Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days. With Jamie Timson, Mariana Vieira and Julia O’Driscoll.
In this week’s episode, we discuss:
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.
Succession and the Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama has this week proclaimed an 8-year-old American-born Mongolian boy the 10th Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche, the third-highest rank in Tibetan Buddhism. The decision has caused consternation in China, where the ruling Communist Party has decreed that no new Buddhist spiritual leaders can be anointed without their say-so. Having lived in exile for nearly 65 years after leaving Chinese-ruled Tibet in 1959, the Dalai Lama is no stranger to upsetting Beijing but what will this new proclamation mean for geopolitical tensions in the region? And what will happen about the reincarnation of the 87-year-old himself?
Jack Ma returns to China
Two years ago, the Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma went missing amid reports that he had fallen out of favour with the authorities in Beijing. Now he is back in China, at least temporarily – but is this a sign of the thaw in relations? The government is keen to project the idea that the country is open for business after the long Covid lockdown, but many companies are cautious about its change of stance.
All change?
The clocks went forward this week, and Greenland's won’t be going back. The semi-independent territory is switching to year-round Daylight Saving Time, in an effort to forge closer business ties with much of mainland Europe. The debate over Daylight Saving Time has been raging globally for years. Do the benefits of an extra hour of sunlight in the evenings really outweigh the negatives?
-
The Olympic timekeepers keeping the Games on trackUnder the Radar Swiss watchmaking giant Omega has been at the finish line of every Olympic Games for nearly 100 years
-
Will increasing tensions with Iran boil over into war?Today’s Big Question President Donald Trump has recently been threatening the country
-
Corruption: The spy sheikh and the presidentFeature Trump is at the center of another scandal
-
The Week Unwrapped: Have televised confessions quelled protests in Iran?Podcast Plus, why has Elon Musk turned from Mars to the Moon? And will the BBC prove to be a puzzles champ?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why are there so many Russian ships in the Channel?Podcast Plus, what does a ‘feminist’ approach to cancer involve? And who is Mickey’s new boss?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why is China clearing out its generals?Podcast Plus, can the Conservatives win back the centre? And what’s gone wrong with Britain’s hearing aids?
-
The Week Unwrapped: What can we learn from a tool-wielding cow?Podcast Plus, have we reached ‘peak billionaire’? When should troops disobey their superiors?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will Uganda’s pop-star politician prevail?Podcast Plus, is dodgy data undermining medical research? And what does a new app reveal about Chinese society?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Is Elon Musk’s AI tool a platform for abuse?Podcast Plus can Mumsnet predict who will be the next PM? And who is still watching Avatar sequels?
-
The Week Unwrapped: What’s the cost of PFAs?Podcast Plus why is George Osborne joining OpenAI? And has universal basic income finally come of age?
-
The Week Unwrapped: what’s scuppering Bulgaria’s Euro dream?Podcast Plus has Syria changed, a year on from its revolution? And why are humans (mostly) monogamous?
