The Week Unwrapped: Life expectancy, Palestinians and summing up Sturgeon
Why aren’t Brits living as long as they might have hoped? Who is questioning the existence of Palestinians? And what will be the legacy of Nicola Sturgeon?
Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days. With Leaf Arbuthnot, Abdulwahab Tahhan and Cindy Yu.
You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:
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.
Life expectancy
Figures released this week revealed that where a child is born can make a difference of up to 12 years in how long he or she can expect to live. Glaswegians are the most likely to die young, while those born in Hampstead, north London, live the longest. Even taken as a whole, Britain’s mortality data gives pause: another set of statistics, published last week, showed the UK slipping to 29th in the world life expectancy chart.
Palestinian identity
Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli national security minister, claimed this week that “there are no Palestinians, because there isn’t a Palestinian people”. His comments provoked a fierce response in the Palestinian territories, and the rest of the Middle East. They also divided opinion within Israel, which is embroiled in a political and constitutional crisis.
Sturgeon’s legacy
Nicola Sturgeon chaired her final cabinet meeting as first minister of Scotland this week, as the SNP prepares to announce the winner of the race to succeed her on Monday. While the hard-fought leadership contest has attracted plenty of attention, Sturgeon’s domestic legacy has been less widely discussed. How will she be remembered in the long run?
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation: the group behind Gaza's controversial new aid programme
The Explainer Deadly shootings and chaotic scenes have been reported at aid sites after US group replaced UN humanitarian organisations
-
Is UK's new defence plan transformational or too little, too late?
Today's Big Question Labour's 10-year strategy 'an exercise in tightly bounded ambition' already 'overshadowed by a row over money'
-
How much should doctors trust parental intuition?
In The Spotlight Study finds parents' concern can be better at spotting critical illness than vital signs
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will Europe beat China and India to the North Pole?
Podcast Plus, is the man who designed the iPhone going to kill his own creation? And what's going on at the equalities watchdog?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will the Enhanced Games change how we see doping?
Podcast Plus, how will autonomous weapons change warfare? And are Reform supporters more datable than Tories?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why is cheese so bad for the environment?
Podcast Plus, will weight-loss drugs cut cancer rates? And what's behind a rise in 'sextortion' cases?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will robots benefit from a sense of touch?
Podcast Plus, has Donald Trump given centrism a new lease of life? And was it wrong to release the deadly film Rust?
-
The Week Unwrapped: How is professional sport dealing with dementia?
Podcast Plus, is fossil-fuel advertising on borrowed time? And do male authors need more support?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why was Pope Francis controversial in Argentina?
Podcast Plus, could marriage increase your risk of dementia? And what is the true cost of that viral pistachio chocolate?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Can we really 'de-extinct' prehistoric animals?
Podcast Plus, will womb transplants transform fertility? And why are prices falling in the art market?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Who is the world's first millennial saint?
Podcast Plus, what has Meta done to anger writers? And why would studios block the release of their own movies?