The Week Unwrapped podcast: UFOs, boycotts and emojis
Why is the US funding research into UFOs? Are fashion brands funding genocide in China? And are emojis at work ok?

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––To get six free issues of The Week magazine and a moleskine notebook visit theweek.co.uk/offer and enter promo code: pod25–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
In this week’s episode, we discuss:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
UFOs
Despite the Pentagon claiming some time ago that it had disbanded a program to investigate unidentified flying objects, the investigation is still continuing, according to the New York Times, with officials covertly studying seemingly inexplicable encounters with unidentified aerial vehicles. So why the secrecy – and what's really going on?
Boycotts
Reports of the oppression of the Uighur Muslims in China have circulated around the globe, but the role of western companies in supply chains linked to forced labour in Xinjiang has been less well reported. Are high street brands contributing to the genocide? And if so, what can be done to stop their involvement?
Emojis
New research from business communication hub Slack shows that use of emojis on the platform has almost doubled during the coronavirus pandemic. So just how is our ❤️ of these digital icons changing how we communicate in both our work and personal lives - and should we be or about this linguistic shift?
You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped on the Global Player, Spotify, Apple podcasts, SoundCloud or wherever you get you get your podcasts.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Will the US keep aiding Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Republicans give Volodymyr Zelenskyy a 'cold shoulder' in D.C.
By Joel Mathis Published
-
Is it time to end the China trade war?
Talking Point The U.S. aims to dial down China trade tensions after years of tit-for-tat tariffs and bans on advanced technology sales
By Harold Maass Published
-
Priced out
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Korean succession, terror by algorithm and German disquiet
podcast Could a 10-year-old girl rule North Korea? Will an Isis victim upend web law? And why is Germany upset with its Oscars contender?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: The male pill, consultants and a green trade war
podcast Will men finally get an oral contraceptive? Is the government using too many consultants? And why are the US and EU at loggerheads over green tech?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Chinese chips, the Pope in Africa and podcasting
podcast Is China losing the microchip war? What is the Vatican doing in South Sudan? And has the podcast tide turned?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Sex and health, the Earth’s core and another new year
podcast Is the NHS failing British women? What’s going on at the centre of our planet? And what’s in a date?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Antisocial Saudis, hormone therapy and retro tech
podcast Why is Saudi Arabia investing in – and banning – social networks? Will new research make life easier for trans women? And is the future of technology dumb?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: AI in court, Germans in Taiwan and ghostwriters
podcast Could artificial intelligence replace lawyers? What does Taiwan want from Germany? And are ghostwriters becoming less ghostly?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Millennial politics, Japanese payments and Swedish wolves
podcast Are today’s young voters staying leftier for longer? Will cash incentives get people to leave Tokyo? And why are endangered wolves facing a cull?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Year Unwrapped: White refugees, Aegean islands and celebrity gossip
podcast Was 2022 the year of the white refugees? What’s really going on in the Aegean sea? And why are we so obsessed with showbiz scandals?
By The Week Staff Published