The Week Unwrapped: Factories, drug money and scanners

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days. With Julia O’Driscoll, Holden Frith and Rory Reid.

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In this week’s episode, we discuss:

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Tesco’s lawsuit

A group of 130 people formerly employed by a garment factory in Thailand which produced clothing for Tesco’s F+F brand are bringing a landmark legal case against the supermarket chain for negligence and unjust enrichment. The allegations made by workers – and denied by Tesco – bring to the fore the complexities of regulating modern supply chains and the problems that can arise when manufacturing is outsourced.

Antibiotic resistance

A bill before the US Congress would introduce a radical new approach to funding the search for antibiotics capable of treating drug-resistant superbugs. Under the model, which has been compared to a Netflix subscription, the US government would pay pharmaceutical companies a total of $6bn over ten years, and that money would have to be spent developing new antibiotics – and would replace the purchase price when new drugs were discovered. Is there enough political will to get the bill through?

Airline security

Following last week’s announcement that the UK plans to change the rules for airline security, lifting the 100ml limit on liquids, India said this week it would follow suit and Canada is also considering such a move. New 3D scanners being introduced at many airports would also mean that laptops and liquids could be left inside bags at security checkpoints. Will this mean a smoother journey through the airport – or even more confusion and a patchwork of different rules and regulations.