Pollar Sounds

Episodi

• 
  A snap election, a school revolt and an AI apology 07.10.2026 9min

  Three stories, three angles: what happened, how it's being told, and what we don't know yet. Spain's Congress votes down two emergency housing decrees, and Pedro Sánchez calls a snap election for 29 November. In France, a protest at one high school in Créteil becomes a national movement, with more than 6,500 arrests. And in Sydney, OpenAI apologises to a parliamentary committee after its models accessed Australian government websites in ways they weren't authorised to. After each story, we ask what you think. Tell us in the comments or on Pollar's socials. Everything in this episode comes from reporting already published. The stories behind it are at pollar.news. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/mass-housing-protests-in-spain, /french-school-protests-escalate, /openai-agents-probe-government-sites, /openai-apologizes-for-breach), RTVE, EL PAÍS, laSexta, La Vanguardia, Público, elDiario.es, Franceinfo, La Croix, Europe 1, Euronews, Le Figaro, France 24, Sud Ouest, Reuters, The Guardian, BBC, The Independent, Der Spiegel, OpenAI. Archive sound: Congress of Deputies (2 October), La Moncloa (5 October), Parliament of Australia, ParlView (6 October). Sources - Jason Kwon, Chief strategy officer, OpenAI. Parliament of Australia, ParlView (Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence), 2026-10-06. https://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Watch_Read_Listen/ParlView/video/5004723 - Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain. La Moncloa, 2026-10-05. https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/multimedia/videos/presidente/Paginas/2026/051026-sanchez-convocatoria-elecciones.aspx - Francina Armengol, Speaker of the Congress of Deputies. Congress of Deputies, 2026-10-02. https://www.congreso.es Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.
• 
  A decree with her name on it, and nothing in it for her 03.10.2026 24min

  In September, Maricarmen Abascal was carried out of the Madrid flat her family had rented since 1956. Six days later, Spain's government passed two emergency housing laws that people named after her. On Friday, the Congress threw both of them out. How did one eviction reach parliament? This episode goes back to the 2008 crash and the evictions that followed, the investment funds that bought up Spain's homes, the tourism boom, and a generation that can't afford to leave home. Then the vote: who sank the decrees, why, and what a snap election could mean for Spain's housing. Everything in this episode comes from reporting already published. The stories behind it are at pollar.news. Reporting: Pollar (pollar.news/en/event/spain-approves-housing-decrees, /spanish-housing-decrees-face-defeat, /madrid-housing-clash-escalates, /spain-youth-emancipation-at-31, /spain-housing-crisis-deepens, /eu-housing-rules-proposed), Human Rights Watch, INE, idealista, Catalan News, eldiario.es, EL PAÍS, Reuters, Al Jazeera, El Español, Infobae. Archive sound: elDiario.es (Maricarmen's eviction, 23 September; the Puerta del Sol camp, 26 September), RTVE (housing march in Madrid, 26 September). Sources - Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Leader of the Popular Party. La Vanguardia, 2026-10-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtLBop00l0s - A speaker at the protest outside the Congress, Housing protest, Madrid. El Mundo, 2026-10-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEF3nLinR7k - Francina Armengol, Speaker of the Congress of Deputies. Congress of Deputies, via El Debate, 2026-10-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC-4eLObdy0 - Jaume Collboni, Mayor of Barcelona. Barcelona City Council press conference, 2024-06-21. - Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain. La Moncloa, joint press conference with Emmanuel Macron, 2026-09-30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtEMQtxDsUQ - Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain. Congress of Deputies, via Europa Press, 2026-10-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_rMX_Lp2As Narration: synthetic voices. Script, research and editing: Pollar.