The Welsh language beats a nuclear plant; Women speak more than men; and a new show for children in conflict zones
It's a good time to speak Welsh, or be a sandwich tern, in Anglesey
Nuclear plant 0, Welsh language 1
Anglesey, which has one of the highest concentration of Welsh speakers in Wales, was part of a thorny nuclear plant rejection in the UK in 2020 - and it turns out part of the rejection rested on the risk it would have to Welsh language vitality.
The now-scrapped £20bn project at Wylfa would have brought in 7,500 workers from outside the region, raising fears that the high proportion of Welsh speakers in Anglesey could decline. Despite Hitachi’s own language impact assessment noting that local jobs could help sustain the language, planners ultimately ruled that the risks to Welsh linguistic heritage, alongside environmental concerns, outweighed the benefits. This included a lack of proof that the arctic and sandwich terns in the nearby bay would be protected.
The government’s growth mission champion was pretty miffed about it. Dan Tomlinson said: “It’s no wonder we’ve gone from a world pioneer in new nuclear to lagging at the back. Now we’ve got a government that’s willing to back the builders not the blockers, we can stop the delays so the UK can be at the forefront of new nuclear with more jobs and cheaper bills.”
Here’s an idea - imagine if all 7500 new workers had to demonstrate proficiency in Welsh? Imagine if you needed to speak Welsh to work at the nuclear plant? Maybe, then, it wouldn’t have been rejected. It would have brought more than 2,000 local construction jobs to the area, and given young people a chance to stay and settle there rather than moving elsewhere for work - which is another brilliant way to maintain a language community.
The BSL GCSE has been delayed - again
Plans to introduce a British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE in England by 2025 have hit a major roadblock, with reports suggesting the course could take several more years to finalise.
The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) say there is “no reason” the qualification couldn’t be introduced now.
The Department for Education and Ofqual insist that rigorous planning is required to ensure the GCSE meets high academic standards, but as delays continue, advocates are calling for urgent action.
There was such a wonderful, growing interest in BSL following the awareness-raising of individuals like Rose Ayling-Ellis and Tasha Ghouri on British television. It’s a real shame that the obligatory bureaucracy around GCSEs couldn’t keep up with them.
The science of Trump’s repertoire of gestures
A fascinating new study has analysed how Donald Trump’s distinctive pointing gestures contribute to his populist communication style. Research from linguist Christopher Hart at Lancaster University found that Trump’s frequent pointing - outward for engaging audiences, inward for self-reference, and downward for geographic emphasis - plays a crucial role in how he connects with supporters.
I’ll do my best to make an explainer about this soon with my thoughts, but the most striking thing for me is the existence of gesture differences between populist and non-populists politicians!
Want to read an undecipherable scroll from Herculaneum? That’s no problem now we have AI
Using advanced 3D X-rays and machine learning software developed through something called the Vesuvius Challenge, researchers have managed to virtually unroll charred scrolls from the Roman city of Herculaneum.
The latest breakthrough, revealed at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, has uncovered Greek words like διατροπή (meaning “disgust”) mentioned at least twice from a previously unreadable manuscript. Researchers are busy trying to work out the rest of it. I’m hoping it’s an Ancient Roman declaring, several times, that they have the ick for someone. Or maybe it’s a negative restaurant review. Either way - I can’t wait to find out.
Women speak 3,000 more words a day than men - at least in midlife
A new study has revisited the long-standing debate on whether women are more talkative than men.
This latest research from the University of Arizona found that women between ages 25 and 65 speak an average of 3,000 more words per day than men in the same age group.
Researchers speculate that the increased word count during midlife may be linked to caregiving roles, social engagement, or work-related communication demands. However, the study also found that people in general are speaking less than they did two decades ago - likely due to the rise of digital communication.
One of the authors makes a brilliant point in this article: "I'm fascinated by the idea that we know how much we need to sleep, we know how much we need to exercise, and people are wearing Fitbits all the time, but we have no idea how much we're supposed to socialise.”
Do we all have enough conversations - and does our gender play a role in how much we do it? Utterly fascinating - I need to try and do an explainer on this, too.
The BBC launches an Arabic show for kids in war zones
For children whose schools have been destroyed by war, education remains a challenge - but the BBC has come up with an idea to bridge that gap.
The BBC World Service has launched an Arabic version of Dars (meaning “Lesson”), an award-winning educational program designed for children in conflict zones. I believe they first launched it in Dari and Pashto for children in Afghanistan, and now it’s also in Arabic.
The show provides lessons in subjects like math, technology, and mental health, offering a vital resource for students in places like Gaza and Sudan, where war has disrupted formal schooling.
We all have our own opinions about the BBC - I certainly do, as you know I used to work for them and indeed continue to work with them - but when it comes to initiatives like this, I don’t think anyone beats them. Brian Eno once said "If all the media organisations in the world collapsed, the only one I'd miss would be the BBC World Service". I know how he feels.
That’s All for This Week!
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There's an interesting parallel with Lithuania, where the only town where Russian is still spoken as a first-language by the majority of its inhabitants is Visaginas - a town specifically constructed to house the workers of a nuclear plant.