October 2020

Italian towns where 0.5% of the population died in the first wave are doing better in the second - Economist

student writing seems worst affected by lockdown - NoMoreMarking

there are lots of streets in Oxford which would be really improved by a parklet - Forbes

Covid herd immunity is an illusion - Nature - Imperial / REACT

not a parody: Indian child poverty charity opens kitchens in the UK - Guardian

Australia is failing to address far-right terrorism - Guardian

Oxford's colleges have been cannibalising each other - @oldenoughtosay

time to end major road projects - Highways [via @RantyHighwayman]

Tom Lehrer remains a mystery - BuzzFeed

there are only five Conservative MPs left with both a social conscience and a backbone - Guardian

per-mile, vehicles cause more pedestrian casualties on minor urban roads than on major roads - Municipal Engineer

17% more fatalities and serious injuries, 66% more minor injuries

Sydney could depave back streets and take 100,000 cars off the roads - SMH

"the more certain someone is about covid-19, the less you should trust them" - BMJ

are we all suffering from acedia? - Conversation - Schneier

"the pandemic and governmental responses to it create social conditions that approximate those of desert monks"

the Chauvenet Prize for exposition in mathematics - MAA

(with links to most of the winning articles)

the boundary between elementary and advanced - Elements of Mathematics: From Euclid to Gödel [my review]

the UK is much better than the US, but still lags NL, DE and DK for walking and cycling safety - StreetsBlog

bicycles and buses are the future of urban transport - Forbes

the Alternative for Deutschland has been "remorselessly mugged by reality" - NewStatesman

we need 15-minute suburbs to complement working from home - Conversation

the strange history of grapefruit, and its unusual drug interactions - Atlas Obscura [via @RobOnABike]

York pioneers sustainable housing - Guardian

some details about how Oxford Uni is doing Covid testing - OU [nine page PDF]

from the Safavids to Khomeini - Iran: A Modern History [my review]

Emily Wilson on Aeschylus' _Oresteia_ and its translations - LRB