Alan Bates, who fought for decades to expose the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, says it would be inappropriate to accept an OBE when former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells still holds her CBE
The former subpostmaster who exposed one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in history has rejected the offer of an OBE for services to justice because he believes it is “inappropriate” while victims still suffer and one of the scandal’s architects retains her honour.
Alan Bates, who has campaigned relentlessly for over two decades to achieve justice for subpostmasters who were blamed and prosecuted for unexplained accounting shortfalls caused by computer errors, said it would be inappropriate to accept the offer because former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells still holds her CBE, bringing the “whole honours system into disrepute”.
Bates thanked all the people who put his name forward for the award, but told the Honours Committee:“Whilst I do appreciate that there may well be people who believe that after the many years of my unpaid campaigning, which I led in order to expose the truth, I deserve some recognition for my work, but I hope you can understand why it would be so inappropriate for me to accept any award at present, while so many of the victims continue to suffer so badly and [Paula] Vennells still retains an honour and remains a ‘role model’ to the Honours Committee.”
In May 2022, Tom Scholar, chairman of the Honours Forfeiture Committee, said his team would reconsider Vennells’ award once the current public inquiry into the Post Office scandal is complete.
Vennells led the Post Office during a scandal and left just before a damaging High Court judgment, which slammed the Post Office management that punished subpostmasters for mistakes made by its own computer system. She took over £400,000 in pay and bonuses with her.
Years of campaigning
Bates revealed the offer and his response in a circular to the 555 members of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA), the campaign group he set up in 2009.
Following the introduction of the Post Office’s Horizon computer system from Fujitsu in 2000, which was to automate retail and accounting, subpostmaters began suffering unexplained shortfalls, for which they were blamed. Many had to repay large sums of money and 736 were prosecuted, some of whom were sent to prison.
In what has become known as the Post Office Horizon scandal, hundreds of subpostmasters had their lives ruined after being blamed for unexplained accounting shortfalls, which were actually caused by computer errors. Computer Weekly first reported on problems with the Horizon system in 2009, when it made public the stories of a group of subpostmasters affected by reporting errors (see timeline of articles below).
Bates became subpostmaster at the Post Office in Craig-y-Don, north Wales, in 1998. But by the end of 2000, after the introduction of the Post Office’s Horizon computer system, supplied by Fujitsu, things started to go wrong, with unexplained losses appearing in his accounts.
The subpostmaster contract said he was responsible for paying the money, but he refused and demanded the computer evidence to prove the cause of the losses.
In 2003, Bates had his contract terminated when he refused to comply with Post Office policy. A decade and a half later, against the odds, he took the Post Office to the High Court in a group litigation order (GLO) and won a multimillion-pound legal case, proving computer errors – not subpostmaster dishonesty or fault – had caused the losses.
This court victory was the catalyst for more that 80 former subpostmaster prosecutions, so far, to be overturned at the Court of Appeal, and instigated a statutory public inquiry into the scandal, which is ongoing. It also led to a government and Post Office agreement to compensate victims financially.
Originally set up for subpostmasters affected by shortfalls to recoup the money they had paid the Post Office to cover losses, the JFSA became a campaign group that exposed huge failures in government, the legal system, the Post Office and Fujitsu.
Bates first contacted Computer Weekly about the issues in 2004. He was featured in an article in 2009, which, for the first time, told the story of seven people affected by errors in the Post Office’s Horizon system. This highlighted the problem, prompting hundreds of affected people, each of whom had been told by the Post Office that they were the only ones having problems, to come forward.
Further investigation pending
In his communication to JFSA members, Bates also revealed that the Parliamentary Ombudsman had confirmed it would investigate government maladministration in its handling of the Post Office scandal.
“It was a long time in coming, but in late October 2022, I received a letter from the [Parliamentary Ombudsman] in which they informed me they have ‘decided to confirm the decision to investigate the complaint’ and that they would be sending me ‘a more formal letter explaining that soon’,” Bates wrote.
“I have been waiting for that letter since then in order to inform you of the details of their proposed investigation, but as yet nothing has arrived. In response to querying no receipt of any letter, the [Parliamentary Ombudsman] responded in December informing me that they had still to clarify how best to ‘navigate the practical difficulties of our investigating at the same time as the inquiry’ and that they ‘need to resolve that before we write formally’.”
“I am aware that [it] had already undertaken considerable initial investigation work before they wrote in October, but at the time we had submitted the complaint there had been no inquiry set up – in fact, at that time, [the] government had been trying to say the whole issue was over and done with. However, since then, we have managed to obtain an inquiry and turn it into a statutory inquiry, and I think there may well be others who are now trying to dismiss the need for the [Parliamentary Ombudsman] to investigate, under the guise that the [Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy] inquiry will deal with it.”
In his email, Bates also signalled the end of an era when he told members that once all compensation is paid to JFSA members, the campaign group will end its work, stating that “…the main aim behind the reason we set up the JFSA has almost been achieved, and hopefully by the time the closing date of the GLO compensation scheme is reached in August 2024 the JFSA can close its doors”.
Neil Hudgell, chairman at Hudgell Solicitors, which represents hundreds of victims of the Post Office scandal, said Bates has “pulled up trees and moved mountains”.
Bates hailed a ‘hero’
Campaigners and subpostmasters paid tribute to Bates.
Eleanor Shaikh, who has vigorously campaigned for justice since her local subpostmaster fell victim to the scandal, said: “The Horizon scandal might still be buried if it weren’t for Alan’s extraordinary persistence and courage. He created the JFSA, allowing victims to meet, share information, join forces and become the trailblazers that exposed [the] Post Office’s can of worms. Without his selfless determination, there wouldn’t have been a High Court case; every other step towards justice has been built on the success of that litigation. He continues to devote his life to attempting to right [the] Post Office’s wrongs and deserves the utmost credit for what he’s achieved so far.”
“Against all the odds, Alan took on Goliath and won. He battled tirelessly and selflessly for more than two decades to secure justice and restoration for hundreds of innocent subpostmasters. What a man, our hero” Jo Hamilton, former subpostmaster
Former subpostmaster Jo Hamilton, who had her wrongful conviction for false accounting overturned at the Court of Appeal in April 2021, said: “Against all the odds, Alan took on Goliath and won. He battled tirelessly and selflessly for more than two decades to secure justice and restoration for hundreds of innocent subpostmasters. What a man, our hero.”
James Arbuthnot, who became involved in the campaign for justice as MP for North East Hampshire when Hamilton, a constituent, contacted him, said Alan Bates has devoted his life to putting right the many wrongs done to the subpostmasters by the Post Office: “He is a man of incredible determination who, in fighting for justice, has made history. He realised he alone could not prevail, and he created the JFSA, which brought the subpostmasters together. Then he raised the funds to bring the GLO and led the subpostmasters in their battle, winning an extraordinary victory against the Post Office, the self-styled ‘most trusted brand in the country’. Because the case had to be settled on unfair terms, he then continued to pursue the government through the ombudsman, Parliament and the courts to ensure that wrongful convictions were overturned in unprecedented numbers and compensation would be given to many hundreds of subpostmasters.”
JPMorgan will face a lawsuit over whether it ignored the warning signs of a cyber attack on manufacturer Essilor, which saw $272m taken by criminals.
Essilor, which manufactures Ray-Ban sunglasses, sued JPMorgan in April, alleging that the bank failed to notify it of suspicious activity in its New York bank account.
The French manufacturer can now try to prove that a law in New York in relation to commercial contracts was violated.
“The fraudulent transfers were all made in round dollar amounts (i.e., no cents), which was a dramatic departure from prior periods where round dollar transfers were relatively infrequent,” Essilor said at the time.
The judge rejected a claim by JPMorgan that Essilor had authorised the transfers because the bank had received two approvals for each, therefore following the required security procedures. A breach of contract claim was rejected, but the judge said Essilor can try to revive it.
Banks are also under the spotlight as a result of failures to spot suspicious activity on their networks. For example, banks have received huge fines from regulators for failing to identify and prevent money laundering by criminals.
According to research published last year by business-to-business information services company Kyckr, 28 financial institutions across the globe were fined for AML-related violations in 2020, equating to roughly £2.6bn.
JP Morgan is one of the world’s biggest banks, with a huge IT budget. Speaking at a recent event, Ziv Gafni, who is head of digital strategy, fintech and markets innovation at JP Morgan, said the bank invests around $12bn a year in technology.
A large proportion of any IT spend in banks goes on security, but criminals still find their way around defences.
In this month’s ezine, we provide a guide to the main areas of focus for the channel in the year ahead, with security, sustainability and hybrid working already standing out as major themes. We also look at what makes a good partner incentive programme. Read the issue now.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is to fund free Cyber Essentials accreditation for some of the most vulnerable small organisations in the country, including charities and firms offering legal aid.
The Funded Cyber Essentials Programme is designed to offer small organisations in high-risk sectors practical support to establish and maintain a baseline of security controls, funded by the government and delivered via the IASME cyber assurance consortium, which co-created Cyber Essentials with the NCSC in the first place.
Data held by the organisations in scope – such as charities that work with children, domestic abuse victims or refugees – can be of an exceptionally sensitive nature, and such organisations are often operating on such shoestring budgets that cyber security considerations fall by the wayside.
“Charities and legal aid firms do incredible work supporting vulnerable people when they need it most, and that’s why it is vital they take steps to protect sensitive data,” said NCSC’s deputy director for economy and society resilience, Sarah Lyons.
“The new Funded Cyber Essentials Programme is a great opportunity for small organisations to gain free assistance with putting key cyber security protections in place,” she said. “I strongly encourage organisations to register so they can boost their cyber resilience and help reduce the chances of falling victim to a potentially damaging cyber attack.”
IASME CEO Emma Philpott added: “The Funded Cyber Essentials programme is aimed at some of the smallest and most vulnerable organisations in the UK. It is designed to encourage and support them to implement the minimum cyber security technical controls.
“Through the programme, IASME’s network of cyber security experts are able to use their skills to help those who need support most,” she said. “The programme aims to protect small charities and legal aid firms, and the sensitive data they hold, from common internet threats.”
Organisations taking advantage of the offer will receive 20 hours of support from an accredited Cyber Essentials assessor to help implement the five core technical measures that open up the NCSC’s Cyber Essentials Plus certification – these are firewalls, secure settings, access controls, malware and software updates.
While this support is free of charge, it should be noted that the cost of any additional software or hardware that the assessor may identify is needed to achieve Cyber Essentials will have to be met by the organisation itself.
Charities and legal aid firms with less than 49 full-time staff – excluding volunteers – can assess their eligibility and apply to take part in the scheme through the IASME website.
The launch of the programme comes as the NCSC prepares to make a series of small updates to the Cyber Essentials technical requirement, covering subjects such as firewall and router firmware, third-party devices, device unlocking, malware protection and zero-trust.
These updates themselves follow a major overhaul of the programme which began in 2022, and were designed to account for the rapidly evolving cyber security challenges faced by organisations, such as ransomware, and the uptake of public cloud services and hybrid and remote working.
A grace period for organisations to implement some of the new accreditation requirements – around support for thin clients, unsupported software and multi-factor authentication for cloud services – in order to retain their Cyber Essentials badges, is due to expire in April.
Read more on Regulatory compliance and standard requirements
Entertainment Thanks largely to continued streaming and vinyl growth, UK music industry sales increased by about three percent during 2022 and approached £1.99 billion, according to a newly released preliminary report.
This and other interesting data points came to light in an analysis from London’s Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA), which bills itself as “the trade body representing digital services and retailers offering music, video and games.”
According to the organization, which counts as board members execs from Spotify, Amazon Music, SoundCloud, and others, the total value of the UK home entertainment market jumped roughly 6.9 percent to crack £11.08 billion in 2022.
Within the figure, music sales accounted for £1.99 billion, the highest total since 2003 and a year-over-year (YoY) uptick of approximately three percent, as initially noted. And in keeping with longstanding trends, the lion’s share of the UK music industry sales total derived from streaming, the resource shows.
Specifically, the UK music industry generated over £1.66 billion from streaming during 2022, per an estimate provided by the ERA and the British Phonographic Industry, up five or so percent from 2021.
Also in keeping with well-documented trends, the UK’s physical music sales declined by 3.8 percent YoY to £280.4 million, compared to a 17.5 percent YoY falloff for downloads (£45.4 million total), according to stats from the Official Charts Company and included in the ERA report.
The physical sum consists of £150.5 million attributable to vinyl (up 11 percent YoY) and £124 million from CDs (down 17.4 percent YoY). 2022 was the first year since 1987 to see vinyl outsell CDs by value in the UK, the ERA communicated.
While the entity will confirm precise full-year figures (and disclose additional data) in its final report in March, higher-ups have already confirmed that perennial bestseller Harry Styles had released the most popular album (Harry’s House) and track (“As It Was”) in the UK music industry on the year.
(Spotify Wrapped previously identified the same consumption benchmarks – besides indicating that Taylor Swift had racked up the most on-platform UK streams of any artist during 2022.)
Meanwhile, vinyl’s years-running stateside growth is showing few signs of slowing down, as the format’s sales during the week ending on December 22nd reportedly reached a high not seen since at least 1991.
Additionally, vinyl is reportedly performing well in Germany, and 2022 brought positive developments (including a funding round for record manufacturer elasticStage and the debut of a new pressing plant in the UK) that could alleviate the format’s well-documented production woes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an appearance via video at the Golden Globes on Tuesday night where he promised that his country would be victorious against Russian aggression.
After being introduced by actor Sean Penn, who has championed Zelensky since the war broke out in early 2021, Zelensky shared a pre-recorded message that thanked the United States for its continued support while adding that the “tide is turning” in the war.
“The First World War claimed millions of lives. The Second World War claimed 10s of millions of them. There will be no Third World War,” Zelensky said. “It is not a trilogy: Ukraine will stop the Russian aggression on our land.”
Zelensky also noted that World War II had been nearing its end when the first Golden Globes were presented in 1943.
“La liberté de rêver n’est pas qu’un luxe pour l’homme mais un besoin pour lequel il faut se battre.”
“It is now 2023: the war in Ukraine is not over yet, but the tide is turning, and it is already clear who will win,” Zelensky said. “But there are still battles and tears ahead. But now I can definitely tell you who were the best in the previous year: It was you, the free people of the free world, those who united around the support of the free Ukrainian people in our common struggle for freedom and democracy.”
“For the right to live, to love, to give birth. No matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, no matter who you are with, the struggle for the right of the new generations to know about the war only from movies,” he added. “We will make it together. I hope all of you will be with us on the victorious day: the day of our victory.”
Zelensky’s speech at the Golden Globes comes after he delivered a speech before the U.S. Congress in December and a visit with President Joe Biden. The final omnibus bill of 2022 also sent an additional $45 billion to Ukraine and NATO allies.
Last year, Zelensky also delivered a speech at the Grammy Awards in a video that featured him in a bunker.
“The silence of ruined cities and killed people,” Zelensky said at the time. “Our children draw swooping rockets, not shooting stars. Over 400 children have been injured and 153 children died. And we’ll never see them drawing. Our parents are happy to wake up in the morning. In bomb shlters, but alive. Our loved ones don’t know if we will be together again.”
The Oscars has not indicated if it will invite Zelensky for a speech during its telecast this year.
Joe Biden Claims He Was ‘Surprised’ by Discovery of ‘Boxes’ of Classified Documents in Old Private Office
Alex Wong/Getty Images
President Joe Biden said Tuesday he was surprised by the news that “boxes” of classified documents were discovered in an office he used after leaving the vice presidency, claiming ignorance of the existence of the materials.
“I was briefed about this discovery, and surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken there to that office,” Biden said, reacting for the first time to the news during a press event in Mexico City on Tuesday.
The news broke Monday that classified documents were discovered in his old office by his lawyers and reported to the National Archives.
But Biden suggested that Americans should not doubt his respect for classified documents.
“People know I take classified documents, classified information seriously,” Biden said, detailing that the documents found were in a “locked” closet of his old office.
President Joe Biden waves before boarding Air Force One at El Paso International Airport in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023, to travel to Mexico City, Mexico. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
He also insisted he did not know what was in the materials, even as CNN revealed Tuesday they included topics such as Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom. Some of the discovered documents were labeled “top secret.”
“I don’t know what’s in the documents. My lawyers have not suggested I not ask what documents they were,” Biden said, speaking carefully from his notes, noting there were “boxes” of documents that were turned over to the archives.
The White House said that the documents were discovered on November 2nd by one of Biden’s lawyers, who found them in the president’s private office in downtown Washington, DC. The D.C. office is where Biden worked as part of his paid agreement with the University of Pennsylvania’s Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement after leaving his position as vice president under former President Barack Obama.
President Biden is cooperating with his Justice Department as Attorney General Merrick Garland has assigned an attorney to investigate the matter. At this point, Garland has not turned over the case to a special counsel as he did with the classified records investigation of former President Donald Trump.
“We’re cooperating fully with the review, which I hope will be finished soon,” Biden said.
The documents were discovered a week before the 2022 midterm elections but were only revealed in a report first detailed by CBS on Monday.
The building that housed office space of President Joe Biden’s former institute, the Penn Biden Center, is seen at the corner of Constitution and Louisiana Avenue NW, in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. Potentially classified documents were found on Nov. 2, 2022, in a “locked closet” in the office, according to special counsel to the president Richard Sauber. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The incident immediately drew parallels to the Justice Department investigation of former President Donald Trump for having classified documents in his possession, prompting them to raid his home at Mar-a-Lago.
“When is the FBI going to raid the many houses of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?” Trump asked on social media. “These documents were definitely not declassified.”
A president has the legal authority to declassify documents but a vice president does not.
Trump accused Biden’s think tank of being funded by China, calling into question whether the president was giving them classified information.
“How much more information has China been given?” he asked on social media.
MSNBC host Joy Reid asked Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) if his Republican House colleagues nominated him for speaker last week as a “diversity statement” Tuesday on her show “The ReidOut.”
Reid said, “You were nominated for speaker. You have been in Congress for one term. What were your qualifications to be speaker of the House?”
Donalds said, “I think my colleagues recognize my leadership and have seen it in leaps and bounds.”
Reid asked, “Can you give specifics?”
Donalds said, “I have served at the state level.”
Reid continued, “You have been there one term, and you’re saying that you would be prepared after one term to do the job that Speaker Pelosi and others who were in leadership, you ran for leadership, and you lost that leadership race to the congresswoman who ended up being in leadership. You were not elected to leadership, but you believe though you have never served in leadership ever, and have only served one term, you believe were qualified. Because you got into it back and forth with a fellow congresswoman who was critical of the nomination because it definitely looked like they were looking for a response to Hakeem Jeffries, in you.”
Donald said, “No. That was not it.”
Reid said, “One of the things that, I don’t know that you said it, but members have said they wanted to highlight the diversity of the conference. There are four African-American members in the House caucus, the Republican caucus. There are 56 members in the Democratic caucus. So just it’s more diverse.”
She asked, “So do you not believe that the idea was to make a diversity statement by nominating you?”
Donalds said, “That was not the idea because I was in the room when the decision was made by people who chose to nominate me. That never came up.”
Transgender male-to-female actor Michaela Jaé (“MJ”) Rodriguez received a standing ovation at the 80th Golden Globe Awards on Sunday in belated recognition for winning the Golden Globe for lead actress in a drama series last year for FX’s Pose.
MJ Rodriguez was recognized by her Pose producer Ryan Murphy during his acceptance speech for the Carol Burnett Award. In his speech, Murphy praised Rodriguez for “making history” for being the “first transgender actress ever to win a Golden Globe.”
“Let’s give her the ovation she deserves to hear,” Murphy said.
As Breitbart News reported, Rodriguez’s win at last year’s (non-televised) ceremony deprived several real women of the award. The other nominees were Christine Baranski, Elisabeth Moss, Jennifer Aniston, and Uzo Aduba.
Rodriguez landed on the cover of Entertainment Weekly‘s Pride issue last year, with the quote “My job is to show them how much of a woman I am.”
The actor’s first major role was playing the character Angel, a male drag performer, in an off-Broadway production of Rent in 2011. The actor reportedly still identified as male while performing in the musical and began transitioning shortly thereafter.
Sen. Angus King (I-ME) said during a press conference on Monday that America should continue to support Ukraine until Russia’s Vladimir “Putin is out.”
One person asked King, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, how long the United States should continue to support Ukraine as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia will soon pass its one-year anniversary.
King just returned from a trip to Ukraine, where he and Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), another Senate Armed Services Committee, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last Friday.
“I believe we should remain there until Putin is out,” King said, although it remains unclear if he means until Russia is out of Ukrainian territory or until Putin is out of power.
Senator Angus S. King, Jr. / YouTube
The Maine senator referred to the conflict in Ukraine as “our fight” because he said history allegedly suggests that Putin would not stop at Ukraine. He proceeded to compare Putin’s conflict with Ukraine to Adolf Hitler’s actions before World War Two.
“I don’t see this as a long, 20-year struggle which we saw in Afghanistan. Here we have a strong government, a strong armed services that are fighting on their own with our help,” King added.
He continued, “But protecting democracy, freedom and confronting authoritarianism as President Zelensky said in his address to Congress, isn’t charity. It’s an investment.”
King said that increasing Republican skepticism towards providing more aid to Ukraine is not in the “mainstream” of the GOP:
I don’t think that the mainstream of the Republican party in the House is sharing these sentiments, but it is concerning. And I think we have to continue to remind people how important it is and that this is not some far-away conflict that doesn’t involve us. That’s the same attitude that was in this country in the late-1930s. And because of lack of response to Hitler in the west between 1936 and 1939, we ended up with World War II and 55 million people killed. So this is a place where we can stop this.
The U.S. has provided $113 billion in aid to Ukraine since the dawn of the conflict; this figure eclipses the annual budget of every country in the world except the U.S. and China.
King said that Zelensky’s “courage, determination, and grit” reminded him of Joshua Chamberlain, a former Maine governor and Civil War hero.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
