'Post Office scandal is truly Kafkaesque'

Justice on the horizon for brave postmasters

The Daily Mail editorial 

"It can be cliched to describe a frightening, disorientating situation as Kafkaesque," says the Daily Mail's editorial. But "no word more perfectly sums up the horrendous ordeal" suffered by the sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of swindling money on the basis of evidence from the faulty Horizon IT system. A mass absolution is the "right" decision, but "until those responsible for this appalling scandal are finally held accountable, the victims will always be denied true justice".

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Europe is the sick man of the global economy

John Rapley on UnHerd

The "real sick man of the world economy at the moment is Europe", writes author and academic John Rapley for UnHerd. By the IMF's reckoning, "six of the world’s 10 worst-performing economies last year" are to be found on this continent. And "it looks to be a case of economic long Covid", with European governments now lacking funds to invest in "fixing the problems they had let fester before the pandemic".

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Why it's time to wear face masks again

Sean O'Grady for The Independent

Covid-19 "isn't over" and mandatory mask-wearing is "a common-sense, precautionary step that will probably slow the spread of the disease", says The Independent's Sean O'Grady. Even if "you yourself are asymptomatic", if wearing masks can "save a single person from long Covid per hospital per year, it is well worth everyone doing their bit".

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Worst impulses of populism won't be quelled by numbers and data

Finn McRedmond for The Irish Times

Like other countries, Ireland "is vulnerable to the populist wave cresting over Europe, to the increasing factionalism general to the Continent", writes Finn McRedmond for The Irish Times. "Weathering that storm requires careful positioning" ahead of the nation's next general election, with a focus on constant reminders that "perhaps your ideological opponent has a point, no matter how ugly it may appear to you". 

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