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With M.D.: "On paper, the trial of Lucy Letby looks fair and thorough. It was one of the longest murder trials in English legal history, based on a police investigation (Operation Hummingbird) that scrutinised more than half a million medical documents and spoke to more than 2,000 people. And yet the fact the prosecution fielded six expert witnesses and the defence fielded none led to a one-sided interpretation of the evidence.…"
With Bio-Waste Spreader: "This column has long warned that UK food production is under threat from government agri-environmental schemes that encourage fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Those warnings of an impending catastrophic drop in food production are now being echoed by Natural England (NE), an agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which advises its parent body on the technical delivery of measures to limit climate change and improve biodiversity…"
With Dr B Ching: "On the fourth anniversary of the deaths of three people in the Aberdeenshire train crash – caused by Network Rail's outsourcing of drainage work – NR Scotland awarded new contracts for another five years of, er, outsourced drainage work. The landslide which derailed the train at Carmont on 12 August 2020 stemmed from the fragmented responsibilities for keeping the railways safe…"
With Remote Controller: "The BBC keeps a ‘risk register' of programmes that might bring political, legal or media/social media objections. A pair of recent BBC2 documentaries must have had red flags bigger than a Soviet May Day parade. One involved a foreign monarchy believed to have murdered a hostile journalist, while the other, even more controversially, concerned animal cruelty. The Kingdom: The World's Most Powerful Prince profiles Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia…"
With Old Sparky: "The government's ultra-ambitious plan for 100 percent electricity decarbonisation by 2030 represents nationwide upheaval on an unprecedented scale. Many intrusive aspects of what's being planned – new nukes, carbon capture facilities, tripling solar farms, quadrupling onshore grid expansion – are likely to be opposed by nimbys, greens, and sometimes by both. Recent landmark court rulings have come down on the side of objectors…"
With Lunchtime O'Boulez: "Puncturing the frantic cheer of this year's Edinburgh Festival came news that Creative Scotland, the Scottish arts council, is shutting down a prominent £6m scheme to support individual creative talent. Last year the Scottish government cut £6.6m of its grant to CS, then reinstated it in the face of protests. Now the government is saying it ‘can't confirm' whether the reinstatement will take place – leaving Creative Scotland in the lurch…"
With Slicker: "Barclays disclosed earlier this month that key senior staff and main money makers – considered grossly underpaid, it would seem – will now be rewarded with bonuses up to ten times that generous fixed pay. The aim? ‘To retain and attract the best talent globally.' That's code for competing with Wall Street rivals such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley…"
Letter from Dhaka
From Our Own Correspondent: "Half of Bangladesh's 170m population is under 25, and it was student anger that helped bring down our ageing prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed's authoritarian Awami League (AL) government earlier this month. So it might have seemed curious when the "Gen Z revolution" called for 84-years-young, softly spoken Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus – best known for popularising microcredit – to become chief adviser of the interim government…"