The Week Unwrapped: Pride flags, Denmark and animal magic
Why won’t the Pentagon fly the flag for gay pride? What led Denmark to deport Syrian refugees? And how do birds see through magicians’ tricks?
Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.
In this week’s episode, we discuss:
Pride flags
Pride flags will not be flown at the Pentagon after the military agency decided not to make an exception to a Trump administration policy that banned the flying of unofficial flags on US military facilities. The policy was originally regarded as a way to issue a de facto ban on displaying the Confederate flag, but it has now seen the pro-LGBT+ Biden administration “tie itself in knots”. Can the new president say he celebrates Pride month while banning the rainbow flag?
Denmark deportation
The Danish government has been authorised to deport asylum seekers to other countries while their applications are processed. The development comes hot on the heels of news that Denmark has revoked the residency permits of many Syrian refugees, having declared parts of the war-torn nation “safe”. Is it really safe for refugees to return to Damascus - or is this just a political move?
Animal magic
Scientists from Cambridge University have used magic tricks to understand perception in animals. They tested three ‘sleight of hand’ tricks on humans and on Eurasian jays. While the humans were fooled by all three tricks, the birds were only fooled by one of them. What does this tell us about how our feathered friends see the world? And what significance does this have for the human race?
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