Per million inhabitants, Ireland receives more Nigerian asylum applications than any other country in the Eurostat dataset. In fact, many countries receive none at all. As far as I'm concerned, Ireland's number should be zero too.

The CCRC should be in no doubt that the eyes of the legal world are on them, especially in relation to how it deals with the clear miscarriage of justice in the Lucy Letby case. This high profile case is on their desk. Will they prove fit for purpose?

NEW from @TheEconomist: "It increasingly looks as if Lucy Letby's conviction was unsafe" "The case of a nurse jailed for killing babies exposes deep problems with British justice"

UK taxpayers were charged £201,013 for a study on the environmental impact of Star Wars. Here’s one researcher describing how to make R2D2’s journey “more eco-friendly”. “It’s like giving him a script rewrite for a better ending that’s kinder to our planet.”

What is striking is the utter lack of sceptical intelligence at the top of the CCRC. But I’m sure the croissants were good.

Quite apart from the multiple medical and statistical errors in the Lucy Letby case there are multiple breaches of human rights laws. From the start the presumption of innocence was kicked into the long grass by the police who briefed certain sections of the media long before the trial and the unrelenting negative press coverage clearly affected fairness of the proceedings and the impartiality of the Jury. Even the Judge in his instructions to the Jury referred to ‘how’ she killed babies and not ‘if’ before conviction. A prosecution barrister in the trial now represents families in the Thirlwall Inquiry, instructed by lawyers appointed by Thirlwall. Multiple case law examples of violations of the right to a fair trial can be found in ECHR guidance.

Gas bill for 2 months. How are people coping? VAT is €46 Carbon taxes are €46 (are global temperatures coming down yet??)