Britain has been taking stock of the impacts of Brexit as the country marked the fourth anniversary of its departure from the EU this week.
Back then, Boris Johnson, who had just won an 80-seat majority promising to "get Brexit done", hailed the date as the start of a new golden era for the UK. Brexit's promised "sunlit uplands" have yet to materialise, however, and questions around immigration, trade and Northern Ireland remain divisive.
Mending ties with Europe is one of the many tasks on Rishi Sunak's long to-do list as he tries to win over voters ahead of the next general election. But while Keir Starmer has been making headlines with Labour's plan to fix the economy, Sunak has faced scrutiny of a more personal nature, owing to his eating habits. The prime minister reportedly starts his week with a 36-hour fast, joining a long line of prime ministers, including David Cameron and Gordon Brown, who have adopted special dietary practices in a bid to stay fit.
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In other health-related news, a measles outbreak in the West Midlands has fuelled concerns about declining update of the MMR vaccine, and new research has linked Alzheimer's cases to a rare medical treatment withdrawn in the 1980s. And over in the US, federal agencies are issuing warnings about a dietary supplement dubbed "gas station heroin".
To find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week.
1. Which European nation voted to enshrine a woman's right to abortion as a "guaranteed freedom" in the constitution?
Germany
France
Ireland
Poland
2. Which top football manager said he couldn't do his job "on three wheels" as he announced his shock resignation?
Pep Guardiola
Jürgen Klopp
Carlo Ancelotti
Xavi
3. Annual sales of which type of book have soared to £14.4 million as social media drives interest in the genre?
Poetry
Crime
History
Cooking
4. Which "Sesame Street" character received a flood of stressed-out responses this week after tweeting: "How is everybody doing?"
Big Bird
Cookie Monster
Kermit the Frog
Elmo
5. A former mobster avoided jail time this week after admitting stealing which iconic piece of film history?
Mary Poppins's umbrella in "Mary Poppins"
Sandy's leather trousers in "Grease"
Holly Golightly's little black dress in "Breakfast at Tiffany's"
Dorothy's ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz"
6. Climate activists threw soup at which artwork in Paris's Louvre museum?
"Liberty Leading the People"
"The Valpinçon Bather"
"Mona Lisa"
"The Raft of the Medusa"
7. A man hoping to break a marathon world record narrowly avoided being arrested after Hertfordshire police spotted him training with what on his back?
Flame-thrower
Axes
Dog
Fridge
8. What is the name of a new downloadable tool being used by artists to stop AI stealing their artwork from the internet?
Belladonna
Orchid
Nightshade
Cactus
9. US right-wing conspiracy theorists accused with pop star of being a "Pentagon asset"?
Ariana Grande
Caroline Polachek
Selena Gomez
Taylor Swift
10. The number of female drinkers of which beer has risen by 24% year-on-year?
Guinness
Landlord
London Pride
Old Speckled Hen
(Image credit: The Week)
1.France
The bill to enshrine abortion rights in France's constitution was passed by the lower house of the country's parliament on Tuesday, by 493 to 30 votes. The controversial plan now goes to the upper-house Senate, where it faces resistance from the conservative Republicans and far-right National Rally.
2. Jürgen Klopp In a shock announcement, the Liverpool manager said he would step down from the role at the end of the season because he no longer had the "energy" to continue. Find out more with The Week Unwrapped podcast.
3. Poetry books
Sales last year hit the highest level since accurate official figures from BookScan began a decade ago. The surge in demand is being credited, in large part, to platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, which provide a space for unpublished authors to share their work and for readers to access poetry.
4. Elmo The "Sesame Street" favourite was hit by a flood of responses, many sharing grief and despair, after "checking in" with his online friends on X on Monday. Joining in fresh conversations about mental health triggered by his tweet, which has clocked up more than 200 million views, Elmo said he was "glad he asked", and posted the hashtag "#EmotionalWellBeing".
5. Dorothy's ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz"
Dying former crook Terry Jon Martin, 76, who is in hospice care, was spared prison time by a Minnesota judge after he confessed to stealing the slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s home town of Grand Rapids. He said an old mob associate had persuaded him to commit the 2005 heist for "one last score".
6. "Mona Lisa"
Two activists from "Riposte Alimentaire" (Food Retaliation) hurled soup onto the bulletproof glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci's painting on Sunday. "What's the most important thing?" the women shouted. "Art, or right to healthy and sustainable food?"
7.Fridge
Daniel Fairbrother is aiming to break the record for the "fastest marathon carrying a household appliance (white goods)", but was pulled over by police in Stevenage who mistook him for a thief. For more stories from the stranger side of life, sign up to The Week's Tall Tales newsletter.
8. Nightshade
The free "poisoning tool", created by the University of Chicago, protects digital artwork from being used to train generative AI models without permission. Nightshade was downloaded more than 250,000 times in five days.
9. Taylor Swift Right-wing conspiracy theorists have speculated that Swift's relationship with football star Travis Kelce is a "deep state psyop" orchestrated by the NFL and the US Democrats to help Joe Biden win the upcoming presidential election.
10. Guinness
Diageo, which owns Guinness, has reported a steep hike in the second half of 2023 in the number of women drinking the Irish stout in Britain. Guinness was the most popular beer across pubs, bars and restaurants last year, according to industry data.
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Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.
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