Orla Barry is the Europe correspondent for The World. She has been a producer with the BBC World Service for six years, working on Outside Source, World Have Your Say and Newsday. Orla has been a national broadcaster on the Irish radio station Newstalk, where she presented the daily morning show and a weekend arts and culture show.Orla has produced a series of documentaries from East Africa, including Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. She also presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary on the Irish women who built Britain. She previously worked as an independent producer for NBC and Arte. Orla has been a columnist with two Irish national newspapers, the Irish Examiner and the Irish Independent. She has a Master’s degree in politics and development studies.
The rocky road to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the biggest performing arts festival in the world, and it has catapulted the work of some artists to the West End, Broadway and television. But the road to the festival is also littered with stories of career-ending performances, mental health distress and financial ruin.
France sets its sights on the gold medal in blind football at the Paris Paralympics
Blind football is one of the most-popular sports of the Paralympic games, which kick off in Paris in late August. Brazil has won gold at all previous Paralympic tournaments but host country France is hoping to be in with a chance to take home a medal this year.
A far-right Dutch politician who once railed against Islam now spends his time defending it
Anti-Muslim policies are a key tenet of the Dutch far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) led by Geert Wilders. Many of those policies were devised by former lawmaker and once close confidante of Wilders, Joram van Klaveren. Today van Klaveren dedicates his life to defending Islam.
This club in the Netherlands offers a much-needed break from technology
Most people are at least a little addicted to their phones. In the Netherlands, three young Dutchmen came up with an idea to counteract that. It’s called the Offline Club, where attendees pay for the opportunity to spend an evening phone-free.
As Dutch residents struggle to find housing, some are trying new initiatives
The Netherlands is experiencing one of the worst housing crises in all of Europe. The new coalition government led by the far-right Freedom party has promised “large scale” housing construction over the next few years but many say it will not be enough to resolve the issue. One group of young Dutch citizens has come up with their own solution.