Every Monday on Global Comment, we share the slow, thoughtful, considerate words that our brains – and souls – need but that it’s easy to miss in our busy world. We distil the best of the web and recommend just three links every week that you absolutely must see.
No fluff, no fuss, just three exceptional reads.
Here are this week’s recommendations:
Reporting restrictions and writing through tears: The ‘incredibly complex’ task of reporting Lucy Letby trial (Bron Maher / Press Gazette)
Some 17 babies and their families, and eight hospital employees, were granted anonymity by judges ahead of the trial, making an already technically complicated case more difficult to coherently explain to readers.
In the UK breaching reporting restrictions, even inadvertently, is considered contempt of court – a potentially imprisonable offence.
One journalist told Press Gazette they worried that if such dense reporting restrictions are granted more often in the future, similarly important cases may become “impossible to follow”.
Sad little boys: the backlash against Britain’s boarding schools (The Economist)
That British boarding schools are odd places is not news. For several centuries and for fat fees they provided the English upper classes with a ripping blend of architectural beauty and physical discomfort; with neoclassical corridors and cold showers; with lashings of Latin and just plain lashings. The pupils they produced were an equally idiosyncratic mix of the sophisticated and the childlike, mingling precocious brilliance with speech that never quite left the classroom. It was a heady brew and Britain was intoxicated by it: of the 57 British prime ministers, 20 went to Eton. As Boris Johnson, one of their number, might say: “Crikey!”
Stephen Fry on mental illness and suicide (RHLSTP)
@podcastrex THE HEARTBREAKING MOMENT STEPHEN FRY’S DEPRESSION OVERCAME HIM From RHLSTP with Richard Herring, available wherever you get podcasts. If you’re struggling with your mental health, help is available from Mind, Campaign Against Living Miserably, YoungMinds and more. #Podcast #MentalHealth ♬ original sound – Podcast Rex
If you have any suggestions for future words to feature, contact us on our socials or at editor@globalcomment.com
Image: mali maeder