Updates on previous topics: George Floyd trial, Volkswagen electric van, Tokyo Olympics, WeWork, and more

The latest news on topics we’ve covered in the past

Today's expression: Hold firm
Explore more: Lesson #365
May 20, 2021:

This lesson reviews the latest news on previous Plain English topics: justice for George Floyd in the Derek Chauvin case; Volkswagen’s all-electric passenger van is coming soon; Tokyo is still planning on hosting the Olympics this summer; WeWork is hoping for a smoother second initial public offering, and more. Plus, learn “hold firm.”

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Here’s an update on some recent lesson topics

Lesson summary

Hi there, welcome to Plain English lesson number 365. I’m Jeff; JR is the producer; and this full lesson can be found at PlainEnglish.com/365.

Today, we take a walk down memory lane and we revisit several lessons we’ve talked about in the past. I’ll give you the very latest on eight lessons. Like always, we have an English expression to talk about. And JR has a song of the week. Let’s get going!

Update on previous lessons

George Floyd trial

We start in Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed by police during an arrest last May. We talked about it in Lesson 267; a video showed a police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes, as bystanders pleaded for him to stop. Floyd died at the scene.

Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all three charges against him, including murder charges. During the trial, prosecutors argued that the officer’s actions went against police training and would not be considered justified. Prosecutors said Floyd was treated with “extreme cruelty” and that Chauvin “abused his position of authority.” They called 38 witnesses, including several bystanders, police trainers, and experts on crisis management.

The defense called seven witnesses and presented its case in just two days. They argued that the officer’s use of force was necessary and that Floyd died from causes other than the officer’s actions; the defense suggested the cause of death could have been a pre-existing heart condition or even carbon monoxide poisoning from the exhaust of a parked vehicle.

The trial lasted over a month. After closing arguments were complete, the jury deliberated for ten hours before returning a guilty verdict on all three charges. Over 20 million people watched the verdict on live television. The officer faces up to 40 years in prison.

VW bus on sale in 2023

Volkswagen announced that an all-electric passenger van will go on sale as soon as next year. You first heard about it back in Lesson 89, when it was first announced. The German carmaker confirmed that a production version would be ready for Europe in 2022 and the US in 2023.

Its design resembles the classic Microbus model from the 1950s through the 1970s. Like the original, this new version has a low boxy shape and is long enough for three rows of seats. But this version will be all electric, with a sleek design, tons of electronics inside, and a rectangular steering wheel. It will be available as a cargo van and a luxury passenger van in Europe; the US market will get the passenger version only.

Tokyo 2020

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will go on … in 2021. We talked about the decision to postpone the Olympics in Lesson 250. The countdown timer in downtown Tokyo was frozen, and volunteers had to cancel their plans to travel to Tokyo. Athletes’ schedules were interrupted.

But the games will go on, and Japan will be welcoming spectators to events this summer. Athletes will need negative COVID tests before entering the country and they will be tested at intervals. The time athletes stay in the Olympic Village has also been reduced. Athletes will not be required to have a vaccine to participate.

Spectators from outside Japan will not be allowed to enter the country to attend any events, so the fans in attendance will all be locals. Japan has lagged in delivery of the coronavirus vaccine: most people aren’t expected to receive their doses until late summer. Only a tiny fraction of the population has been vaccinated so far .

A recent poll showed about three quarters of Japanese residents supported postponing or cancelling the Olympics. But the organizing committee is holding firm . The Olympics are scheduled to open on July 23.

WeWork 2.0

After its disastrous first attempt at an initial public offering, the coworking firm WeWork is trying again. You might remember from Lesson 203 in October 2019 that potential investors balked when they saw WeWork’s required financial disclosures the first time around. When a private company wants to become public and sell shares on the stock market, it goes through an initial public offering. In the US, that means disclosing lots of financial metrics that had previously been private. When outside investors first saw this information, they realized WeWork was not as strong as it the CEO had claimed, and as the press had described. The whole process collapsed in a humiliating episode.

The company sacked its CEO and was rescued by a large investor. But now WeWork is back. After installing a completely new management team, changing its culture, and stabilizing its operations, WeWork is ready to try its hand at being a public company again.

But this time, it’s going to go public through a SPAC acquisition. SPAC is short for “special purpose acquisition company.” A SPAC is a public company that has no operations: it’s traded on the stock exchange, but has no underlying business. Its whole purpose is to buy a private business later. This lets a private business like WeWork become a public company without having to go through the expensive and rigorous process of an initial public offering.

Things could still go south . The company still has to disclose financial forecasts, just not in as much detail as before.

Quick hits

In Lesson 208, we talked about ghost kitchens . Those are commercial spaces where restauranteurs can prepare meals for delivery only, without ever having a sit-down restaurant. Ghost kitchens have increased in popularity in the post-COVID world, as food delivery has been in high demand.

In Lesson 141, we talked about Alex Trebek, the host of the quiz show Jeopardy! He died in November 2020, and now the producers are inviting a long list of guest hosts to audition to become the show’s permanent host. Guests to date include journalists Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper, and Bill Whitaker; other guest hosts include Dr. Oz, a television doctor and talk show host; Ken Jennings, a popular former contestant; and Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers football team.

You learned about space junk in Lesson 303. A giant piece of a former satellite was hurtling out of control and nobody knew where it would crash. Scientists said it could be as far north as New York and as far south as Wellington, New Zealand and it weighs several tons. In the end, it crashed in the Indian Ocean and didn’t cause any damage. It was the heaviest object to fall from space in 30 years.

Nomadland , which we talked about in Lesson 346 and 347, won Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards. Frances McDormand won the award for Best Actress.

Password manager update

And on a personal note, I promised you in Lesson 326 that I would let you know about my personal experience with password managers . In the lesson, I made a pretty convincing case that password managers are the way to keep track of all your login details. I switched to LastPass in December and it has been a success so far. My only problem is that I’ve probably only committed myself 75 percent to the password manager. But for this to be successful, you need to go all in. I still have addresses and credit cards in the browser. I just haven’t moved it all over. So that’s my advice: if you do a password manager, go all in. Do it 100 percent. But it is worth it, in my experience so far.

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Expression: Hold firm