The Week Unwrapped: Crypto power, a Grenfell deal and vaccine lawsuits

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days. With Arion McNicoll, Arion McNicoll and Felicity Capon.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

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.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

Fuelling Bitcoin

Most Bitcoin mining used to be done in China, until the government closed down the banks of computers used to mint the cyber-currency because of the immense power they were using. Since about 2021, the US has become the industry’s global leader. And their energy needs are astonishing: 34 Bitcoin “mines” are using as much energy as three million homes. According to a recent New York Times investigation, Bitcoin mining worldwide now “emits around the same amount of CO2 annually as a country the size of Greece”.

A Grenfell deal

Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire, and relatives of those who died, have reached a civil settlement with a number of companies, including the construction company Arconic. The deal involves about 900 claimants, who will receive compensation – but is unconnected with a police investigation and public inquiry, both of which are ongoing. As are attempts to pursue the government and housing developers to rectify other buildings which are clad in potentially flammable material.

Vaccine side-effects

While side-effects from Covid vaccinations were exceedingly rare, a small number of people died or suffered serious injuries after the mass immunisation campaign. The widower of a 44-year-old woman whose death was caused by the Astra-Zeneca vaccine now says that his only recourse is to sue the company, after it and the government failed to respond to his pleas for help. Does the UK need to improve the way it deals with these rare cases of vaccine-related injury – and could the current impasse undermine public faith in the system?