The Week Unwrapped: Life expectancy, Palestinians and summing up 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.

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In this week’s episode, we discuss:

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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?