Maggots, Rape and Yet Five Stars: How U.S. Ratings of Nursing Homes Mislead the Public

NEW YORK TIMES

Twelve years ago, the U.S. government introduced a powerful new tool to help people make a wrenching decision: which nursing home to choose for loved ones at their most vulnerable. Using a simple star rating — one being the worst, five the best — the system promised to distill reams of information and transform an emotional process into one based on objective, government-blessed metrics. read more »

James Levine, former Met Opera conductor, dies aged 77

THE GUARDIAN

Conductor James Levine, who ruled over the Metropolitan Opera for more than four decades before being eased aside when his health declined and then was fired for sexual improprieties, has died. He was 77. read more »

Groomed: how a film-maker learned to confront a childhood of abuse

THE GUARDIAN

It wasn’t until she was knee-deep in research, making a documentary on sexual assault that would later become the film Groomed, that the film-maker Gwen van de Pas learned the word for what happened to her. read more »