A Very Good Read
Hi everyone
Hope you had a good summer. I went on holiday to France and spent my days reading Jo Hamilton’s book and working on my own.
More on Jo’s book in a moment. I want to begin this email proper by extending the warmest of welcomes to a lot of people interested in my gender work, who have been added to the Post Office secret mailing list out of technical necessity.
To cut a long story short, I was live-tweeting day one of the Graham Linehan trial (which blew out one writing day). In doing so I realised there was some interest in my output. I thought if I could do a bit of crowdfunding on the evening of day one, I could justify blowing out another day of writing and come back for day two.
Whatever
Because it was late, I was tired and I didn’t have the technical know-how to split things up on my tip jar web page, I said to everyone who donated I would add them both to my GenderBlog newsletter and this Post Office newsletter. So thank you to all the recent GenderBlog subscribers, you are very welcome here on Secret Email island.
This slightly awkward situation has now been resolved.
Earlier this week, Andrew, Wizard of the Dark Arts, got in touch and helped me split my tip jars in two. I now have a separate donation portal for my work on gender, and my original tip jar, which exists to fund my work on the Post Office scandal, remains here.
Speaking of being here…
Why Are You Here, Mrs Hamilton?
… is a superb book. Another easy read which explains in detail just what Jo Hamilton went through as the Post Office did its best to give her a criminal conviction and ruin her life. The great thing about Jo’s book is how her personality shines through, which explains why so many august and lovely people reached out to help her.
In Jo’s writing, you really get to understand what it’s like trying to deal with a situation completely spinning away from your control and how a criminal conviction affects every single aspect of your life.
Why Are You Here... is a worthy addition to a growing canon of books written by former Subpostmasters, starting with Noel Thomas’ memoir in Welsh and English (the latter crowdfunded mainly by subscribers to this newsletter) plus Scott Darlington’s recent brilliant polemic Signed Sealed Destroyed.
I hope there will continue to be more books published by people who went through this awfulness. Reading their experiences in their own words makes everything hit home. Jo’s book is highly recommended.
Just to mark your card, there are two more Post Office books (other than mine) coming soon. I don’t have links to either yet, but they’re definitely happening:
Gimme Moorhead
The first is from Professor Richard Moorhead, based on his famous 2024 Hamlyn lectures. I am guessing this book might be mainly for legal scholars (when I attended his the London leg of Richard’s lecture series last year, a lot of what he said sailed well over my head), but I know you are a highbrow bunch so it might appeal. Richard is a lovely man and a great communicator so I am hopeful I will understand the book when it comes out.
The other book is about the law as it relates to the Post Office scandal (or vice versa). It’s called A Very Legal Scandal and it is written by the Law Society Gazette’s John Hyde. John is a proper hack who I spent many hours sitting alongside at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry/ I can’t wait to see what he has to say about it all. Again – it’s very early days so there is, as yet, no link available, but consider your cards marked. Both the above will be worth investigating.
Where’s your book got to, Wallis?
Bless you. I am currently in October 2019, reading (and writing) about what the Post Office was up to whilst trying to appeal the Common Issues judgment and working on a possible settlement. It’s still obvious from the various documents thrown up by the inquiry that the Post Office board didn’t get it. They didn’t understand the damage they’d caused, nor the fact that because they had failed to properly address the concerns of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance and various parliamentarians (led by Lord Arbuthnot), their organisation was (by Oct 2019) fatally holed by a mixture of mendacity, ignorance, malevolence and hubris. It’s like watching people standing on a burning platform wondering when someone’s going to switch the sprinklers on.
Only five more years to go. I’ve now written 120,000 words which is 30,000 over target. I reckon I’ll get to around 135,000 and then I’ll have to do some considerable subbing. I did over-write Horizon’s pre-rollout years but the documents are so amazing I couldn’t help myself. Here’s a paragraph which will definitely stay in:
The technical men inside the Post Office’s IT team had no faith in Horizon. John Meagher was part of Jeremy Folkes’ assurance team. He remembers an office vote on whether they should keep the system. He voted against. “I felt we were on a death march,” he said “and I didn’t see it ending well.”
As for the cover-up years, I’ve always been wary of singling Paula Vennells out for criticism, as the damage was done by so many people. All I can say is that the contemporaneous internal emails don’t lie. Her own words will be her legacy.
Current scheduled publication month for The Great Post Office Cover-Up – March 2026.
The Hack
To see what happens to him in daylight, I invited web guru Andrew along to BAFTA (no, I’m not a member either) on Thursday morning for a screening of The Hack, a seven-part ITV drama being broadcast the week after next about the phone-hacking scandal, made by Patrick Spence, executive producer of Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
The Hack stars David Tennant, Robert Carlyle and Toby Jones. As many people of this parish know, Toby Jones played Alan Bates in Mr Bates. In The Hack he plays the former editor of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger.
During the Q&A after the screening, Alan Rusbridger was asked how he felt about seeing himself being played on television. Rusbridger said he thought Toby Jones did a fine line in playing brilliant heroes called Alan who went on to get knighted for their work, adding that he felt sure once The Hack had been broadcast to the nation, it was only a matter of time.
This was, for the record, a droll joke, but I have to say The Hack is quite something. It’s about journalism, murder and the failures of the state, and it’s very good – written by the chap who wrote Adolescence, which, like Mr Bates, seemed to do quite well.
News from Nowhere
The scandal continues to play out in the news media – here are a crop of recent-ish stories which will bring you up to speed:
The extraordinary Roopie Gill reopens her Post Office after her fraud conviction was quashed. I love Roopie and her partner Mani. Roopie is amazing and incredibly brave. I hope it works out.
Post Office Horizon accounts are still a mess and replacement system is years away – Computer Weekly
Oldest Post Office scandal victim questions PM’s dismissal of minister – 92 year old Betty Brown strikes again – BBC
And just because I was writing about him this week and realised there was no way all this detail was going to make the cut, do have a read of a bit of Post Office Scandal inquiry archive: Ben Foat: On His Terms
Thanks
I am sorry these emails have been sporadic. As soon as I finish the book and things ramp up again I’ll start putting out more newsletters on this and the gender wars.
If you’re interested in the gender stuff and haven’t already subscribed to the newsletter, you can do so here. The gender newsletters are just as sporadic as the Post Office ones at the moment, but again I will be ramping them up as soon as my book is finished. There is a lot of work to do.
Bon chance, mes amis
Nick
I am (still) writing a new book about the Post Office scandal called The Great Post Office Cover-Up. You can put your money down now for a copy which will arrive after Sir Wyn Williams’ final report. Buying a pre-publication copy of the hardback (£15 + P&P) or paperback (£10 + P&P) will be cheaper than the post publication price, help support an independent publisher (by buying direct) and offer you the opportunity to join my secret email mailing list. For more info about the book, click here!