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.