This week on the podcast we’re talking about the Winter Olympics and how they’re being covered in the media. Then on to the biggest foreign policy question of the day - Ukraine. Last Wednesday when we recorded the episode was supposed to be the day the war would start but that’s not what’s happening. Mick talks about challenging the general narrative about this in the parliament.

There was also a plenary debate on the death penalty in Iran. Mick and Clare are against the death penalty anywhere but they point to the timing of this debate and the ongoing JCPOA talks in Vienna. Then we talk about the visit of Iván Duque, the president of Colombia to Strasbourg. From condemning the death penalty in one country, to inviting a ruler responsible for the deaths of hundreds of his own citizens to address the parliament, the EP is nothing if not inconsistent with how it deals with human rights violations abroad.

Finally we touch on the recent US theft of Afghan money, frozen assets belonging to one of the world’s most impoverished countries which Biden has transferred to the family of 9/11 victims.