[News] Post Office Scandal -

[raymondo]

Regarding impoverishing the corrupt individuals.

The problem with the blood scandal was it centred on arrogant to evil ‘experts’ 40 years ago, the main doctor long dead. Then governments of all colours, probably influenced by cocky Whitehall NHS mandarins to ignore the noise and save £b’s. So no individuals to go after.

Hillsborough … the passage of corrupt decades plus weak manslaughter laws at the time, allowed the overtly corrupt to get away with it.

Water companies. Two issues .. the Australian former owners of Thames Water borrowed £10b’s then drew it as dividends, selling and running off. All the businesses should be state owned. But that won’t stop the second issue of leaks and disgraceful pollution because public owned Welsh Water have a shocking record too.

Starmer has an opportunity to deal with this to prevent future institutional corruption, wasted £b’s, theft of public money. Has he got the laser focus to do something about it? Please no more expensive commissions where the only winners are lawyers and the years roll by.

W ell that's cheered me up . Yes, Labour has a chance to set different standards...it won't be easy but it's a chance.

 

[Seagull58]

The Guardian wades in

Rev Vennells wept but couldn’t remember much about sending innocent subpostmasters to jail. All so long ago | Marina Hyde

As the former Post Office CEO faced the inquiry and her victims, she said ‘sorry’ a lot. About what? It was never really clear, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde

www.theguardian.com

 

[HyperTony]

Interestingly the opening statements of the inquiry revealed that the Fujitsu solution should have been discounted during the tender process. Obviously it was a cheaper solution so no suprise that it was selected.
Then when the project hit loads of issues and failed to deliver it was suggested to Tony Blair to pull the plug, with certain cabinet ministers recommending this. He didn't, evidence seems to suggest the cost to Fujitsu were 300m this and potential embarrassment to Japan/ threat to relations was...a factor.
A catalogue of incorrect decisions for over 20 years.

 

[rippleman]

Not even mentioned on R4 news headlines this morning.

But I did get to hear the PM say he was "extremely proud" of the achievements of the last 14 years of Tory government. By calling a GE now, at least he can abandon the legislation to end "no fault" evictions.

I'm looking forward to another day of Vennels being shamed and humilitated and exposed as the lying, corrupt, incompetent %&$( that she is. If she doesn't get banged up for her cover-up then we will know for sure that our "justice" system is nothing of the sort.

 

[CheeseRolls]

In other news.

2027 for any charges for Grenfell Tower
in case anyone is thinking justice can be swift.


In case anyone thinks Vennels might be the only one under scrutiny today.

 

[raymondo]

Many organisations in the public sector think they know better.

When confronted by external existing successful software their instant reaction is that doesn't do what we need it to do, rather than confronting the reality that what they are doing is wrong. I'm observed it for years.

Bad business analysis and the proliferation of "soft skills" IT jobs doesn't help either. Far too many in that arena have limited technical ability simply gathering "user requirements" that embed and systemise existing bad practice into software.

They measure their success on delivering what the users want rather than adequately questioning whether they needed it in the first place. I've long held the belief that as a business you'd be better off training the technical how the business works, rather than spending your time simply fooling the non technical how technology works.

I worked in that area for years, a hybrid business -IT person.
As you say, reengineering business processes is critical and difficult. When it's done correctly, the result is far more satisfying and beneficial all round than just slapping in a new IT system onto out of date processes.

 

[Weststander]

In other news.

2027 for any charges for Grenfell Tower
in case anyone is thinking justice can be swift.


In case anyone thinks Vennels might be the only one under scrutiny today.

It's very complex because of 20 entities under the spotlight, some lying ... contractors, consultants, suppliers, some are overseas.

I do think there'll be criminal prosecutions because explicit building codes were broken, also money saved by surreptitiously and illegally using cheaper products.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

In other news.

2027 for any charges for Grenfell Tower
in case anyone is thinking justice can be swift.


In case anyone thinks Vennels might be the only one under scrutiny today.

I don't recall seems to be the standard answer in most enquiries. A sort of mass outbreak of forgetfulness, or lost emails.

 

[raymondo]

It's very complex because of 20 entities under the spotlight, some lying ... contractors, consultants, suppliers, some are overseas.

I do think there'll be criminal prosecutions because explicit building codes were broken, also money saved by surreptitiously and illegally using cheaper products.

Do you think it will get down to the level of individuals or stop at 'company' level?

 

[Weststander]

Do you think it will get down to the level of individuals or stop at 'company' level?

My guess would be corporate manslaughter.

 

[raymondo]

My guess would be corporate manslaughter.

Yes, most likely.

 

[British Bulldog]

It's very painful viewing, people died, people went to prison and people went bankrupt. ffs stop hiding behind "I don't recall"

 

[fly high]

It's very painful viewing, people died, people went to prison and people went bankrupt. ffs stop hiding behind "I don't recall"

Plus 'I wasn't involved in that', 'I wasn't informed', 'They are not my words', 'It wasn't my decision' etc. She was the CEO FFS, what DID she do to earn her wodge of cash & bonuses?.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

My sister in law was one of 1,000’s working as faux ‘consultants’ (operating through the tax ruse of one man band limited companies) on Blair’s NHS IT system. As a project manager she grossed £200k a year from it. She was in charge of bods on £300 per day, this was the 00’s so incredible money in real terms.

Abandoned, with £13b of taxpayers money down the drain.

No wonder there was 'no money left'

 

[Weststander]

Getting to the crux of it, what an awful day for PV and Mr.Davis.

 

[Bodian]

Plus 'I wasn't involved in that', 'I wasn't informed', 'They are not my words', 'It wasn't my decision' etc. She was the CEO FFS, what DID she do to earn her wodge of cash & bonuses?.

She said at one point "I wouldn't use those words" about something in an email from her. Mr Beer simply said "You did".

 

[Worried Man Blues]

I liked the collective groan from the crowd when she started weeping again, and she got it ha ha

 

[Weststander]

I liked the collective groan from the crowd when she started weeping again, and she got it ha ha

Another was when the unruly crowd were ‘told off’ by the judge after she’d lied.

 

[Bodian]

In amongst all the despair and sadness this has all caused, there are a few moments that lift the spirit a bit - such as Mr Beer finding a way of saying 'that's complete bollocks' without actually saying it.

 

[Seagull58]

She said at one point "I wouldn't use those words" about something in an email from her. Mr Beer simply said "You did".

and then she cannot recall who first mentioned those words to her(unsafe witness) so that she subsequently used them in an email.
I've watched some of this on playback and it's staggering that she recalls being informed about a problem e.g. unsafe witness relating to undisclosed bugs, but did not make the completely obvious link that many, probably all, convictions were impacted by the bugs and the lying witness. It's blindingly obvious that she did, in fact, make the link but the executive decision was made to ignore it to protect the PO's reputation and her massive bonus. Of course, she doesn't want to admit that.