Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has told the Horizon IT scandal inquiry she is “very, very sorry” for the suffering of hundreds of sub-postmasters who were prosecuted because of the faulty system. The former CEO, who ran the company between 2012 and 2019, is giving evidence over the next three days – the first time she has spoken publicly about the issue in nearly a decade. Ireland, Spain and Norway have announced that they will recognise an independent Palestinian state. Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez said the move is “not against Israel” and “not in favour of Hamas”, but “in favour of peace”. Israel said the announcement sent a message that “terrorism pays”, and recalled its ambassadors from all three countries. “Nightmare at 37,000ft,” says the Daily Mail, after severe turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight left a British man dead and seven other passengers critically injured. Geoff Kitchen, 73, died from a suspected heart attack after the London-Singapore flight plummeted 5,000ft in two minutes.

The New Yorker piece you’re not allowed to read

A New Yorker article concerning the trial of convicted baby-killer Lucy Letby has been geoblocked so it cannot be read in the UK, says Archie Bland in The Guardian. The piece is still in physical copies of the magazine. It has been mentioned in parliament: maverick MP David Davis said it “raised enormous concerns about both the logic and competence of the statistical evidence that was a central part of that trial”. And it is being widely discussed on social media. Yet if we linked to the article, described its contents or wrote anything else about it, our editor could be thrown in jail.

This “surreal situation” stems from a laudable idea: that courts should prevent the publication of anything that might sway a jury. (Letby is facing a retrial on one charge of attempted murder in June.) When the rule was introduced, in 1981, it was easy to enforce: with no internet, “publication” meant only British TV, radio, magazines and newspapers. But today’s jurors can access global media sources with a few taps of their phone, as well as any number of elaborate, evidence-free theories on social media. So a rule made to “insulate juries from undue influence” has instead created chaos: with responsible news providers “standing well back”, it is much easier to bump into irresponsible coverage. Other countries manage to treat court cases fairly without placing such draconian restrictions on the press. Why haven’t we caught up? “In any contest that pits the law against reality, the law is going to lose.”

The US had 19 storms that each caused over $1bn of insurance damage last year, says Bloomberg, up from only around one or two a year in the 1990s. But most of that damage wasn’t from high winds or heavy rains – according to the reinsurance giant Swiss Re, as much as 80% of the annual total is from giant hailstones. They’re no joke: baseball-sized ice rocks cracked car windscreens and took down power lines in Texas earlier this month; in March, “grapefruit-sized” hail that fell over Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri caused more than $4bn worth of damages.

A drum and bass track created by a group of children in Ireland has been hailed as “the song of the summer” after it went viral last week, racking up nearly nine million views on X. The Spark was made on a shoestring budget by a youth rap project in Cork, with around 30 youngsters aged between nine and 12 filming the rave-themed video in a day. Give the wholesome banger a listen here.

Divisive politics may be no bad thing

People overestimate the threat that political polarisation poses to democracy, says Tyler Cowen in The Generalist. America’s intellectual class has become “way too pessimistic”, in large part because it’s not used to politics being “rough and tumble”. But that’s been the norm for most of the history of democracy. Yes, sometimes it’s “unpleasant”, but highly polarised populations have their advantages: by shouting at each other, “we actually resolve things and eventually move forward”. For all the shouting, America’s economy is booming. The alternative, “being reasonable with your constituents”, is overrated. Just look at Germany, which has “non-ideological, non-polarised politics”. In recent years, they’ve got every decision wrong.

Berlin’s whole strategy of buying cheap energy from Russia to build things to sell to China was a massive blunder. They “bet most of their economy on it”, and both ends of the bet have broken down. They also have “no military whatsoever”, to the point where troops have sometimes had to pretend broomsticks were guns because they didn’t have rifles to train with. “Germany is truly screwed and won’t face up to it.” But when you listen to their politicians speak – “and I do understand German” – they always sound intelligent and reasonable. Frankly, “they could use a dose of polarisation”. The more you look at their politics, the more you end up liking America’s. “Slugging things out is underrated.”

🇵🇱🇫🇷 It’s not just an American phenomenon, says Janan Ganesh in the FT. Poland’s enrichment since joining the EU in 2004 has happened despite extensive “partisan subversion of national institutions”. France had 30 “glorious” years of economic performance after 1945, through a “presidential assassination attempt, a hideous war in Algeria, two republics, student riots” and a national atmosphere so raw that a film about Nazi collaboration was banned. Such political strife should have suppressed the nation’s animal spirits. “Instead, France achieved a sort of affluent chaos.”

Dutch farmers have created the world’s first pig’s milk ice cream, says The Times. The new delicacy was whipped up by Erik Stegink on his farm in the east of the Netherlands, where he also pioneered pig’s cheese back in 2015. It’s a long process: his 250 sows must be milked by hand as pig-milking machinery hasn’t yet been developed. The end product, dubbed “pork ice cream”, is fattier than the regular stuff – pig’s milk has 8.5% fat compared to 3.5% in cow’s milk – but has been described as “nice and creamy”, with a stronger, somewhat gamey flavour.

It’s a BORG, or “blackout rage gallon”, says CNN, a new booze trend that’s taking off among Gen Zs in the US. According to the National Capital Poison Centre in Washington DC, the concoction is prepared in a gallon-sized jug, and contains vodka or another spirit, water, a “flavour enhancer” like squash, and an electrolyte powder. It’s typically drunk at outside day parties, “otherwise known as darties”.