One thing that did stand out for me is that the Met Police has been looking into potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice in relation to investigations and prosecutions carried out by the Post Office. Only two people have been interviewed under caution, but nobody has been arrested since the investigation was launched in January 2020.
Another scandal that nobody seems to know the true scale of - possibly because its subject matter is seedy - is Operation Ore - where more than 30 people committed suicide after being wrongly accused of downloading child porn, based on the stupidity of UK police, who acted blindly on evidence provided to them by US authorities without investigating it properly (the evidence was use of a payment provider which - among perfectly legitimate subscription services - also acted as a provider of payments for child porn websites). In a huge number of these cases, the credit cards used were stolen, but the police prosecuted the cardholder, and unlike the US cases, where checks were made on the material accessed by those charged, the UK police made no checks and just assumed that anybody using the provider was accessing child porn websites.
A litany of failures led not only to hundreds of people being wrongly charged with being paedophiles, ruining their lives (and leading to at least some of the aforementioned suicides) but also actual nonces NOT being charged because of the flawed manner in which the police used the evidence in earlier cases, leaving other cases as unprosecutable.
This and the previously mentioned contaminated blood scandal are just two examples of monstrous injustices that people are unaware of (there are thousands of others).
As we lurch into an age where lunatic conspiracy theories get equal billing with facts, and investigative journalism is dying a slow, agonising death, it means scandals like these and the Horizon debacle are much more likely in the future, and we are much less likely to hear about them.
Not to mention the tendency for people to unquestioningly accept the role and "evidence" provided by technology @Leroy Ambrose, with very few people actually wanting, or being able, to question what it is they are actually being presented with or what it means and doesn't mean.
As an ex employee of the Post Office nothing surprised me in the drama. After 28 years service I was treated badly. I had to take them to an employment tribunal , I won my case but it has left long lasting scars.
My mum was a sub-postmistress and often stressing over balancing the books. Fortunately was liable for thousands but certainly paid back money.
tell us more if you can .. was she involved in this particular clusterfuck and is she due for compensation ? .. I hope she didn't end up in Holloway, excuse the jest
This link gives a good overview of the earlier written and tv coverage of the Horizon scandal. It's had quite a lot tbh but only now seems to have got the traction it deserves.
I agree with those who say that there is culpability across all parties, not least because this was going on so long and thus stretches across governments of all three colours and shades thereof- so I'm getting a bit pissed off that only Ed Davey as a minister is being individually named, and at the same time the only concrete thing held against him other than general inaction is that according to @LenGlover (how are you, sir?) he refused to meet Alan Bates. If so that's fairly bad, and I would be pissed off with Davey, whom I've met when I was a constituent, if it's true. To help me, Len, can you provide a source for your claim, as I haven't seen it elsewhere?
However, at the moment I am especially pissed off with whoever it was who put forward and who signed off on Paula Vennells for a CBE. Don't forget this was happened only in 2020. By that time the case was widely known, and Vennells had already been paid off. Someone, and I'm sorry but they have to be Tories given the timing, decided to ignore all that noise and give the woman a medal. Who, and why? Got any ideas on that, anyone?
And btw that brings into even sharper relief the need for a root and branch reform of the Honours system overall, as if having Liz Truss brazenly dish out gongs to her few friends, after a catastrophic month long PM-ship, wasn't reason enough
Whilst doing some research on the case this afternoon, I tried to find out who recommended that PV be granted a CBE. All I could find was that a FOI request has been made, but that takes time, so we may not not know for a while.
I agree that the honours system is being abused, it needs reform, as does The House of Lords.
Whilst doing some research on the case this afternoon, I tried to find out who recommended that PV be granted a CBE. All I could find was that a FOI request has been made, but that takes time, so we may not not know for a while.
I agree that the honours system is being abused, it needs reform, as does The House of Lords.
This is a great podcast - it was made by an old colleague of mine, Nick Wallis, who was one of the few journalists on the case of this years ago (along with Richard Brooks at Private Eye and Rebecca Thompson at Computer Weekly). He was doing a freelance shift at a local BBC station in Surrey when one of the families got in touch and he stuck with the story from there.
Just watched it. Well worth your time. It's not about party political blame but not questioning stuff. Alan Bates must be a right pain in the backside but you want someone with that stubborn streak in your corner. I worked for Fujitsu at Footscray in the early 2000s. Not in the Horizon contract I might add. It was something they were very proud of. I have to say in the part I worked (supporting local govt )there would have been no tolerance of updating live systems while people were working on them . That was the most shocking but for me. It's something you'd never do.
I briefly worked for Fujitsu in Warrington. It was a horrible place to work - dreadful environment with a bunch of nasty old sh*thouses. I wasn't on public sector, I did firewall design and support for the private sector. They charged eye watering amounts for the most basic ruleset changes - dread to think how badly the public sector got ripped off. Lasted two months before I quit.
Quite a good article on those with questions to answer. Being a typical right wing rag though Rishi Sunak and all the other Tories have somehow avoided criticism. Typical client journalists.
Whilst doing some research on the case this afternoon, I tried to find out who recommended that PV be granted a CBE. All I could find was that a FOI request has been made, but that takes time, so we may not not know for a while.
I agree that the honours system is being abused, it needs reform, as does The House of Lords.
I think the case is out the bag now.
Is it, I can't find out who it was that awarded her the CBE for services to the Post Office and charity? If you know who it was, please can you let us all know. That person or body has a lot to answer for, as does the person who appointed her as Chair of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust on leaving the Post Office.
Quite a good article on those with questions to answer. Being a typical right wing rag though Rishi Sunak and all the other Tories have somehow avoided criticism. Typical client journalists.
There are questions to be asked of many people, but the fact is that only one political party has been in power for the whole of the period from 2010, and that is the Conservatives.
It is only now that the Government is doing something with any urgency, they have had plenty of time to put in place measures to quash the convictions of everyone wrongly accused by the Post Office, but it has taken a drama to push them into action. Compensation claims have been slow to settle.
Last year, I remember hearing a Tory minister, can't remember who, talking about the £600K compensation award and using the words, 'take it or leave it', that shows no compassion at all. £600K may sound a lot to ordinary people, but it represents about a year's salary for some of the Chief Executives of the Post Office.
Questions must be asked about links between Tory party donors and the Post Office, also the awarding of big bonuses and honours to people who lied and failed to do their job properly.
It is the Tory Government that is STILL awarding contracts to Fujitsu.
I briefly worked for Fujitsu in Warrington. It was a horrible place to work - dreadful environment with a bunch of nasty old sh*thouses. I wasn't on public sector, I did firewall design and support for the private sector. They charged eye watering amounts for the most basic ruleset changes - dread to think how badly the public sector got ripped off. Lasted two months before I quit.
A similar experience about 2007/8. I was put forward for a helpdesk role with Fujitsu at Sidcup. Even the agency were subtly warning me not to touch it with a bargepole. The only questioning I got on my skillset was when can you start? Needless to say....
Quite a good article on those with questions to answer. Being a typical right wing rag though Rishi Sunak and all the other Tories have somehow avoided criticism. Typical client journalists.
There are questions to be asked of many people, but the fact is that only one political party has been in power for the whole of the period from 2010, and that is the Conservatives.
It is only now that the Government is doing something with any urgency, they have had plenty of time to put in place measures to quash the convictions of everyone wrongly accused by the Post Office, but it has taken a drama to push them into action. Compensation claims have been slow to settle.
Last year, I remember hearing a Tory minister, can't remember who, talking about the £600K compensation award and using the words, 'take it or leave it', that shows no compassion at all. £600K may sound a lot to ordinary people, but it represents about a year's salary for some of the Chief Executives of the Post Office.
Questions must be asked about links between Tory party donors and the Post Office, also the awarding of big bonuses and honours to people who lied and failed to do their job properly.
It is the Tory Government that is STILL awarding contracts to Fujitsu.
You are determined to make this political when everyone seems in agreement this is a shocking situation that has taken too long to rectify.
But to the point above is it true that all Fujitsu contracts are signed off by a politician? I had imagined that in public procurement only the biggest / highest value items require the ‘minister’ level approvals. It is I thought civil servants approving many contracts ?
Public procurement requires a number of hoops and hurdles including due diligence of the bidding parties. I imagine Fujitsu have been careful to distinguish their involvement of delivering to agreed specifications and criteria versus the ‘business’ acceptance / approval and adoption of deliverables. It’s the corporate world we live in where outsourcing of elements blurs who is responsible. But accountability is surely with the Post Office management.
Quite a good article on those with questions to answer. Being a typical right wing rag though Rishi Sunak and all the other Tories have somehow avoided criticism. Typical client journalists.
There are questions to be asked of many people, but the fact is that only one political party has been in power for the whole of the period from 2010, and that is the Conservatives.
It is only now that the Government is doing something with any urgency, they have had plenty of time to put in place measures to quash the convictions of everyone wrongly accused by the Post Office, but it has taken a drama to push them into action. Compensation claims have been slow to settle.
Last year, I remember hearing a Tory minister, can't remember who, talking about the £600K compensation award and using the words, 'take it or leave it', that shows no compassion at all. £600K may sound a lot to ordinary people, but it represents about a year's salary for some of the Chief Executives of the Post Office.
Questions must be asked about links between Tory party donors and the Post Office, also the awarding of big bonuses and honours to people who lied and failed to do their job properly.
It is the Tory Government that is STILL awarding contracts to Fujitsu.
You are determined to make this political when everyone seems in agreement this is a shocking situation that has taken too long to rectify.
But to the point above is it true that all Fujitsu contracts are signed off by a politician? I had imagined that in public procurement only the biggest / highest value items require the ‘minister’ level approvals. It is I thought civil servants approving many contracts ?
Public procurement requires a number of hoops and hurdles including due diligence of the bidding parties. I imagine Fujitsu have been careful to distinguish their involvement of delivering to agreed specifications and criteria versus the ‘business’ acceptance / approval and adoption of deliverables. It’s the corporate world we live in where outsourcing of elements blurs who is responsible. But accountability is surely with the Post Office management.
Have you read Private Eye Nick? Under this government some contracts (especially since they got away with using covid to change the rules) undergo very little scrutiny.
Whilst doing some research on the case this afternoon, I tried to find out who recommended that PV be granted a CBE. All I could find was that a FOI request has been made, but that takes time, so we may not not know for a while.
I agree that the honours system is being abused, it needs reform, as does The House of Lords.
I think the case is out the bag now.
Is it, I can't find out who it was that awarded her the CBE for services to the Post Office and charity? If you know who it was, please can you let us all know. That person or body has a lot to answer for, as does the person who appointed her as Chair of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust on leaving the Post Office.
Lots of issues need addressing and I'm sure the CBE will be looked at but I think this is another example of side tracking the really important bits, compensate and exonerate all those who have been wronged. The hundreds of people who have been falsely accused are not the only victims, their families and no doubt some of their friends have also had their lives ruined by this scandal. God only knows how the powers that be can clear this mess up but I'm sure if they get they the honours committee to take a few gongs and titles back there will be a collective backslapping before moving on to the next outrage. As for moving from an NHS trust from the Post Office, amazing. Her talents like so many more like her, know no bounds. If only we could bottle these super talents.
Whilst doing some research on the case this afternoon, I tried to find out who recommended that PV be granted a CBE. All I could find was that a FOI request has been made, but that takes time, so we may not not know for a while.
I agree that the honours system is being abused, it needs reform, as does The House of Lords.
I think the case is out the bag now.
Is it, I can't find out who it was that awarded her the CBE for services to the Post Office and charity? If you know who it was, please can you let us all know. That person or body has a lot to answer for, as does the person who appointed her as Chair of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust on leaving the Post Office.
In his Newsnight interview last night, it seems the name of the CBE recommender is one of the main questions Alan Bates would like an answer to. He also suggested that Ed Davey is no more complicit in all of this than many others. Not that even that will stop the the desperado Tories (example front page of today’s Daily Mail) trying to shift the blame in his direction.
Quite a good article on those with questions to answer. Being a typical right wing rag though Rishi Sunak and all the other Tories have somehow avoided criticism. Typical client journalists.
There are questions to be asked of many people, but the fact is that only one political party has been in power for the whole of the period from 2010, and that is the Conservatives.
It is only now that the Government is doing something with any urgency, they have had plenty of time to put in place measures to quash the convictions of everyone wrongly accused by the Post Office, but it has taken a drama to push them into action. Compensation claims have been slow to settle.
Last year, I remember hearing a Tory minister, can't remember who, talking about the £600K compensation award and using the words, 'take it or leave it', that shows no compassion at all. £600K may sound a lot to ordinary people, but it represents about a year's salary for some of the Chief Executives of the Post Office.
Questions must be asked about links between Tory party donors and the Post Office, also the awarding of big bonuses and honours to people who lied and failed to do their job properly.
It is the Tory Government that is STILL awarding contracts to Fujitsu.
You are determined to make this political when everyone seems in agreement this is a shocking situation that has taken too long to rectify.
But to the point above is it true that all Fujitsu contracts are signed off by a politician? I had imagined that in public procurement only the biggest / highest value items require the ‘minister’ level approvals. It is I thought civil servants approving many contracts ?
Public procurement requires a number of hoops and hurdles including due diligence of the bidding parties. I imagine Fujitsu have been careful to distinguish their involvement of delivering to agreed specifications and criteria versus the ‘business’ acceptance / approval and adoption of deliverables. It’s the corporate world we live in where outsourcing of elements blurs who is responsible. But accountability is surely with the Post Office management.
Have you read Private Eye Nick? Under this government some contracts (especially since they got away with using covid to change the rules) undergo very little scrutiny.
Agreed mate ... but some posts on here are drifting towards pure Tory-bashing which may lead to this thread being shut down.
Not that I am averse to having a go at the Government as you know, but needs to be avoided here if we want to keep a valuable thread going.
Quite a good article on those with questions to answer. Being a typical right wing rag though Rishi Sunak and all the other Tories have somehow avoided criticism. Typical client journalists.
There are questions to be asked of many people, but the fact is that only one political party has been in power for the whole of the period from 2010, and that is the Conservatives.
It is only now that the Government is doing something with any urgency, they have had plenty of time to put in place measures to quash the convictions of everyone wrongly accused by the Post Office, but it has taken a drama to push them into action. Compensation claims have been slow to settle.
Last year, I remember hearing a Tory minister, can't remember who, talking about the £600K compensation award and using the words, 'take it or leave it', that shows no compassion at all. £600K may sound a lot to ordinary people, but it represents about a year's salary for some of the Chief Executives of the Post Office.
Questions must be asked about links between Tory party donors and the Post Office, also the awarding of big bonuses and honours to people who lied and failed to do their job properly.
It is the Tory Government that is STILL awarding contracts to Fujitsu.
You are determined to make this political when everyone seems in agreement this is a shocking situation that has taken too long to rectify.
But to the point above is it true that all Fujitsu contracts are signed off by a politician? I had imagined that in public procurement only the biggest / highest value items require the ‘minister’ level approvals. It is I thought civil servants approving many contracts ?
Public procurement requires a number of hoops and hurdles including due diligence of the bidding parties. I imagine Fujitsu have been careful to distinguish their involvement of delivering to agreed specifications and criteria versus the ‘business’ acceptance / approval and adoption of deliverables. It’s the corporate world we live in where outsourcing of elements blurs who is responsible. But accountability is surely with the Post Office management.
Have you read Private Eye Nick? Under this government some contracts (especially since they got away with using covid to change the rules) undergo very little scrutiny.
Private Eye has been doing amazing work uncovering the shenanigans surrounding the Tees Valley mayor, Ben Houchen, and land sales.
Houchen is now known as Baron Houchen of High Leven, of course.
Quite a good article on those with questions to answer. Being a typical right wing rag though Rishi Sunak and all the other Tories have somehow avoided criticism. Typical client journalists.
There are questions to be asked of many people, but the fact is that only one political party has been in power for the whole of the period from 2010, and that is the Conservatives.
It is only now that the Government is doing something with any urgency, they have had plenty of time to put in place measures to quash the convictions of everyone wrongly accused by the Post Office, but it has taken a drama to push them into action. Compensation claims have been slow to settle.
Last year, I remember hearing a Tory minister, can't remember who, talking about the £600K compensation award and using the words, 'take it or leave it', that shows no compassion at all. £600K may sound a lot to ordinary people, but it represents about a year's salary for some of the Chief Executives of the Post Office.
Questions must be asked about links between Tory party donors and the Post Office, also the awarding of big bonuses and honours to people who lied and failed to do their job properly.
It is the Tory Government that is STILL awarding contracts to Fujitsu.
You are determined to make this political when everyone seems in agreement this is a shocking situation that has taken too long to rectify.
But to the point above is it true that all Fujitsu contracts are signed off by a politician? I had imagined that in public procurement only the biggest / highest value items require the ‘minister’ level approvals. It is I thought civil servants approving many contracts ?
Public procurement requires a number of hoops and hurdles including due diligence of the bidding parties. I imagine Fujitsu have been careful to distinguish their involvement of delivering to agreed specifications and criteria versus the ‘business’ acceptance / approval and adoption of deliverables. It’s the corporate world we live in where outsourcing of elements blurs who is responsible. But accountability is surely with the Post Office management.
Have you read Private Eye Nick? Under this government some contracts (especially since they got away with using covid to change the rules) undergo very little scrutiny.
Agreed mate ... but some posts on here are drifting towards pure Tory-bashing which may lead to this thread being shut down.
Not that I am averse to having a go at the Government as you know, but needs to be avoided here if we want to keep a valuable thread going.
I think the key point here is that when people in power think they are untouchable, they will try all sorts. That applies to all parties - Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs column will give you chapter and verse on all that.
Quite a good article on those with questions to answer. Being a typical right wing rag though Rishi Sunak and all the other Tories have somehow avoided criticism. Typical client journalists.
There are questions to be asked of many people, but the fact is that only one political party has been in power for the whole of the period from 2010, and that is the Conservatives.
It is only now that the Government is doing something with any urgency, they have had plenty of time to put in place measures to quash the convictions of everyone wrongly accused by the Post Office, but it has taken a drama to push them into action. Compensation claims have been slow to settle.
Last year, I remember hearing a Tory minister, can't remember who, talking about the £600K compensation award and using the words, 'take it or leave it', that shows no compassion at all. £600K may sound a lot to ordinary people, but it represents about a year's salary for some of the Chief Executives of the Post Office.
Questions must be asked about links between Tory party donors and the Post Office, also the awarding of big bonuses and honours to people who lied and failed to do their job properly.
It is the Tory Government that is STILL awarding contracts to Fujitsu.
You are determined to make this political when everyone seems in agreement this is a shocking situation that has taken too long to rectify.
But to the point above is it true that all Fujitsu contracts are signed off by a politician? I had imagined that in public procurement only the biggest / highest value items require the ‘minister’ level approvals. It is I thought civil servants approving many contracts ?
Public procurement requires a number of hoops and hurdles including due diligence of the bidding parties. I imagine Fujitsu have been careful to distinguish their involvement of delivering to agreed specifications and criteria versus the ‘business’ acceptance / approval and adoption of deliverables. It’s the corporate world we live in where outsourcing of elements blurs who is responsible. But accountability is surely with the Post Office management.
Have you read Private Eye Nick? Under this government some contracts (especially since they got away with using covid to change the rules) undergo very little scrutiny.
Agreed mate ... but some posts on here are drifting towards pure Tory-bashing which may lead to this thread being shut down.
Not that I am averse to having a go at the Government as you know, but needs to be avoided here if we want to keep a valuable thread going.
I think the key point here is that when people in power think they are untouchable, they will try all sorts. That applies to all parties - Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs column will give you chapter and verse on all that.
Quite a good article on those with questions to answer. Being a typical right wing rag though Rishi Sunak and all the other Tories have somehow avoided criticism. Typical client journalists.
There are questions to be asked of many people, but the fact is that only one political party has been in power for the whole of the period from 2010, and that is the Conservatives.
It is only now that the Government is doing something with any urgency, they have had plenty of time to put in place measures to quash the convictions of everyone wrongly accused by the Post Office, but it has taken a drama to push them into action. Compensation claims have been slow to settle.
Last year, I remember hearing a Tory minister, can't remember who, talking about the £600K compensation award and using the words, 'take it or leave it', that shows no compassion at all. £600K may sound a lot to ordinary people, but it represents about a year's salary for some of the Chief Executives of the Post Office.
Questions must be asked about links between Tory party donors and the Post Office, also the awarding of big bonuses and honours to people who lied and failed to do their job properly.
It is the Tory Government that is STILL awarding contracts to Fujitsu.
You are determined to make this political when everyone seems in agreement this is a shocking situation that has taken too long to rectify.
But to the point above is it true that all Fujitsu contracts are signed off by a politician? I had imagined that in public procurement only the biggest / highest value items require the ‘minister’ level approvals. It is I thought civil servants approving many contracts ?
Public procurement requires a number of hoops and hurdles including due diligence of the bidding parties. I imagine Fujitsu have been careful to distinguish their involvement of delivering to agreed specifications and criteria versus the ‘business’ acceptance / approval and adoption of deliverables. It’s the corporate world we live in where outsourcing of elements blurs who is responsible. But accountability is surely with the Post Office management.
Have you read Private Eye Nick? Under this government some contracts (especially since they got away with using covid to change the rules) undergo very little scrutiny.
Agreed mate ... but some posts on here are drifting towards pure Tory-bashing which may lead to this thread being shut down.
Not that I am averse to having a go at the Government as you know, but needs to be avoided here if we want to keep a valuable thread going.
This seems to suggest that you cannot criticise the "government" because it suggests political bias if you do so. Heaven help us!
Comments
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/08/post-office-horizon-scandal-petition-cbe-paula-vennells
One thing that did stand out for me is that the Met Police has been looking into potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice in relation to investigations and prosecutions carried out by the Post Office. Only two people have been interviewed under caution, but nobody has been arrested since the investigation was launched in January 2020.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/21/post-office-almost-halves-amount-set-aside-for-horizon-it-scandal-compensation
The above article gives details of some of the Post Office's finances and how much has been set aside for compensation.
A litany of failures led not only to hundreds of people being wrongly charged with being paedophiles, ruining their lives (and leading to at least some of the aforementioned suicides) but also actual nonces NOT being charged because of the flawed manner in which the police used the evidence in earlier cases, leaving other cases as unprosecutable.
This and the previously mentioned contaminated blood scandal are just two examples of monstrous injustices that people are unaware of (there are thousands of others).
As we lurch into an age where lunatic conspiracy theories get equal billing with facts, and investigative journalism is dying a slow, agonising death, it means scandals like these and the Horizon debacle are much more likely in the future, and we are much less likely to hear about them.
Fortunately was liable for thousands but certainly paid back money.
https://www.postofficetrial.com/2020/06/credit-where-due.html?m=1
However, at the moment I am especially pissed off with whoever it was who put forward and who signed off on Paula Vennells for a CBE. Don't forget this was happened only in 2020. By that time the case was widely known, and Vennells had already been paid off. Someone, and I'm sorry but they have to be Tories given the timing, decided to ignore all that noise and give the woman a medal. Who, and why? Got any ideas on that, anyone?
And btw that brings into even sharper relief the need for a root and branch reform of the Honours system overall, as if having Liz Truss brazenly dish out gongs to her few friends, after a catastrophic month long PM-ship, wasn't reason enough
I agree that the honours system is being abused, it needs reform, as does The House of Lords.
He also wrote a book about it: https://amzn.to/4aRvJMo
Haven't seen the drama yet, but the impact it's had has been amazing.
I worked for Fujitsu at Footscray in the early 2000s. Not in the Horizon contract I might add. It was something they were very proud of. I have to say in the part I worked (supporting local govt )there would have been no tolerance of updating live systems while people were working on them . That was the most shocking but for me. It's something you'd never do.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/08/paula-vennells-to-ed-davey-the-people-with-questions-to-answer-on-the-post-office-scandal
It is only now that the Government is doing something with any urgency, they have had plenty of time to put in place measures to quash the convictions of everyone wrongly accused by the Post Office, but it has taken a drama to push them into action. Compensation claims have been slow to settle.
Last year, I remember hearing a Tory minister, can't remember who, talking about the £600K compensation award and using the words, 'take it or leave it', that shows no compassion at all. £600K may sound a lot to ordinary people, but it represents about a year's salary for some of the Chief Executives of the Post Office.
Questions must be asked about links between Tory party donors and the Post Office, also the awarding of big bonuses and honours to people who lied and failed to do their job properly.
It is the Tory Government that is STILL awarding contracts to Fujitsu.
A similar experience about 2007/8. I was put forward for a helpdesk role with Fujitsu at Sidcup. Even the agency were subtly warning me not to touch it with a bargepole. The only questioning I got on my skillset was when can you start? Needless to say....
Public procurement requires a number of hoops and hurdles including due diligence of the bidding parties. I imagine Fujitsu have been careful to distinguish their involvement of delivering to agreed specifications and criteria versus the ‘business’ acceptance / approval and adoption of deliverables. It’s the corporate world we live in where outsourcing of elements blurs who is responsible. But accountability is surely with the Post Office management.
The hundreds of people who have been falsely accused are not the only victims, their families and no doubt some of their friends have also had their lives ruined by this scandal. God only knows how the powers that be can clear this mess up but I'm sure if they get they the honours committee to take a few gongs and titles back there will be a collective backslapping before moving on to the next outrage.
As for moving from an NHS trust from the Post Office, amazing. Her talents like so many more like her, know no bounds. If only we could bottle these super talents.
Not that I am averse to having a go at the Government as you know, but needs to be avoided here if we want to keep a valuable thread going.
Houchen is now known as Baron Houchen of High Leven, of course.