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
Has the Royal Navy become too timid?
A new paper examines how its culture has changed
A plan to reorganise local government in England runs into opposition
Turkeys vote against Christmas
David Lammy’s plan to shake up Britain’s Foreign Office
Diplomats will be tasked with growing the economy and cutting migration
Britain’s government has spooked markets and riled businesses
Tax rises were inevitable. Such a shaky start was not
Labour’s credibility trap
Who can believe Rachel Reeves?