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- The Know Daily - Tuesday 19 September 2023
The Know Daily - Tuesday 19 September 2023
📮 Compensation for postmasters, possible life on a distant planet + YouTube takes action against Russell Brand.
Tuesday 19 September ∙ Read in 5m 42s ∙ Listening to Arlo Parks
📮 Post Office payouts: Victims of the Horizon software scandal will be offered a fixed sum of £600,000 in compensation.
🪐 Is anybody out there?: Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope may have uncovered signs of life on a distant planet orbiting another star.
👣 WFH cuts your carbon footprint: Full-time remote workers produce less than half of the emissions of office workers, a new US study has found.
From March next year, residents of the Orkney islands - located off Scotland’s northeastern coast - will be able to commute via electric ferries. The battery-powered hydrofoil ferries will run on two key inter-island routes, in a UK government-funded trial aimed at cutting carbon emissions.
📮 Post Office payouts
Post Office workers who have had wrongful convictions for theft overturned will be offered a fixed sum of £600,000, as the government aims to speed up compensation for victims of the Horizon software scandal.
Remind me about the scandal?
The Horizon scandal resulted in more than 700 postmasters being prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting between 1999 and 2015, because of “faulty accounting software” that led to some “filing shortfalls” in their returns, said The Guardian.
The scandal has been described as “the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history”. To this date, 86 people have had their wrongful convictions overturned and £21 million has been paid in compensation.
Why is the government offering this sum now?
Speaking in the Commons on Monday, business minister Kevin Hollinrake said the offer of £600,000 was about “righting a wrong” - but he also acknowledged that the figure would not be enough for some people. “If you’ve spent time in jail, if you lost your house, if your marriage has failed [...] no amount of money will ever be enough,” he added.
Those who believe their claim is worth more than £600,000 can continue with the existing legal process, and the government will continue to pay all “reasonable” legal fees.
What do the victims make of it?
Neil Hudgell, the solicitor representing the majority of the 86 victims who had their convictions overturned, told the BBC that the £600,000 compensation offer was “a hugely attractive carrot being dangled”.
Hudgell said that while the sum does not represent “full and fair” compensation for some, others will likely accept it in order to enjoy “peace” after retirement.
🙋♀️ TRIVIA TIME
A portrait of a young girl has sold for more than £1,680 in an online auction - after twice being returned to a charity shop for what reason?
A) It was believed to be haunted
B) Its former owners found it too ugly
C) The paint was thought to cause allergies
Scroll to the bottom for the answer.
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