Letters from Abroad

In this episode, I'm talking mainly about the early history of vaccination against polio in the United States and the recent, radical and rather worrying shift in national vaccination policy in the USA.

After trying very hard to reproduce the gentle cadence and authority of Alistair Cooke's voice using digital tools, I decided to use my own voice instead. I'm afraid that I don't have his mid-Atlantic brogue, just a mildly neutral Scots accent, blunted and shaped by spending most of my life in the north of England. Cooke's accent blended Salford in Greater Manchester with Fifth Avenue in New York. Mine comes from Glasgow, Scotland and Leeds in West Yorkshire. Hopefully, my voice should be clear enough (I'm working on it)!

1. World Health Organization — Vaccines and Immunization A global overview of how vaccines reduce disease, disability, and death worldwide.
2. Vaccine History Timeline An authoritative account of how vaccination transformed public health in the United States.
3. Salk Institute — The Life and Legacy of Jonas Salk The story of the polio vaccine and the ethical decision to place it in the public domain.
4. Albert Bruce Sabin: The Man Who Made the Oral Polio Vaccine An account of the oral polio vaccine and its pivotal Cold War trials.
5. Our World in Data — Vaccination Data-driven global trends showing the real-world impact of vaccination over time.
6. Vaccination Guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics can be found HERE. Thanks to Dr. Katelyn Jetelina

This episode looks at the rise of science skepticism in the US, to the point that is now affecting American domestic and foreign policy as Washington goes into full denial over climate change with potentially world-changing consequences.

After trying very hard to reproduce the gentle cadence and authority of Alistair Cooke's voice using digital tools, I decided to use my own voice instead. I'm afraid that I don't have his mid-Atlantic brogue, just a mildly neutral Scots accent, blunted and shaped by spending most of my life in the north of England. Cooke's accent blended Salford in Greater Manchester with Fifth Avenue in New York. Mine comes from Glasgow, Scotland and Leeds in West Yorkshire. Hopefully, my voice should be clear enough (I'm working on it)!

Recent events in Davos, Switzerland prompted me to get this podcast finished off ASAP. It zooms out from the focus on Greenland and takes a wider look at American defence policy since the end of the Second World War and how quickly things have changed in the past year or so since President Trump returned to the White House

After trying very hard to reproduce the gentle cadence and authority of Alistair Cooke's voice using digital tools, I decided to use my own voice instead. I'm afraid that I don't have his mid-Atlantic brogue, just a mildly neutral Scots accent, blunted and shaped by spending most of my life in the north of England. Cooke's accent blended Salford in Greater Manchester with Fifth Avenue in New York. Mine comes from Glasgow, Scotland and Leeds in West Yorkshire. Hopefully, my voice should be clear enough (I'm working on it)!

This episode looks at the recent White house defence review, how it differs from Congress's and examines the role of the United States in rebuilding the Western alliance after the Second World War and leading its security. I've used 'Auld' in the title as it's old Scots for 'Old' and it seemed apposite to use here (see below).

After trying very hard to reproduce the gentle cadence and authority of Alistair Cooke's voice using digital tools, I decided to use my own voice instead. I'm afraid that I don't have his mid-Atlantic brogue, just a mildly neutral Scots accent, blunted and shaped by spending most of my life in the north of England. Cooke's accent blended Salford in Greater Manchester with Fifth Avenue in New York. Mine comes from Glasgow, Scotland and Leeds in West Yorkshire. Hopefully, my voice should be clear enough (I'm working on it)!