The trial of Lucy Letby has shocked British statisticians
And shown that many Britons are woefully ignorant of statistics
It was “feeble”. It was “very unsatisfactory”. It was, in short, “terrible”. If you wish to annoy a statistician, ask them about the trial of Lucy Letby, a British nurse. Statisticians will, typically, take no view whatsoever on the guilt or otherwise of Ms Letby, who in August 2023 was found guilty of murdering seven very young babies in a hospital near Liverpool between 2015 and 2016, and given 15 life sentences without the chance of parole.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Two cultures”
Britain August 24th 2024
- The trial of Lucy Letby has shocked British statisticians
- Mike Lynch was Britain’s first software billionaire
- Britain’s government pulls the plug on a superfast computer
- The tricky politics of choosing Oxford’s next chancellor
- Youth clubs in Britain have been vanishing
- Britain’s boom in public inquiries into past disasters
From the August 24th 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Britain
The rise of the Net-Zero Dad
Middle-aged men care less about the problem. But they love the solution
Backing Heathrow expansion suggests Labour is serious about growth
It is the surest sign yet that the government is up for the fight
What the rise of bubble tea says about British high streets
A sugar rush from foreign students
Why Britain has fallen behind on road safety
More than 1,600 people still die each year in road collisions
Britain’s brokers are diversifying and becoming less British
London’s depleted stockmarket is forcing them to change