The Know Daily - Monday 8 January 2024

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Fourteen newly discovered species of wasps have been given the group name of “Dalek” after the villains in Doctor Who, to mark the show’s 60th anniversary. “I thought it was a good name… and a bit of fun having been a big fan of Doctor Who in my early years,” said Dr John Noyes, a scientific associate at London’s Natural History Museum, which documented the new species. 

📮 Post Office under pressure 

The justice secretary is exploring ways to clear the names of hundreds of Post Office workers who were unjustly prosecuted as part of the Horizon IT scandal.

Remind me what happened?
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 postmasters were prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting because of “faulty accounting software” that led to some “filing shortfalls” in their returns, explained The Guardian.

Despite being seen as “the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history”, fewer than 100 people have had their convictions quashed to date.

Why is this story back in the headlines?
It’s partly down to a recent ITV mini-series called Mr Bates vs the Post Office: The Real Story, which has stirred public anger and fuelled demands for the government to take action.

MPs are expected to raise the issue when they return to parliament later today - with PM Rishi Sunak telling the BBC on Sunday that it was correct for the government to “try to make this right for the people who were so wrongfully treated”. 

What could justice look like?
The justice secretary Alex Chalk is meeting with Kevin Hollinrake, the minister for the Post Office, later today, to explore with government lawyers ways to speed up the process of exonerating those who have been wrongly convicted.

Chalk will also look at whether the Post Office “can be stripped of its role in the appeals process”, reported The Times.

What else is going on?
In September last year, the government announced a new fixed payment sum for victims of the scandal. At the time, critics said this did not amount to “full and fair” compensation for some - and the government has repeatedly faced calls to speed up the process.

🤑 The “side hustle” tax, explained

Second-hand clothes sellers could face tougher tax rules this year, as HMRC looks to clamp down on side hustles.

Go on…
From 1 January, platforms such as Vinted and Etsy are required to routinely collect and share details of transactions with the tax authorities, under new rules aimed at allowing HMRC to “home in on anyone who should be declaring the extra income but isn’t”, said the BBC.

While online sellers currently have a tax-free allowance of around £1,000 a year, anyone who earns above this should register as self-employed and file a tax return. Airbnb will also be required to share this data with HMRC, as will food delivery and taxi hire services.

What’s behind the move?
The UK government said the new rules will help it “bear down on tax evasion”, with an HMRC spokesperson adding that it would “ensure a level playing field” for all taxpayers.

How’s the clampdown gone down?
Not particularly well, if social media is anything to go by. “Surely taxing millionaires would be more profitable than Sharon’s used tops?,” posted one Twitter/X user.

But another cited the furore as an example of how “misinformation spreads so quickly” on social media. “The tax man is not coming after you for clearing out your clothes on vinted,” they said. 

Okay - so what’s the takeaway?
If you’re making a little bit of extra cash from clearing out your closet from time to time, you’re unlikely to be impacted. However, those earning below the £1,000 threshold are still advised to “keep records” in case they are asked for them, said The Independent.

Check out the official government guidance here.

🚆 Tube strike called off: A tube strike which was meant to run from today until Thursday was cancelled on Sunday following last-minute talks between the RMT union and TfL.

💅 Golden Globes 2024: The first major red carpet event of the year took place in Beverly Hills last night - and stars including Margot Robbie, Taylor Swift, Timothée Chalamet and Barry Keoghan certainly dressed to impress…

🦎 Cold-blooded crime: Hundreds of lizards worth around $1.2m have been seized by police across Sydney, Australia, who found the creatures concealed in “chip packets, handbags and cereal containers bound for Hong Kong”.

🚀 Peregrine Mission-1: The first US spacecraft headed to the moon’s surface since Apollo 17 in 1972 launched on schedule this morning and has completed the initial stages of its flight.

🐁 A “Ratatouille-style scene”: Night vision footage taken by a retired postman has gone viral for capturing a mouse tidying up items in a shed almost every night for two months.

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Trivia answer: B) Brno, located in South Moravia in the Czech Republic, has been named the European Capital of Christmas for 2024 - and from looking at these photos, you can understand why…

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