The Week Unwrapped: martial lawlessness, asteroid action and statue sparring

Guest host Arion McNicoll and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters.

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In this week’s episode, we discuss:

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Martial lawlessness

An investigation into the suicide of a female cadet at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2019 could result in seven officers and soldiers facing charges over their failure to keep her safe. The case has raised questions over the challenges experienced by women in the military, as well as what it will take to change the institution’s longstanding “man’s world” culture.

Asteroid action

Nasa has announced plans to send a spacecraft hurtling into an asteroid at 15,000mph to change its path and divert it away from Earth. The mission, known as a Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), is the agency’s “first test for planetary defence”. So should we be worried about asteroid’s one day colliding with the planet - and what might experts learn from the first-of-its-kind experiment?

Statue sparring

A landmark study has found that London has more public sculptures of animals than it does of women or people of colour. The research, which is funded in part by City Hall, is part of a major project launched in the light of the global protests against racism and inequality last year. So what does the current line-up tell us about the country’s approach to celebrating its favourite sons - and could London’s statues be about to become more diverse?