Trolleys 853 and 854

Not too tired after my excursion to London to gather up this trolley from the M&S food hall on exit from Epsom Station.

I collect quite a lot of trolleys from outside the station and there are usually black taxis waiting there, which we use on a reasonably regular basis, but none of the drivers have thought to comment on my collecting habits, although some of them must have noticed. Perhaps they know from experience that it is better not to offer comments on this sort of thing.

And a second by the seats in front of the town-side exit from the Kokoro Passage.

Bag from Osprey, via T K Maxx, just behind the camera. It has served well now, for well over ten years, starting out during the months of bag life. Opsrey of London by Graeme Ellisoon, so almost certainly the people at reference 2 rather than those at reference 3.

Reference 2 mostly seeming to be a high-end video, from where I associated to the websites of big wine makers. Tricky to get a snap from this one, as the Snipping Tool takes a few seconds to click in and it seems to be a matter of luck what you get. Unless you take the time to go through the loop several times so that you know what is coming next. Pass.

But more seriously, we have the troubling case of Lucy Letby at reference 4. A young woman who has been thrown into jail for what may well turn out to be a very long time, but whom a distinguished panel of neonatal care specialists believe to be innocent. A perhaps awkward young woman who has been scapegoated by a system which failed - not forgetting that the neonates involved were very sick in the first place. One part of which system is the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC), the people who are supposed to deal with possible miscarriages of justice, but who are underfunded and who may take years to deal with this one. One does not want to make it easy to reopen closed cases, or the dam, as it were, might burst - but I am left worrying that there has been a miscarriage and that a conscientious young woman's life has been wrongly ruined. But what exactly should be done about it, I do not know.

I associate to being once told by a criminal barrister that the standard of proof was often very low in the case of very serious crimes - or possibly non-crimes - where the media were baying for convictions, possibly aided & abetted by the relevant Ministers, possibly aided & abetted by distraught families.

To be fair to the CCRC, it was easy enough to find where matters stood with them using the search button provided at reference 5, which led me to the short report at reference 6. It appears that the matter is being taken seriously and that significant resources have been assigned.

PS 1: almost seriously, I wonder if the rhyme and rhythm properties of  the young woman's name, which make it catchy, have contributed to her troubles?

PS 2: probably in connection with this case, I have also read recently of senior statisticians weighing in on the proper treatment of troubling coincidences. As I recall, there it a strong tendency to take coincidences more seriously than one should. Unusual things happen all the time, without anything sinister going on. Bing turns up the snap above fast enough - so perhaps now I will try to give it some time. To help me along, I have put a copy on my telephone. Maybe a quiet moment on a train?

PS 3: back with trivia, it seems that there is a lot of fuss about the new logo for Great British Railways, slated to be the new version of British Rail as the present operators - like Southwestern Trains - are nationalised over the next few years. Which all sounds like a Great British Mess to me. Another legacy from our long infatuation with Mrs Thatcher.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/05/trolley-852.html.

Reference 2: https://www.ospreylondon.com/en-gb/.

Reference 3: https://www.osprey.com/.

Reference 4: 'We did not find any murders': When Lucy Letby was convicted, a 1980s research paper was key to the prosecution case - but the author himself is fighting to show that there has been a miscarriage of justice - David Conn, Guardian - 2025.

Reference 5: https://ccrc.gov.uk/.

Reference 6: https://ccrc.gov.uk/news/lucy-letby-application-received-by-criminal-cases-review-commission/.

Reference 7: https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r250. An accessible introduction to the case - and the troubling role of a 'professional' expert witness. What I have not been able to find is the panel report.

Reference 8: https://thirlwall.public-inquiry.uk/. Nor have I bottomed out how the panel report fits in with the work of this (expensive) inquiry - which looks to be reporting early in 2026.

Reference 9: https://rss.org.uk/RSS/media/File-library/News/2022/Report_Healthcare_serial_killer_or_coincidence_statistical_issues_in_investigation_of_suspected_medical_misconduct_Sept_2022_FINAL.pdf.

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