Feels like this is worth its own thread as it is (rightly) dominating the news. A few initial thoughts:
- I suggest it would be good if we can avoid it becoming overly party political, as I think it is about deeper cultural issues in our public institutions, and I suspect all parties can claim to have played some part in bringing the issue to the fore, as well as having done things in the past that reflect less well.
- The key point for me is what seems to be a culture in the Post Office, that apparently went right to the top of wanting to conceal the issue with Horizon, even when that meant innocent people being convicted.
- I think this permeates our ruling classes more broadly - and I don't just mean politicians - I mean the top of the civil service and quasi governmental appointments (like the Post Office Executive) also. All too often these institutions let the public down and the people at the top are rewarded for failure (with money and honours). In these respects, as well as the fight for justice for the "little people" taking decades, there are obvious parallels with the Hillsborough disaster and subsequent cover up. We are entitled to ask what other scandals are currently being concealed ?
- The role of mainstream media. ITV deserve real credit for using drama to really bring this to life, but why did the MSM not highlight all this more overtly ? None of it was a secret.
- And what is the best way to deliver justice for the convicted sub post masters ? I favour the model where a law is passed to strike down all convictions of sub postmasters that could be affected by Horizon. The objection seems to be that one or two genuinely guilty cases might erroneously get let off - so be it. It would be unacceptable to make the vast majority of postmasters (who are obviously innocent) wait years to mitigate this small issue. there could be a provision in the new law to allow the CPS (and not the post office) to re-prosecute the genuinely guilty cases. I hope that what Sunak just announced will deliver this.
- I suggest it would be good if we can avoid it becoming overly party political, as I think it is about deeper cultural issues in our public institutions, and I suspect all parties can claim to have played some part in bringing the issue to the fore, as well as having done things in the past that reflect less well.
- The key point for me is what seems to be a culture in the Post Office, that apparently went right to the top of wanting to conceal the issue with Horizon, even when that meant innocent people being convicted.
- I think this permeates our ruling classes more broadly - and I don't just mean politicians - I mean the top of the civil service and quasi governmental appointments (like the Post Office Executive) also. All too often these institutions let the public down and the people at the top are rewarded for failure (with money and honours). In these respects, as well as the fight for justice for the "little people" taking decades, there are obvious parallels with the Hillsborough disaster and subsequent cover up. We are entitled to ask what other scandals are currently being concealed ?
- The role of mainstream media. ITV deserve real credit for using drama to really bring this to life, but why did the MSM not highlight all this more overtly ? None of it was a secret.
- And what is the best way to deliver justice for the convicted sub post masters ? I favour the model where a law is passed to strike down all convictions of sub postmasters that could be affected by Horizon. The objection seems to be that one or two genuinely guilty cases might erroneously get let off - so be it. It would be unacceptable to make the vast majority of postmasters (who are obviously innocent) wait years to mitigate this small issue. there could be a provision in the new law to allow the CPS (and not the post office) to re-prosecute the genuinely guilty cases. I hope that what Sunak just announced will deliver this.