1. The LearnEnglish sites have some good stuff for next Monday – or indeed any other day!

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/general-english/video-zone/international-womens-day-we-are-generationequality

https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/study-break/video-zone/how-can-more-women-get-into-politics

https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/video-zone/kamala-harris-why-her-new-job-so-important

2. TIRF is The International Research Foundation for English Language Education, and they’ve just published a new paper on ESP in their Language Education in Review series: https://www.tirfonline.org/2021/02/tirf-language-education-in-review-series-english-for-specific-purposes/ You’ll find previous papers in the series here, including one on the Common European Framework of Reference and one on English as a Medium of Instruction: https://www.tirfonline.org/publications/

Plus, TIRF’s announcement of this year’s Doctoral Dissertation Grants, which may be well timed for some of you: https://www.tirfonline.org/grants-prizes/doctoral-dissertation-grants/

3. The March book of the month at the Hay Festival is What We Owe Each Other by Minouche Shafik. Her book seeks to answer the salient question of our time, “At a time when government seems broken, where can we find a framework for social, economic, and political renewal?” https://www.hayfestival.com/p-17441-minouche-shafik-talks-to-matina-stevis-gridneff.aspx

There’s a Q&A with Baroness Shafik on Tuesday, 9^th March at 19:00 UK time. You may need to explore the page for the registration link: on my computer, it was small and in the centre at the top of the screen! If you have a moment, read her CV – the very definition of stellar, as in the phrase ‘stellar CV’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minouche_Shafik,_Baroness_Shafik

4. And, finally, a good piece in the latest issue of The New Yorker, Last Exit from Afghanistan, from Dexter Filkins, who wrote the excellent The Forever War about the ill-fated (ill-conceived, ill-planned, ill-conducted, just plain ill) USA interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/08/last-exit-from-afghanistan He’s clearly pretty brave himself but not as brave as some of the people he describes, such as Fawzia Koofi.