The Week Unwrapped: Policing, Sweden’s far-right and ‘passkeys’

Can the Metropolitan Police’s new commissioner fix the force’s problems? Why has Sweden swung to the political right? And are passwords set to become obsolete?

A line of police officers walking
Mark Rowley became Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police this week
(Image credit: Victoria Jones / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)

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

In this week’s episode, we discuss:

Policing

The new commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Mark Rowley, began his role on Monday, a week before one of the biggest policing operation in UK history: the Queen’s funeral. And after the official mourning period has ended, Rowley will face many other challenges. Following a series of scandals and crises involving the Met, how can he implement change?

Sweden’s far-right

The Sweden Democrats enjoyed a surge of support in the country’s general elections this week, winning around 20% of the total vote. The nationalist party’s campaign focused on gang violence and immigration, two key issues for Sweden’s electorate. As part of the ruling right-wing coalition, the party look set to play a bigger role in Sweden’s domestic and international affairs.

‘Passkeys’

The rollout this week of Apple’s iOS 16 operating system brought a number of changes for iPhone users, including the introduction of Passkeys – billed as an ultra-secure technology set to replace passwords. Apple has teamed up with Google, Meta and Microsoft for the push towards a passwordless future. But will the public get behind the tech giants’ ambitious project?