COVID inquiry heard Boris Johnson 'struggled' with graphs – if you do too, here are some tips

By James Cheshire, Professor of Geographic Information and Cartography, UCL
Rob Davidson, Postgraduate Researcher in Human Geography, UCL

In March 2020, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, presented to the nation a graph showing “the shape of an epidemic”. The red line depicting the number of predicted COVID cases rose to a steep peak before falling again. Vallance explained that delaying and reducing the height of that peak was essential to ease the strain on Britain’s healthcare system. Boris Johnson, then prime minister, put it much more succinctly: “Squash that sombrero.”

In the two years that followed, both men must have…

Read complete article

~	How collaboration from across Canada, and the world, is helping fight the Alberta wildfires

~	Video game performers are becoming Hollywood stars in their own right − and are on strike to be paid and protected accordingly

~	Paris Olympics: Canada’s soccer drone scandal highlights the need for ethics education

~	World News in Brief: Historic Palestine monastery on World Heritage in Danger List, rights office condemnation as Ghana upholds anti-gay law, free jailed Russian activist

~	Nearly half of children born in Wales in 2002-3 classed as having special educational needs – this may have negatively affected their attainment

~	Bosses are increasingly forcing workers back into the office – but evidence suggests it could backfire

~	Commonly used drug may extend women’s fertility, claim researchers – here’s what you need to know about rapamycin

~	The first farmers often made landscapes more biodiverse – our research could have lessons for rewilding today

~	An artist has stolen a coin from the British Museum as part of a performance piece – but is the artwork ethical?

~	Books That Shook the Business World: The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken