James Blake

'Broken Greek' by Pete Paphides and the accompanying Spotify playlist

02:18 Good Week: The Mar Menor

06:43 Bad Week: Swiss women

13:57 Interview: Lorenzo Marsili on the Italian elections

28:16 Isolation Inspiration: Maro and Broken Greek

32:07 Happy Ending: We can't wait for Rail Baltica

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

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