PODCAST: Why Germany wants people to move to the countryside and the €49 ticket's rocky start

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In the first episode of our latest season, host Rachel Loxton is joined by The Local Germany journalists Imogen Goodman and Aaron Burnett. Our sound engineer is Rhys Edwards.

We start off by discussing an unusual court case that saw a company in Frankfurt try to get a rent reduction because they were bothered by their landlord sunbathing naked.

• Naked landlord not a reason for rent reduction, court rules

We talk about children’s medicine shortages in Germany and neighbouring countries.

• German pediatricians warn over children's medicine shortages 

We then get into what we can expect from transport strikes in Germany in May - and possible other disruption. 

• German rail union threatens week-long strike after failed talks

The German government has been appealing for people to consider moving out of cities - we’ll talk about why, and share some views from The Local readers on what it’s like to live in the countryside and outskirts of German cities. 

• Why Germany wants families to move to the countryside 

The €49 ticket has launched, but there have been some teething problems. We’ll talk about how the first days are going and get some expert analysis on the ticket from Professor Christian Böttger, a rail expert from HTW Berlin.

• Demand for Germany's €49 ticket crashes Deutsche Bahn website
• What's the deadline for ordering - or cancelling - Germany's €49 ticket

We also talk about some of the best - and longest - journeys you can take with the ticket.

• REVEALED: Germany’s longest regional train journeys with the €49 ticket

We finish off by recommending some events to check out in Germany this month. 

• 10 unmissable events happening in Germany in May