Good morning from a blowy Cramond near Edinburgh. I am sorry I will not be able to cover the fourth day of Gareth Jenkins’ evidence at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry today. It has already begun. You can watch it here:
One very useful tool in the YouTube box is the playback speed option. I use it regularly and I don’t think a huge number of people are aware of it.
It basically allows you vary the pace of what you’re watching, all the way up to double speed. Because people tend to speak slowly at an inquiry, double speed is fine.
If you pick up this email at 11.30am and you’re stuck between watching the inquiry from the start of the day or leaping in live – you can do both.
Click on the link above and hover over the picture – this will bring up the screen icons. Drag the red bar running along the bottom of the screen to the beginning of proceedings. Go to the settings click wheel below the red bar (pictured). Click on it once and from the menu choose playback speed.
When that sub-menu opens up, scroll down to speed 2, click on that and – bingo! You are now watching the inquiry at double speed. This means that you can watch three hours over 90 minutes and be up to speed with the inquiry by the time it breaks for lunch at 1pm!
Forgive me if this is egg-sucking for the many tech-savvy secret-emailers who walk among us, but it was a revelation when I first came across it (during Depp v Heard in Virginia) and it may be a game-changer for you.
Yesterday’s evidence
I managed to watch most of the inquiry yesterday. Whilst being thrown about on a suburban bus between Walton-on-Thames and Heathrow and being thrown up into the air on a very short plane ride, I managed to write “Gareth Jenkins Day 3: Criminally Stupid or Holy Fool?“
I did miss one line, which the Guardian helpfully picked up on – Jenkins’ description of Seema Misra as “jumping on the bandwagon” in blaming Horizon for the discrepancies in her branch accounts. Read it here: “Ex-Fujitsu engineer apologises at Post Office inquiry over ‘bandwagon’ claim“
The BBC have gone for “IT expert ‘pressurised’ by Post Office over evidence“
Bates wins Computer Weekly award…
Sir Alan Bates has won Computer Weekly’s UKTech50 award for being “the UK’s most influential person in tech”. In a three minute video acceptance speech (which you can watch here) he said he was “somewhat surprised” to win the award given it is usually given to “leaders in real technology – the hands-on people – rather than people like myself”.
He said “hopefully what has gone on with the Post Office and the appalling way that people have been treated, hopefully that won’t be repeated in any other organisation going forward. People in charge of these types of organisations have got to accept responsibility for what they’ve done. They really do.”
Well done, Sir Alan. I am certain his work and its consequences will have a real impact on the way that tech people think about their personal and corporate responsibilities, hopefully forever.
Computer Weekly wins Orwell award
Another award! This time to Computer Weekly from the Orwell foundation for breaking the Post Office story and its dogged pursuit of the truth for 15 years. That is a big deal for any journalist and a serious mark of respect. Congrats to Rebecca, Tony, Karl, Bryan and all involved. A fantastic achievement for creating a fantastic body of work with quite a few significant scoops along the way.
Edinburgh tonight
As I think I may have mentioned before (hem hem), I will be at Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh at around 7pm tonight talking about the Post Office scandal. They’re selling tickets for price of the book, which also gets you a free book (clever, huh?) and you can find out more here.
It is the first time I’ve spoken in Scotland. It would be great to see you if you can make it.
Okay – that’s me. Thanks and welcome to all the new secret emailers. I’ll be back at the Inquiry on Tuesday to cover the evidence of Alice Perkins’ successor as Chair of the Post Office, Tim Parker.
Have a great weekend, whatever you’re doing.
Nick