I've followed this matter a little bit as I work in the I.T. industry. I don't live in the UK and have no knowledge of the actors. The government response, including this announcement is shockingly deficient and on the low side of the impact. For a start - it only targets those who were convicted. It does not take into account all actors adversely impacted including falsely accused but not convicted. It doesn't take into account the circumstances of the victims. The government does not at all seem inclined to take any substantive action on this matter other than writing a cheque.<p>Open question to those in the UK closer to this - How do you see the government's response? What is the public sentiment on the matter. Does anyone have any insight why charges are not being pursued against Post Office Management in light of substantial evidence of wrong doing?
What I can't comprehend is the scale of the failure of the justice system here. Unless I am mistaken there were hundreds of victims over more than a decade. So 700 trials, in which the judges and the juries failed these people. How can such a systemic failure happen? It paints a very poor picture of the justice system in the UK ...
You can subscribe to Private Eye here for £38 a year with an issue through your letterbox every fortnight<p><a href="https://checkout.private-eye.co.uk/singleitem?item=PEY&prom=W37AAPEA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://checkout.private-eye.co.uk/singleitem?item=PEY&prom=...</a>
No news about convicts being let go earlier or a little bit after yet? Some software in the uk is really just good looking bugs that work for the most straight forward use case and nothing else. Difficult to maintain attention to detail when the product management culture is to make changes for the sake of changes.
They did answer my first question after reading the headline...<p><i>"The government said the new compensation offer was in addition to paying for all reasonable legal fees, and any post office operator who does not want to accept it can continue with the existing legal process."</i>
Fujitsu? I am sure the link is only the company name, but the Japanese government contracted out the ID card deployment largely to them, leading to a catastrophic rollout:<p><a href="https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/30/fujitsu_japan_micjet_id_card_pause/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/30/fujitsu_japan_micjet_...</a><p>Some were able to do bank related activities as unrelated people because their cards were issued around the same time, and this thing will be our medical insurance ID at the end of 2024
It's high time the UK sorted out the Tories (who caused the whole thing with their "assholery"). They have systematically raped the country of its wealth during the years they were in charge. County councils going bankrupt because Tories deliberately starved Labour run councils of money. Our beautiful NHS going into the shitter because they are starving in preparation for US style health care that will cost billions. This post office scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. You'll see.
There was an excellent Radio 4 series about this scandal, available as a podcast here - <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-great-post-office-trial/id1569800816" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-great-post-office-...</a>
A few mentions of Private Eye pushing the story. True, but also worth mentioning The Register and, especially, Computer Weekly who actually broke the story: <a href="https://archive.ph/OYJwW" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://archive.ph/OYJwW</a>