Quite a lot to tell you about…
Hi all
Hope you had a good summer. I never thought I might be a guest on Jeremy Kyle. There were no DNA tests, and everyone involved seemed to get on quite well. He’s changed.
Jeremy now hosts a current affairs show on Talk TV, and I was invited alongside Nicki Arch, Janet Skinner, Varchas Patel, Lord Arbuthnot and Bryan Glick to contribute. It was great to spend some time in the green room chatting about the scandal with those who’ve lived it and those who have worked in their own way to make a difference. Watch it all here.
Has the Met left racism behind?
I’ve had a funny old time of it with the Met Police over summer and them old racist ID codes. More here.
The Simmons and Simmons report
I don’t have the time or energy to fisk the Simmons and Simmons report into the Post Office bonus fiasco. Actually, it’s worse than that. I think I am numb with anger.
There are essays to be written about modern corporate venality and just how inappropriate this bonus scheme was.
Then there are those basic “one job” directors (and govt civil servants) earning more money than most of us can dream of, who failed to spot the problem as it sat there in plain sight.
Then there is the Burton report (criticised by Simmons and Simmons) which had all the intellectual heft of a potato.
The government has accepted the Simmons report, which makes a few criticisms, without naming names, ensuring people with a desperate lack of leadership, accountability and expertise can continue percolating around the highest echelons of society knowing for sure, their ineptitude is untouchable.
Read hands a bit back
When the Simmons report came out, the Post Office Chairman used it as justification for not giving back the entirety of the bonuses related to the Inquiry.
As soon as the Chair of the Business Select Committee indicated that he didn’t see this as the end of the matter, the PO caved and Read announced he’d be giving back the entirety of his Inquiry-related bonus.
No word about the rest of the Post Office’s senior leadership team and their corporate troughing. I expect we’ll hear nothing and the DBT committee will let the matter drop.
Personal news
For lots of different reasons, including the possibility of an actual job, I have stopped taking donations for my work on the Post Office scandal.
I am hoping I will have some news for you soon, but I will continue to work on this newsletter in my free time and I also have a couple of big broadcast commissions to deal with.
There are still ways to sign up, mainly by buying The Great Post Office Scandal direct from my publisher, or making a donation to the Horizon Scandal Fund, but essentially it means the secret email will become sporadic. I hope that does not disappoint.
HSF
The founding directors of Bath Publishing, David Chaplin and Helen Lacey, are once more running the Bath Half Marathon in aid of the Horizon Scandal Fund.
I hope this year their improved fitness will ensure they feel a lot better at the end of the race and don’t need immediate medical intervention. This is what they looked like at the end of the last one:
They’ll probably survive another year. Link to follow in the next newsletter.
Mental Health
A major study into the mental health impacts of being accused of a crime you didn’t commit (with specific regard to the Post Office Scandal) has been published. Prof Richard Moorhead has had some involvement and I am grateful to him for alerting me to it.
Stay well and thanks for your continued support.
Nick