Tens of thousands of migrants continue to queue at the borders of the European Union in search of a better life. Their journeys are often hazardous and thousands have drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach Italy or Greece. Attempts to share the burden among EU member states have been dogged by internal politics. And Europe’s actions so far have focussed on deterrence despite little evidence that such a strategy will work. So, in this week’s Inquiry, we’re asking what else Europe could try – and whether there are examples from other places, and other times, from which the EU’s leaders could learn. We look at the 1980s resettlement process in response to the Vietnamese “boat people” crisis; we examine Australia’s offshore processing of migrants; and we ask whether focussing on the “front line”, helping those countries migrants are leaving, is a realistic option.

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

(Photo: Young migrant at Psalidi on Kos, Credit: Press Association Wires)

Robots are coming for your job. Blue-collar jobs in industries like manufacturing have been disappearing for years but now white-collar work is under threat too. Machines are already taking roles that used to be done by journalists, lawyers and even anaesthetists. One recent study calculated that 47% of total employment in the US is at risk of automation in the next 20 years.

So what will happen to all the human beings who did those jobs? Will we invent enough new jobs to keep them occupied? If not, how will they fill their time? And how will they earn money? The Inquiry – still made by humans, for now, – brings you answers.

(Photo: A robot stands with workers at a Japanese employee supply company. Credit: Getty Images)

In June last year the world's attention became fixed on the progress of so-called Islamic State, or IS. They had just captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. Since then a reported 20,000 fighters from all over the world have joined them. They have killed and enslaved thousands. They have captured towns, oil fields and dams. They control vast swathes of Iraq and Syria. IS are more brutal, sophisticated and enduring than anyone could have predicted. We test the argument that stopping IS will ultimately mean talking to them.

(Photo: ISIS Propaganda image)

This July, it was reported that a woman from Washington State in the US had died of measles. It was the first measles death in the country in 12 years and comes after a huge spike in the number of cases of the disease. There is little doubt about what has caused the rise. The 'anti-vax' movement – activists who refuse vaccines believing them to be harmful to children – is vocal, vibrant and virulent. But with their claims proven time and again to be without any scientific basis, why are the 'anti-vaxxers' still going – and apparently growing?

(Photo: Measles Cell. Credit: Shutterstock)

In 2009, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared “the beginning of the end” for off-shore tax havens. Since then, the EU, the G20, President Obama and others have lined up to criticise them. And yet they arre still with us. Tim Whewell asks why tax havens continue to exist, and whether tax havens are really to blame for tax avoidance in the first place.

(Photo: Island in the Seychelles. Credit: Shutterstock)

China's economy was up 150% until June. Then it fell by nearly a third. Now it has had the strongest two-day rise since the 2008 global crisis. China’s rollercoaster stock market has provoked panic in recent weeks; panic on the part of small investors, who looked on in horror as previous gains were wiped out, and panic – some would argue – on the part of the Chinese government, which did everything it could to stop the slide. Four expert witnesses analyse what these dramatic events tell us – not about the Chinese stock market, but about China itself.

(Photo: An Investor walks past a stocks and shares board. Credit: Associated Press)

Streaming has transformed the way millions listen to music. Whether signed up to Spotify, Apple Music or others, music lovers can access tens of millions of tracks instantly and for the monthly cost of one CD. But is this spectacular transformation good for music? Though streaming surely helps artists find new audiences, do those artists get rewarded fairly? And has having a ‘global jukebox’ at our fingertips changed our relationship to music itself?

(Photo: Lucy Rose)

The global effort to prevent athletes using performance-enhancing drugs is vast and sophisticated. You might think, in this era of advanced testing, it would be almost impossible to cheat and get away with it. But is that really the case? Alberto Salazar, one of the world’s most successful coaches, has been accused of encouraging his athletes to dope. Salazar strongly denies the allegations. But the story has reignited concerns that, despite the efforts of the anti-doping authorities, cheating is still too easy in elite sport. The Inquiry hears from someone who sets the rules, someone who tests the rules and someone who broke the rules to find out if the dopers or the testers are winning.

(Photo: The starting line of an athletics track. Credit: Ben Stansall/Getty Images)

The global financial crisis reignited an old debate - is it better to cut spending and raise taxes in an economic downturn, or spend your way out of it? After a period of relative consensus up to 2010, some countries inclined more to austerity (cuts and tax rises), some against. In this edition of The Inquiry we examine whether we now have the evidence to settle this important economic argument.

(Photo: Anti-austerity demonstration. Credit: Zak Kaczmarek/Getty Images)

Despite the tense and increasingly bitter negotiations between Greece and its European creditors - who the Greek government accuse of demanding intolerable austerity – most Greek people want their country to stay in the euro currency union. But there are some, including within the governing Syriza party, who think Greece might ultimately be better off going it alone, and returning to the drachma. There would be serious pain, no doubt. But, in the longer term, might Greece be better off out of the euro?

(Photo: A man walks by a zero Euro graffiti.Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Fifteen years ago, manned space flight was still a dream for China. Now, they are looking to the moon. They have mastered space walking, they are building advanced scientific satellites in partnership with the European Space Agency, and they are constructing their own ‘heavenly palace’ – a space station to rival the ISS. But some, not least the United States, are concerned by possible military uses for China’s blossoming space technology. This week our four expert witnesses help us figure out what China really wants from its space programme.

(Photo: Chines flag billows with the moon in the background. Credit: Mark Ralston/Getty Images)

Shocking images have brought the Rohingya to the world’s attention - boatloads of people drifting aimlessly on the Indian ocean, sustained by bottles of water thrown to them by visiting journalists. The Rohingya are Muslims from western Myanmar – or Burma – who live a life of poverty and exclusion. The government refuses even to recognise their ethnicity. Hoping for better lives in Malaysia, they turned to people smugglers and leaky boats. Will anyone help the Rohingya, one of the most marginalised communities in the world? And, why has even the most famous living Burmese, the icon of democracy and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, refused to speak up on their behalf?

(Photo: Myanmar, South East Asia migrant. Credit: Ye Aung Thu/Getty Images)