Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters.
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.
Military mental health
The family of a British serviceman who took his own life are told that his medals can only be replaced with fakes. A former soldier suffering from PTSD is reduced to panic attacks by his crying child. An infantry regiment that lost 55 troops in Afghanistan loses another 22 to suicide in the UK. Stories about a mental health crisis within the armed forces are not hard to find. So with the military pledging to collect more data on its impact, are we waking up to the hidden cost of war?
Football violence
English football seems to have a growing problem with fan trouble, in particular pitch invaders. An attack on a player at one of last weekend’s FA Cup fixtures followed underlined recent figures showing a rise in crowd trouble, with arrests for disorder at English games at a five-year high. Senior police figures have also warned about the rising prevalence of drug use, especially cocaine, by spectators.
Potato milk
Potato milk – a vegan, nut-free, gluten-free and lactose-free concoction – made its UK debut this week. Produced by the Swedish brand Dug and costing £1.80 a carton, the liquid has been described as “deliciously creamy” and able to make the “perfect foam in coffee”. The plant-based milk industry is already worth around £400m a year and growing. But are there any risks associated with swapping cow’s milk (formerly known as “milk”) for a dairy-free alternative – and is potato milk really the “next big thing”?
-
Libya's 'curious' football cup, played in Italy to empty stadiumsUnder The Radar 'Curious collaboration' saw Al-Ahli Tripoli crowned league champions in Milan before a handful of spectators
-
What taxes do you pay on a home sale?The Explainer Some people — though not many — will need to pay capital gains taxes upon selling their home
-
Schools: The return of a dreaded fitness testFeature Donald Trump is bringing the Presidential Fitness Test back to classrooms nationwide
-
The Week Unwrapped: Korean succession, terror by algorithm and German disquietpodcast 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?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Chinese chips, the Pope in Africa and podcastingpodcast Is China losing the microchip war? What is the Vatican doing in South Sudan? And has the podcast tide turned?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Sex and health, the Earth’s core and another new yearpodcast Is the NHS failing British women? What’s going on at the centre of our planet? And what’s in a date?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Antisocial Saudis, hormone therapy and retro techpodcast 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?
-
The Week Unwrapped: AI in court, Germans in Taiwan and ghostwriterspodcast Could artificial intelligence replace lawyers? What does Taiwan want from Germany? And are ghostwriters becoming less ghostly?
-
The Year Unwrapped: White refugees, Aegean islands and celebrity gossippodcast 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?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Tracking apps, BTS and stay-at-home girlfriendspodcast Does China’s U-turn mark the end of Covid-tracking apps? Has South Korean pop passed its peak? And are we really seeing the rise of the stay-at-home girlfriend?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Africa alert, ticket touts and the words of the yearpodcast Is South Africa at risk of terrorist attacks? Why are ticket touts in such high demand? And are we really in a ‘permacrisis’?
