Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days. With Abdulwahab Tahhan, Harriet Marsden and Suchandrika Chakrabarti
In this week's episode, we discuss:
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Butt lifts
UK health officials are to meet with counterparts in Turkey after the death of a British woman during so-called Brazilian butt lift surgery at a private hospital in Istanbul. Since January 2019, at least 24 Brits have died as a result of medical tourism trips to Turkey, according to the Foreign Office. Are patients being adequately informed of the risks? And is cosmetic-surgery tourism out of control?
Ransoms
The British Library fell victim to a cyberattack in October, resulting in a substantial theft of employee data from the world's largest library. Notorious ransomware group Rhysida has claimed responsibility, posting pictures of what appears to be the stolen data on the dark web and promising to auction it off to the highest bidder by Monday morning, with a starting price of 20 Bitcoin – equivalent to nearly £600,000. But who is Rhysida? Should government-funded bodies pay a "ransom" to cybercriminals to keep their systems secure? And how safe are any British institutions?
Argentina's right turn
Former TV pundit and far-right libertarian Javier Milei – nicknamed "the madman" by his followers – has stunned political experts by becoming the new president of Argentina. What does his election mean for Argentina's future? And what can the country expect from its new president?
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Why is the Pentagon taking over the military’s independent newspaper?Today’s Big Question Stars and Stripes is published by the Defense Department but is editorially independent
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How Mars influences Earth’s climateThe explainer A pull in the right direction
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‘The science is clear’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
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The Week Unwrapped: Will Uganda’s pop-star politician prevail?Podcast Plus, is dodgy data undermining medical research? And what does a new app reveal about Chinese society?
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The Week Unwrapped: Is Elon Musk’s AI tool a platform for abuse?Podcast Plus can Mumsnet predict who will be the next PM? And who is still watching Avatar sequels?
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The Week Unwrapped: What’s the cost of PFAs?Podcast Plus why is George Osborne joining OpenAI? And has universal basic income finally come of age?
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The Week Unwrapped: what’s scuppering Bulgaria’s Euro dream?Podcast Plus has Syria changed, a year on from its revolution? And why are humans (mostly) monogamous?
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The Week Unwrapped: Will drought fuel global violence?Podcast Plus why did Trump pardon a drug-trafficking president? And are romantic comedies in terminal decline?
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The Week Unwrapped: Have pedigree dogs had their day?Podcast Plus what can we learn from Slovenia’s rejection of assisted dying? And can politicians admit their weaknesses?
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The Week Unwrapped: Will US Catholics rebel against the Pope?Podcast Plus what are the ethics of freezing your late partner?
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The Week Unwrapped: Can musicians challenge Putin?Podcast Plus who were the ‘human hunters’ of the Bosnian war? And what should happen to captive penguins?
