Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days. With Arion McNicoll, Abdulwahab Tahhan and Kate Samuelson.
In this week’s episode, we discuss:
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Egypt’s political prisoners
Alaa Abdulfattah, a British-Egyptian activist imprisoned in Egypt, ended his hunger strike this week, as the Cop27 climate summit came to a conclusion. He is one of an estimated 65,000 political prisoners in the country, few of whose plight ever reaches international headlines. What could and should the international community do in response, and why are so few governments willing to confront Egypt’s leaders?
Teenagers in retreat
A new study conducted in north-west England has revealed that half of youngsters in the region spend their free-time alone. This appears to be a shift from the recent norm, in which teenage years mark a shift towards people spending most of their free time with friends, after the parent-heavy years of childhood. But have digital networks done away with the distinction between socialising and spending time alone? And could anyone blame today’s teens for retreating from the real world.
Tattoos
This week, a report made headlines about a New York mother who was arrested after she gave her ten-year-old son permission to get a tattoo of his name on his arm. The story is indicative of a wider trend of young people going under the needle in greater numbers than their parents. But why have tattoos moved from counterculture to the mainstream – and what role have workplace attitudes, inked-up celebrities and social media played in this?