1. This LanguageCert webinar is quite an early start for UK attendees (only fair for a change!), 07:30 UK time on Wednesday, 15^th February: Cultivating a Culture of Care in Language Education with Jane Arnold and Kieran Donaghy. More info and registration here https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PTC6fksQQNer6sTDQZe6zw

2. Ample notice of the 2nd Decentring ELT conference: Exploring New Opportunities which will take place on Friday 10^th and Saturday 11^th March from 13:00 to 16:00 UK time each day. More info here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2nd-decentring-elt-conference-exploring-new-opportunities-tickets-523865875937 Home-made PDF below. Scroll down this page for the (sensibly short) proceedings of the first Decentring conference in December 2021 https://www.hornby-trust.org.uk/decentring-elt and you’ll find recordings of all the sessions at that conference here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhQnWbX4q7NnGqUIpV7FH8NlmD00-wadj

3. Here’s a piece about light and darkness for The Guardian by the Ukrainian novelist, Andrey Kurkov https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/04/ukrainians-2023-putin-russia “The war is a battle with Putin’s Russia, and a life plagued by darkness”, he says. If you get chance to read Kurkov’s first novel, Death and the Penguin, do take it! https://en.wikipedia.:org/wiki/Death_and_the_Penguin

4. This piece from The Conversation has occasioned a certain  amount of discussion in our family: https://theconversation.com/men-often-dont-see-mess-like-women-do-changing-that-could-make-housework-more-equal-197373

5. And, finally, I found this lurking on my Google search page on 6^th February, Bob Marley Day in Marley’s home country, Jamaica https://artsandculture.google.com/project/bob-marley