1. Now that Lucy Letby has been found guilty of another murder, the UK press are free to report the doubts over her conviction first raised by The New Yorker which were censored by the UK government when first published https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/09/lucy-letby-evidence-experts-question

Radio 4’s Today programme interviewed Dewi Evans, the lead scientific witness for the prosecution the other morning. I’ve written to them to ask if they shouldn’t also interview his counterpart for the defence, Mike Hall, whose evidence the judge chose not to hear, in the interests of balance.

2. Here’s a short notice reminder of this TeachingEnglish mini-event from 09:00 to 12:30 UK time this Thursday, 18^th July, Valuing multilingualism. Three sessions; five speakers. More info and registration here https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/news-and-events/webinars/webinars-teachers/valuing-multilingualism-mini-event

3. Here’s a ‘gift article’ from The New York Times, 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, that’s worth this month’s subscription on its own https://tinyurl.com/5662uz2s The NYT’s choices will raise at least as many issues as they resolve, of course!

4. Five common English words we don’t know the origins of – including ‘boy’ and ‘dog’ from The Conversation by Francesco Perono Cacciafoco of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University https://theconversation.com/five-common-english-words-we-dont-know-the-origins-of-including-boy-and-dog-232299

5. Three pieces with historical perspective from Engelsberg Ideas:

i) The Habsburg world we have lost by Luka Ivan Jukic https://engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-habsburg-world-we-have-lost/

The Habsburg monarchy’s political culture persisted in odd and varied ways, following the disintegration of the Austria-Hungarian state. The failures and mendacity of the succeeding generation of Central European politicians offers a warning from history.

ii) Inside Iran’s election circus by Ali Ansari https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/inside-irans-election-circus/

Rather than presaging a reformist revival, the Iranian presidential election revealed the vast chasm between the state and society-at-large.

iii) The true sources of Soviet conduct by Rodric Braithwaite https://engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-true-sources-of-soviet-conduct/

The Soviet Union believed that it was manifestly destined to lead the world to a higher future but that ambition masked profound insecurities about its economic, political and military status as a great power.

My own insecurities were unmasked when I was chairing Rodric Braithwaite’s presentation of what was then his latest book, Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-89, a few years back at the Edinburgh Book Festival. I looked out at the audience and saw at least five onetime UK ambassadors to the Soviet Union or Russia, plus two former permanent undersecretaries to the UK Foreign Office. My own experience of Afghanistan was – and remains – a five-day sojourn on the way to India in 1974.

6. And, finally and scarily, from Wicked Leeks, Intensive farming, superbugs + antimicrobial resistance https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/news/intensive-farming-superbugs-antimicrobial-resistance/

According to the Soil Association https://www.soilassociation.org/ farm animals consume about 30% of all antibiotics in the UK and about 65% of antibiotics worldwide.