The Week Unwrapped: Real-life Succession, Iranian football and China’s #MeToo moment

Olly Mann and The Week

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and
debate what really matters.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you
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In this week’s episode, we discuss:

Business leadership,
Succession-style

The latest episode of Sky Atlantic’s Succession has drawn
attention to the changing personal qualities of CEOs in the
contemporary world. On screen, two old-school media tycoons with
alpha personalities and waning acumen were threatening to wreak
havoc on their businesses – not to mention the wider world. But in
the real world, 21st-century corporate leadership seems to demand
an even more unusual personality type: in a nutshell, ruthless but
empathetic and likeable. 

Iranian goalkeepers

After a Women’s Asian Cup qualifier in which Iran beat Jordan
4-2 on penalties, the president of the Iranian football association
has demanded a “gender verification check” on the Iranian
goalkeeper, Zohreh Koudaei. She has previously been the subject of
unsubstantiated gossip in Arabic newspapers, and the Iranian
authorities say Jordan’s complaint is no more than sour grapes. But
the case has reopened the debate about gender in sport – and
focused attention on Iran’s policies on gender-reassignment
surgery.

#MeToo in China

Concerns have been growing for Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai.
On 2 November, the 35-year-old alleged on the Chinese social media
platform Weibo that she had been coerced into sex by former Chinese
vice-premier Zhang Gaoli. Her post was swiftly deleted and searches
for her name, as well as ‘tennis’, were blocked. More than two
weeks later, all we’ve heard from Shuai is a strange email
purporting to be from her, shared by Chinese state media – but its
authenticity has been questioned. Are these events a win for the
#MeToo movement or Chinese censorship?