Archives :
2024
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Post Office CEO Nick Read announces his departure
Hi I am at the Radio Festival at the Institute of Physics today. Above is their lovely garden, which is adjacent to Regent’s Park in London. This morning I spoke (inside the building) to Sima Kotecha (formerly a colleague at BBC Radio Newsbeat, now the BBC’s Senior UK News correspondent) about the making of The…
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Lord Arbuthnot declared Honorary Subpostmaster, new Post Office TV doc imminent and…
Post Office: the musical is here. But first… Hi Lord and Lady Arbuthnot kindly invited me to their 40th wedding anniversary reception last night. I didn’t know what to expect, nor what to bring as a gift. Lord Arbuthnot is patron of the Horizon Scandal Fund, so I knocked an idea around with my fellow…
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Final Inquiry Phase Timetable Published, Horizon Falls Over, Lawyers Get Rich and…
Serving Subpostmaster asks about fraud Hi everyone I am supposed to be writing a pitch for my next book, but I a) thought you might appreciate a news round up and b) am a world-class procrastinator, so, killing two birds with one stone, here is all the Post Office news which is fit to print:…
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Jason Beer immortalised in wool, El Shaikh writes again, Noel Thomas honoured and I Need Your Vote
Hi everyone Hope you’re doing okay. I have just got back from a family holiday in Barcelona so my brain is a bit fuzzy and full of tapas, but I could not resist sending a newsletter given the wonderful pictures sent in by a web correspondent called Richard Banks. Yes the photo above is a…
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Post Office Inquiry – End of Storey, Another compensation scheme announced for long-suffering Subpostmasters and Otley reminder
Hi everyone I hope you’re surviving the heat. I know I’ve been doing a lot of moaning about the Inquiry recently, but the hearing room’s rather fierce aircon was welcome today. Former Post Office non-executive Susannah Storey was the last witness before summer break. She seemed bright, capable and was either blessed or cursed with…
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Post Office Inquiry – McCausland: Asleep at the Neil
Interesting chap was Mr McCausland. I got the impression that he missed a trick with former Post Office General counsel Susan Crichton. McCausland was clearly a fair but macho director who needed people to make their case well in a business bearpit (see his stuff about advising Paula Vennells that Crichton needed to “get over…
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Post Office Inquiry: Clark-Cable, the Gentlemen Secretaries, have their say
Good morning! Hope you are doing okay. Yesterday we had the joys of two former Business Secretaries giving evidence to the Inquiry. I have written up my thoughts in: Clark and Cable: Responsible for everything, accountable for nothing … which I hope you find readable. It features a response from Lord Arbuthnot to Cable’s complaint…
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Post Office Inquiry: Margot James’ biggest regret and final Second Sight report published
Aye Caramba It was a sparsely-attended inquiry yesterday. Jo Hamilton was there with the Hudgells team, as were Terry and Cindy Seeney, which was a lovely surprise. I met first Terry and Cindy on the Wimborne leg of the Inside Story tour earlier this year, but everything was a bit rushed and we didn’t really…
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Post Office Scandal: Surviving the Post Office review, and a Baroness at the Inquiry
Morning If you didn’t get a chance to watching Surviving the Post Office last night, you can read my review here: A Trip Down Misery Lane and/or watch it on iPlayer here. There is an accompanying podcast series, which features extended interviews with the interviewees in the TV documentary. Listen to it here. The Blue…
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Post Office Inquiry: Swinson points the finger at Callard and Vennells
Good morning! Two people gave evidence yesterday – former Post Office minister Jo Swinson and former CEO of Royal Mail Group, Dame Moya Greene. For reasons which will become clear I focused solely on what Swinson had to say and wrote it up here: Furious Swinson claimed Paula Vennells deceived her Having slept on it,…