|
|
Post by mercian on May 25, 2024 21:57:54 GMT
Bless he's got his memory box open. I'm not engaging further on this it's pointless and tedious for everyone. I wish others would follow your example |
|
|
|
Post by mercian on May 25, 2024 22:06:20 GMT
Bit early for Blair? The problems for sub postmasters may indeed have begun whilst he was still PM, but I don't think the suspicion about how badly flawed Horizon was came until near the end of that government? I think the Computer Weekly article (2019) arguably marked the real turning point? Computer weekly started investigating in 2008, but did not publish until they felt they had cast iron evidence in 2009. Alan Bates first wrote to them (and presumably others) in 2004. www.computerweekly.com/feature/Post-Office-Horizon-scandal-explained-everything-you-need-to-knowThe PO initial tactic was to tell any postmaster seeking help that no one else was having these sorts of problems. Simply having ordered its staff to do this means it was clearly aware there were systemic problems with horizon, which they were trying to cover up. They knew there were far too many people having problems for it all to be crime or even bad luck. Back in 2003 if a postmaster threatened to bring in IT experts, the PO dropped those cases. They clearly knew their system could not withstand expert scrutiny. Whether these problems had been notified formally to the labour government, or even as a chat between head of PO and minister/civil servant, we have yet to discover evidence. There is totally no excuse for this coverup of the problem by the conservative government. They had the opportunity for a clean slate start sorting it out, but instead they decided to keep it quiet because they wanted to sell off the whole lot. If they knew about the problems why the hell didn't they lean on Fujitsu and even sue them? Fujitsu seem to have avoided the spotlight so far. I hope the enquiry gets on to them. |
|
Danny
Member
Posts: 10,355
|
Post by Danny on May 26, 2024 9:12:08 GMT
I was contracting around that time. I regret not accepting Fujitsu's offer of a job now because I could probably have fixed it if they put me in the right job. Unless of course they were already looking for scapegoats! So you also think they knew damn well this thing was disastrously flawed way before 2009 when it first got into the press? Never actually heard an explanation precisely what was going wrong - assuming they have now found it and fixed it. |
|
|
|
Post by bedknobsandboomstick on May 26, 2024 20:20:36 GMT
Fag packet maths on The Policy:
30 million voters turning out;
24% Conservative vote share
=7.2m Tory voters
8m households with children in the UK.
Say 14m parents including some single parent families.
Say 60% turnout for a 25 to 55ish age range.
= 8.4m parents voting.
Say 18% of that age range intend to vote Con
= 1.5m parents voting Tory who are now worried that their offspring are at risk on compulsary service.
That's 5% of total voters or 20% of the Tory vote share who are now suddenly a lot less likely to vote Tory.
Oops.
Happy to be corrected on any erroneous numbers above.
|
|
|
|
Post by bedknobsandboomstick on May 26, 2024 20:33:06 GMT
Fag packet maths on The Policy: 30 million voters turning out; 24% Conservative vote share =7.2m Tory voters 8m households with children in the UK. Say 14m parents including some single parent families. Say 60% turnout for a 25 to 55ish age range. = 8.4m parents voting. Say 18% of that age range intend to vote Con = 1.5m parents voting Tory who are now worried that their offspring are at risk on compulsary service. That's 5% of total voters or 20% of the Tory vote share who are now suddenly a lot less likely to vote Tory. Oops. Happy to be corrected on any erroneous numbers above. =2.5m Tory voters who are parents. Say 30m votes in total, that's Just got this retweeted by Giles Wilks, so hope the maths is right.... |
|
|
|
Post by athena on May 27, 2024 11:13:29 GMT
How are they doing for candidates in Scotland? I quite fancy an all-expenses paid holiday in the Highlands. I'm happy to do some door-to-door canvassing but I may plan scenic routes between dwellings in the most rural part of the constituency. I've tried to devise a Green Conservative programme to appeal to the voters, but I keep veering into radical decentralisation of power and land reform, then it rapidly ceases to look remotely rightwing so I will be focusing on sex-based rights for women (sorry, the war on woke-ist genderism). Done - Suilven and the flow country will do very nicely! It'd also be grand to be able to wangle a guided tour of one of the wave or tidal power sites, so that's something else for the campaign itinerary. Funny you should mention campervans - I seem to remember that the SNP favours them as campaigning vehicles, so I will be tapping up one of those rich Tory donors for a campaign campervan, to enable me to get to know the constituency. I'd like to think the Lab candidate will enjoy her time up there, but if reports about Lab's organisational discipline are correct she'll probably be dragooned into pounding the streets in a winnable seat somewhere in the Big Smoke. |
|
c-a-r-f-r-e-w
Member
A step on the way toward the demise of the liberal elite? Or just a blip…
Posts: 6,700
|
Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Jun 12, 2024 8:33:27 GMT
I think it was a little more even-handed than that - Starmer and co in listening mode, which is not bad thing. The original deal, now re-confirmed, was of course itself a compromise. Anyway, it is unequivocal good news - unions happy, Labour leadership happy and workers get some rights back, what's not to like. I guess you are too young to remember the days of Jack Jones, Red Robbo, Upper Clyde and the miners strike and steel strike. As with the current train drivers dispute, sensible co-operation isnt part of the DNA of british unions raised on the concept of class war When you say you remember it, what does that mean? How were you involved, how do you think the government behaved? I remember it, I was working in a factory at the time affected by the strikes, but there was quite a lot I wasn’t aware of… |
|
|
|
Post by nickpoole on Sept 6, 2024 15:23:39 GMT
This from another site: "And I'm done at the polling station, who wants some anecdotes? On voter ID, we had to send away about 12 people at our station (out of 470 odd) and all but 2 came back later. 2 people used the voter authority certificates. Anyone else got any queries? This was in West Norwood, Lambeth." OK it's a one-off anecdote but it doesn't chime with the lefty mantra of widespread vote suppression. 2 people denied right to vote out of a sample of less than 500 is voter suppression on a massive scale |
|
neilj
Member
Posts: 6,376
|
Post by neilj on Sept 27, 2024 6:58:05 GMT
I think even Thatcher wouldn't feel comfortable in the current tory party. For me the problem is that tory party members have moved far to the right ofctory voters. This has a knock on effect of the tory leadership having to go in that direction, sometimes willingly, sometimes reluctantly www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/150192629#/?channel=RES_BUY'Former Conservative Party chairwoman Baroness Warsi has resigned from the party in the House of Lords, claiming it has moved to the “far right”. The peer, who was Britain's first Muslim cabinet minister during David Cameron's premiership, accused the party of “hypocrisy and double standards in its treatment of different communities”. |
|
