The Documentary Podcast Folgen

The new Omicron variant poses a potential risk of spiralling coronavirus infections globally and governments around the world are putting plans in place to tackle it. One solutions is to make Covid vaccines compulsory. This week, Ros Atkins, looks at the debate around Covid vaccine mandates. (Photo: A health worker prepares a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Credit: Getty Images)

Thousands of people – mostly migrants from the Middle East - are camped in freezing weather at the Poland-Belarus border. Many have spent thousands of dollars to fly into Belarus on tourist visas, with the hope of an easy crossing into the EU. They’re pawns, trapped in a battle of wills between Belarus’ autocratic president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, and Poland and the European Union. The Polish government is taking a tough line, imposing an exclusion zone along the border and sealing off the area to journalists and aid workers. Migrants caught in the forest are arrested and sent back to Belarus. Several, including two children, have died from the cold and more deaths are expected as winter sets in. Meanwhile local residents are divided about how to deal with the humanitarian disaster unfolding on their doorstep. For Assignment, Lucy Ash visits towns and villages in the area to see what impact the crisis is having on people’s lives. Reporter: Lucy Ash Produced by: Lucy Ash and Eva Krysiak Editor: Bridget Harney Research: Grzegorz Sokol(Image: Polish volunteers provide relief to injured migrants stranded in the icy forest. Credit: Agnieszka Sadowska / Agencja Wyborcza.pl)

“It’s alright (I’m only bleeding)”. In 2017, these words were emblazoned on the Stockholm subway or tunnelbana, alongside a giant poster of an ice-skater with a red-stained crotch. The deliberately provocative image was the work of Swedish cartoonist Liv Strömquist, who was on a mission to destigmatise periods. But even in one of the most feminist countries in the world, showing images of menstrual blood in a public space offended many, and triggered a national debate. Stockholm-based broadcaster Maddy Savage meets the artist, and discovers some of the taboo-busting initiatives in culture, business and education that have ridden on the coat-tails of her impact.