The desire to seek restitution from those who have harmed or wronged us is normal. Our instinct for justice is inbuilt. Yet in recent decades there has emerged in the West a perverse distortion of this impulse: the demand for financial compensation from people who have done no wrong, made by people who have not been wronged. Long-established campaigns calling on Britain to pay reparations for slavery are founded on this strange premise, and the latest figure join their ranks is Sir Lenny Henry.

The comedian and actor makes his case in a new book, The Big Payback , co-authored with Marcus Walker, a television executive and charity boss. He argues for the UK to hand over £18 trillion in compensatory payments. As reported in this morning’s Daily Telegraph , Sir Lenny not only calls for

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