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BBC World Service


The Inquiry gets beyond the headlines to explore the trends, forces and ideas shaping the world.


The Inquiry

When Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister, Christian Lindner last month, Germany’s ‘traffic light’ government collapsed, an uneasy coalition between parties with differing perspectives and strained relations, the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Free Democrats.

At the heart of the political dispute lie deeply opposing views about spending plans, and how to fund much needed investment in infrastructure projects such as transport, education, green energy and digital technology, in order to boost Germany’s international competitiveness.

Falling demand both domestically and overseas for manufacturing goods, the pandemic, war in Ukraine and high energy costs have weakened Germany’s economy. So how can Germany reinvigorate its exports and economic growth? On this episode of The Inquiry, we’re asking: Does Germany need to reinvent itself? 

Contributors
Michaela Kuefner, Chief Political Editor, DW Deutsche Welle.
Marcel Fratzscher, President, German Institute for Economic Research & Professor of Macroeconomics, Humboldt University.
Julian Hinz, Professor of International Economics, Bielefeld University & Director, Trade Policy Research Group, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
Monika Schnitzer of Economics & Chairwoman of the German Council of Economic Experts.

Presenter: Tanya Beckett
Production: Diane Richardson and Matt Toulson
Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey
Technical Producer: Matthew Dempsey
Editor: Tara McDermott

Image credit - Reuters via BBC Images

Does Germany need to reinvent itself?

Accusations of sabotage have been made after a Chinese merchant ship cut through two important undersea cables in the Baltic Sea. Eight of the nine states in the Baltic are members of Nato but Russia has access to the sea from St Petersburg and for its Kaliningrad exclave. 

With previous incidents of damage to underwater pipelines and cables, there is concern that the security of critical underwater infrastructure is at risk from ‘grey zone’ activities - damaging but deniable incidents below the level of outright war. 

David Baker hears how countries’ security is threatened by incidents like these. The pipelines that were cut ran between Finland and Germany and Sweden and Lithuania. He asks who can intervene to protect these assets in the Baltic. Can Nato respond?

Our experts this week are: Elizabeth Braw, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Scowcroft Centre for Strategy and Security, and the author of an upcoming book called The Undersea War; Helga Kalm, director of the Lennart Meri Conference in Tallinn, Estonia; Marion Messmer, senior research fellow in the International Security Programme at Chatham House; Tormod Heier, professor at the National Defence University College in Oslo, Norway and a former officer in the Norwegian Intelligence Service.

Presenter: David Baker
Producer: Philip Reevell
Researcher: Katie Morgan
Editor: Tara McDermott
Sound engineer: Craig Boardman

Image Credit - Rex/Shutterstock via BBC Images

Can Nato protect the Baltic Sea?

The Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, sandwiched between China and India, is perhaps best known around the globe for its unconventional measure of national development: Gross National Happiness. The concept was introduced back in 1972 by the fourth King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. It assesses the country’s overall wellbeing on the basis of sustainable and equitable socio-economic development; environmental conservation; preservation and promotion of culture; and good governance. 

But the Bhutanese are now finding that their cautious approach to balancing economic growth with the well-being of their citizens, is proving difficult to sustain in light of mounting economic problems. The country which has a population of less than 800,000, is experiencing high levels of youth unemployment and many young people and skilled workers are leaving for countries like Australia and Canada. 

To try and counter this brain drain and to attract new investment into the country to help the economy grow, Bhutan has plans to create a ‘Mindfulness City’. This multi-million dollar project is being spearheaded by the current monarch. At its core will be a scaled up, less cautious version of Bhutan’s key concept, which the Bhutanese Prime Minister has called Gross National Happiness 2.0. 

So on this week’s Inquiry we’re asking ‘Can Bhutan retain its happiness?’ 

Contributors: 
Dr Ha Vinh Tho, Founder and President, Eurasia Learning Institute for Happiness and Well-Being, Switzerland.

Dr Rishi Gupta, Assistant Director, Asia Society Policy Institute, New Delhi, India

Dr Lhawang Ugyel, Senior Lecturer, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

Jan Eeckhout, Professor of Economics, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier 
Producer: Jill Collins 
Researcher: Matt Toulson 
Editor: Tara McDermott 
Technical Producer: James Bradshaw 
Production Co-ordinator: Tim Fernley and Liam Morrey

Can Bhutan retain its happiness?

Robert F Kennedy Jr, nephew of America's 35th President, John F. Kennedy, has been nominated to be the next US health secretary by President-elect Donald Trump. The post oversees everything from medical research to food safety and public welfare programmes. 

Kennedy has been the face of “Make America Healthy Again”, a movement dedicated to “public health, sustainable practices and a government that truly serves the people”.

This week of The Inquiry, we look at how MAHA wants to tackle chronic disease, in particular obesity. Will RFK carry these ideas into public office? How will food corporations and colleagues in the US Congress react? How feasible is it for the US Health Secretary to shift the dial on healthy eating?

Contributors:
Bill Dietz, Director of the Stop Obesity Alliance at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., US
Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump State Department official, US
Professor Jerold Mande, CEO of Nourish Science, US
Professor Colleen Heflin, Professor of public administration and international affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, US

Production Team:
Presenter: Charmaine Cozier
Producers: Vicky Carter and Matt Toulson
Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey
Technical producer: Richard Hannaford
Editor: Tara McDermott

Photo Credit: Bloomberg via GettyImages

Can RFK Jnr ‘make America healthy again?’

Cancer is a disease that will affect 1 in 5 people in our lifetime, and it’s estimated that around 20 million people worldwide will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in 2025.

But how might a vaccine help in the treatment of cancer?

Numerous trials began testing the viability of cancer vaccines in 2024, including one for melanoma and another for lung cancer. 

With all the promise that these new cancer vaccine trials bring for cancer patients, we explore the different ways in which vaccines could work within the body, and how the time at which future vaccines are administered may vary according to the cancers they are targeting.

This week on the Inquiry we’re asking: Are we close to a cancer vaccine?

Presenter: Tanya Beckett
Producer: Matt Toulson
Researcher: Katie Morgan
Production Coordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Tara McDermott
Studio Director: Craig Boardman 

Contributors: 

Meredith McKean, director of Melanoma and Skin Cancer Research for Sarah Cannon Research Institute at Tennessee Oncology

Samra Turajlic, Chief Investigator of translational studies into melanoma and kidney cancer at the Francis Crick Institute and Professor at the Institute of Cancer Research 

Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez, professor in the department of Clinical Cancer Prevention at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Patrick Ott, Clinical Director at Melanoma Disease Center at the Dana-Farber Institute

Are we close to a cancer vaccine?

Drinks with toxic ingredients have been linked to deaths and poisonings in Turkey, Laos and India in 2024. 

Fake alcohol is unrecorded and unregulated alcohol that hasn’t been registered in official statistics for sales, production or trade. The range of unrecorded alcohol includes alcohol smuggled across borders, counterfeit alcohol and homemade brew. 

This week of The Inquiry we look at how toxic and widespread fake alcohol is. What are the health risks of drinking contaminated alcohol? Bootleg alcohol is big business for criminals, are governments doing enough to combat the illicit alcohol trade?

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier

Producer: Vicky Carter 
Researcher: Katie Morgan
Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey
Technical producer: Toby James
Editor: Tara McDermott

Contributors:
Dr. Monica Swahn, alcohol epidemiologist and professor at the Wellstar College of Health and Human Services at Kennesaw State University in the USA, currently based in Uganda. 
Dr Dirk Lachenmeier, food chemist and toxicologist, director of department of plant-based foods at CVUA Karlsruhe, an official control laboratory, Germany.
Piotr Stryszowski, senior economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and head of the Working Party on Countering Illicit Trade (WP-CIT), France. 
Jeff Hardy, Director General of Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade, USA.

Is fake alcohol a global threat?

The sudden rise of Islamic State in June shocked the world. It now controls a swathe of the desert in Syria and Iraq and has declared a caliphate. Iraq’s second city, Mosul, has fallen to the militants and they are menacing the capital, Baghdad. Western powers and their Gulf Arab allies have responded with war planes and bombs. The American general in charge of the campaign says it is buying time for the Iraqi Army to regroup and counter attack. But what would a long-term plan to defeat Islamic State look like? The Inquiry’s panel of experts have some thought-provoking ideas.

Can Islamic State Be Stopped?

Outbreaks are inevitable, pandemics are optional,” says Dr Larry Brilliant, a leading figure in the successful global campaign to eradicate smallpox.

But does the flawed international response to the Ebola outbreak suggest it is now less likely that the world will come together to defeat diseases with pandemic potential?

The Inquiry meets Dr Brilliant and other expert witnesses: Dr Malik Peiris, who identified SARS; Dr Julie Gerberding, president of the Vaccine division at Merck; and Ian Goldin, formerly of the World Bank.

Presenter: Helena Merriman
Producers: Charlotte Pritchard and Neal Razzell
Editor: Richard Knight

Are Pandemics Inevitable?

Hong Kong's government is preparing to clear the streets after weeks of protest. The demonstrators want direct talks with Beijing over who gets on the ballot for the 2017 Hong Kong election. But there is more than politics at play. China has had almost a generation to win hearts and minds in Hong Kong - a time when the mainland population has become increasingly nationalistic. What has gone wrong in Hong Kong? Our four experts tell a story of snobbery, arrogance and perhaps unrealistic expectations on both sides. Helena Merriman presents.

What Is Hong Kong’s Problem With China?

Vladimir Putin certainly knows how the West views his actions in Ukraine. Sanctions have been in place against Russia for months. There is talk of toughening them. At the G20 meeting in Australia he was rebuked by Angela Merkel, Stephen Harper and other leaders, before flying home early. But are sanctions having any real effect on the Russian president? Are they likely to force him to change course in Ukraine? We hear from a top Moscow economist Natalia Orlova, a Putin loyalist in Vladivostok, veteran European diplomat Sir Robert Cooper and Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs and a close Putin-watcher.

(Photo: President Vladimir Putin. Credit: AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Are Sanctions Hurting Putin?

Mosquitoes are the most dangerous animals on the planet. They spread diseases - malaria, dengue and zika – that kill huge numbers of people and cause suffering to many more.

So why not eradicate them?

It wouldn’t be easy. Scientists in Mali have found the mosquito is a surprisingly formidable foe, able to hide for months and evade capture. Other scientists are working on genetically-modifying mosquito populations so that they can’t breed.

But could releasing these re-modelled mosquitoes have unintended consequences? And might we accidentally destroy ecosystems by removing mosquitoes altogether? It turns out this tiny creature presents us with huge practical and ethical problems. 

Presenter: Michael Blastland

(Image: Fumigation against the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Credit AFP/Getty)

Why Don’t We Eradicate Mosquitoes?

Why Don’t We Eradicate Mosquitoes?

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