This week, Matt Hancock decided that his role in the soap opera of the British government was getting far too boring, opting instead for a career in reality TV. For most of us, the real shock was that ITV considers him a “celebrity”. Reportedly receiving £400,000 for his appearance, Hancock will become one of the highest paid “celebs” on the jungle reality hit. Perhaps the money will soften the blow of being suspended from the Tory party for prioritising fame over advocating for his constituents as the Bank of England predicts the longest recession in 100 years.
Rishi attends COP27
In a positive move for Britain’s push to net-zero, Rishi unsurprisingly u-turned on his decision to miss this year’s climate conference, COP27. Initially choosing not to join other world leaders including President Joe Biden & France’s Emmanual Macron, many of us were perplexed that Sunak did not permit the King to go in his stead. He could have demonstrated both a commitment to the climate and to ensuring Britain’s finances, but chose to send more junior ministers. Sufficiently embarrassed by the criticism he received alongside Boris Johnson’s commitment to COP27, Rishi changed his mind once again. The move was praised by Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, who tweeted “Glad to see Sunak’s screeching U-turn on #COP27, but what an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage. Let this be a lesson to him – climate leadership matters.”
Tokyo increases legal rights for same-sex couples
Same-sex couples in Tokyo celebrated this week when the new Tokyo Partnership Oath System was announced. For the first time, sexual minority couples will be afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples in areas such as housing, healthcare, and child-rearing. Same-sex marriage is still prohibited in Japan, the only G7 country where it is not legally recognised, despite polling suggesting that the public is generally in favour of it. Despite this step forward, the Japanese LGBTQ+ community is still not afforded all the rights that legal marriage entails, such as inheritance, joint custody of children and spousal tax deductions.
First female crash test dummies developed
One of the more shocking facts I learned this week was that since car crash testing began in the 1970s, all crash testing dummies had been modelled on men. This week, a team of Swedish engineers created the first dummy based on the proportions of the average woman. Prior to this, a scaled down version of the male dummy was used to represent women. This comes despite the statistic that women are up to three times more likely to suffer whiplash in a car crash than a male counterpart. With the UN reviewing its regulations on crash testing, we can hope it will soon become mandatory to perform crash tests with these dummies.
Taylor Swift breaks chart records
In another first for women, Billboard Chart history was made this week as Taylor Swift claimed all Top 10 spots on the Hot 100 with the release of her new album ‘Midnights’. The previous record was held by Drake, who claimed 9 of the 10 spots in 2021. Swift took to twitter to celebrate, saying “10 out of 10 of the Hot 100??? On my 10th album??? I AM IN SHAMBLES.” Whatever your opinion of her music, it is undeniable that Taylor Swift will remain one of the most successful artists of all time.
