The Week Unwrapped: Immunity, Tunisia and Big Brother

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

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In this week’s episode, we discuss:

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Evusheld and immunity

Although Covid now poses relatively little risk to the vaccinated population, there is a group of people who cannot benefit from the existing vaccines: those with compromised immune systems. For them, the risks of serious illness and death are as high as they were two years ago. Now a new treatment, called Evusheld, could protect them – if the government decides to authorise it.

Tunisia

Last week Tunisia passed a referendum granting its president extraordinary powers and sweeping away most remaining checks and balances. And while the US ambassador has expressed concern about what this means for the country’s fledgling democracy, most other countries have been strangely silent. Commentators, meanwhile, say this looks like the final nail in the coffin for the Arab Spring. Tunisia had once been seen as the one functioning democracy to emerge from that wave of process. Now it looks like the country is tipping back towards authoritarianism.

Big Brother

ITV has announced that Big Brother, Britain's first hugely successful reality TV show, will be back on our screens next year after a five year hiatus. But while the show has remained one of the most influential in reality tv history and transformed the idea of celebrity, there are questions over whether it can thrive in an era of Love Island, social media stars, and a safeguarding savvy viewing public.