Come to Dumfries, the water’s lovely…

Hello everyone

I am trying not to go out much, but there are a couple of events I felt I could not turn down, and the first is happening next weekend. If you know anyone in Ayrshire, Glasgow or the North West of England, please do let them know about the Boswell Book Festival which is being held at Dumfries House from Fri 9th to Sun 11th of May. Yes, that’s this weekend. I know, I should have told you sooner.

On Saturday lunchtime (1.30pm exactly to be precise) at the “Bozzyfest” I’ll be speaking alongside Rab Thomson from Alva, Clackmannanshire. Rab is a former Subpostmaster who was convicted of embezzlement using Horizon evidence.

Rab had his conviction quashed and has now launched a support group specifically for Scottish Subpostmasters who might not be coming forward to claim the compensation they are due, with many suffering in silence for years.

This is an interview I did with the Sunday Post to promote the festival. You can buy tickets to our talk here.

Fleet Street on Friday 16 May

On Friday 16 May I’ll be speaking at 6.15pm at the inaugural Fleet Street Quarter Festival of Words alongside Caroline Wheeler. Caroline wrote the book Death in the Blood after working for years covering the infected blood scandal. We are going to be talking about long-form journalism as a hopefully useful medium.

There are so many parallels between the infected blood disaster and the Post Office scandal I am sure it will make for a fascinating hour. I’m certainly looking forward to meeting Caroline, as I am Rab on Saturday. If you are able to come along to either event I would be deeply grateful. Tickets for the London discussion can be found here.

Speaking of books…

I am excited to tell you the release date for Jo Hamilton OBE’s “Why Are You Here, Mrs Hamilton?: The Post Office Scandal and My Extraordinary Fight for Justice” is 29 June 2025. Pre-order here now!

I am also fairly sure another high-profile Subpostmaster will be releasing their self-published book soon. As soon as I have a release date or have been informed it is on sale, I’ll send out another newsletter.

I am sorry to say that the first Postmaster to publish a memoir, Noel Thomas (pictured in the background on the cover of Jo’s book above with both arms in the air), is a bit poorly at the moment having been diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus.

Many of the people who read this newsletter will have contributed to the process which saw Noel’s book “Llythyr Noel: Bai ar Gam gan y“, translated into English – “The Stamp of Innocence“.

Noel’s daughter Sian, who co-wrote their book, announced the news on X on 23 April – four years to the day after Noel’s conviction was quashed. I am sure you will all join me in wishing Noel and his family the very best.

A compensation take

We recently had a Horizon Scandal Fund trustees meeting where we were able to consider more applications for help. As you can imagine, with more people getting their compensation claims settled, there are fewer requests for grants from the fund, but we are still getting legitimate (and at times distressing) requests for help. Being a trustee on the fund has been a sobering and educative process.

We are obviously not giving grants on anything like the same scale as the government are administering to compensation claimants, and, of course, we are not dealing with anything like the same number, but when an application comes in, we deal with it quickly.

We are not slapdash – we do our due diligence, ask for corroborating information and ensure that we have a paper trail, so that we can say we took reasonable steps to confirm an application is genuine and that the grant was spent properly.

We have a knowledgable Subpostmaster (who still temps) as a trustee, someone directly affected by the scandal, and some bright, empathetic people who know how to process information quickly and efficiently. We have refused grants where we are not sure if an application is genuine or sufficiently made out, but we help people, many of whom are traumatised, by being as friendly and approachable as we can possibly be.

I do not see why the same principles cannot apply to the government compensation schemes. They have well paid lawyers and civil servants processing claims, which are often corroborated with significant paperwork. It’s not difficult to put a human face on things and move swiftly. Where there is a will there’s a way.

Yet for many people with complex claims (ie the people you could argue were most badly hurt by the Post Office), the compensation battle goes on. Chris Head OBE has gone fully public with his particular case on X and he is working tirelessly behind the scenes to help other people who have got in touch to request his help. I too am kept in the loop by a number of individuals and their lawyers who are beyond frustrated with the niggly, slow and at times barely competent governmental approach to compensation. It’s hard to believe this isn’t deliberate.

Having just read Caroline Wheeler’s Death in the Blood, it seems the state is, at best, incapable of operating effectively to put wrongs right, even when the wrongs have been proven by inquiries or courts.

Happier news

Here are three lovely pictures of Lee Castleton, Seema Misra and Chris Head all receiving their OBEs from Princess Anne at Windsor Castle on 16 April.

Lee’s former experience in the RAF stood him in good stead – look at that exemplary military bearing.

Seema said she was: “Grateful, honoured, and deeply humbled” by the experience and it was “a moment I’ll cherish forever”.

I know that everyone touched by this scandal would far rather it hadn’t happened, and I know there are many campaigning Subpostmasters who have not yet been honoured for their work, but I am delighted for every former Subpostmaster who has been recognised by the state and for any Subpostmasters who were approached but turned down an honour. It’s a personal thing, and each to their own.

Read more about Lee, Seema and Chris’s day here.

How’s the book I’ve already paid for going, Nick?

Glad you asked. With regards to writing The Great Post Office Cover-Up, I having managed to up the word count to the extent I have more than half a book written, so I am now judging my work rate by the years I have covered. I have done 1996 to 2010, so only 15 more to go. Going forward I want to get to the end of a year each week, which is an impossible dream, but you have to dream the impossible dream in order to be crushed by the mundane reality.

As predicted, this has become an exercise in what to leave out. Until I have a complete first draft I am reluctant to ignore anything, as I want to lay the story out in “full” first so I know what I’ve got. Then the first editing pass will be to remove all the stuff which isn’t necessary to making the book work as a narrative.

I am currently writing up what happened inside the Post Office during David Smith’s short but disastrous tenure as Post Office Managing Director. Smith’s regime began in April 2010 – one of the first things he did was promote Paula Vennells to Chief Operating Officer. One of the last significant things he did (in October 2010) was congratulate everyone for securing the conviction of Seema Misra. In between he commissioned the infamous Ismay report. By the end of the year Paula Vennells was Managing Director. Things did not improve from there.

Writing will be slow this week, I did Times Radio breakfast this morning which meant a lovely 3am alarm call, I am covering another show on Wednesday evening, so that’s two days of Not Writing. I am travelling up to Scotland for the Boswell Book Festival on Friday so that’s another day out of the window, and I am keeping food on the table by prepping for and attending the occasional corporate event, which will wipe me out for three days next week.

I know there are many good people reading this newsletter who have already parted with their cold hard cash to get an advance copy of The Great Post Office Cover-Up and will be keen to read it as soon as possible. I promise we are going to do everything we can to turn it round within weeks of the Post Office Inquiry reporting. If that happens before summer, you’ll get your book just after summer. If that happens immediately after summer, we’ll try to get the book out before Christmas. I hope you understand the logic in waiting for Sir Wyn Williams’ report, but I do also appreciate your patience.

Gah – sorry for the lengthy newsletter – I only started one because I wanted to alert you to the shenanigans in Dumfries on Saturday and London on 16 May. I have wanged on again. I apologise. Please come to Dumfries or London if you can. I’ll send more updates on the book as it gets closer to completion, but every newsletter I write slows down the book, so it’s probably best if I don’t do too many…!

Enjoy the rest of your bank holiday,

Nick

I am 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 limited edition signed, numbered, hardback copy. Doing so will help support an independent publisher, help support the Horizon Scandal Fund and offer you the opportunity to join my secret email mailing list without having to make a donation. For more info about the book, click here!