Have you seen the brilliant ” Mr Bates vs the Post Office” ? If you have not done so , you owe it to watch it on itv catch up. It is not an easy watch, it is not supposed to be. I found it very uncomfortable and could only watch a bit at a time. It is based on a true story and is massively important as we move into the digital age at a supersonic rate of knots.
I was facinated by books such as “Animal Farm ” , “1984” and “Brave New World” as they predicted the future . They are more relevant today than they were when the were written. With people working from home today the idea of your boss video linking to you at home while you are “working from home” was in my opinion actually predicted by George Orwell.
This not just about Science Fiction predictions coming of age , it is about the change in the world , everything becoming digital and artificial intelligence. The world is changing rapidly and if it is not managed properly we are all going to be in big trouble.
So what does this have to do with the Post Office Scandal ? In the UK government is by consent , so we have to see that the government are acting responsibly in order for people to trust them. The government has massive power over the “little people” and this story shows how vulnerable people are if we do not have controls to protect them.
So when a department run by the government installs software that cannot be relied upon with the devastating effects shown in the program lessons need to be learned.
As we all know , human intervention in decisions is rapidly disappearing. Many people are concerned about the high street bank branches closing and the irony that we will be able to use the Post Offices as the place of human contact was not lost on me.
I think that we are now all starting to think that we are helpless against the power of the big guys. Good to see that the government is doing more about bank fraud and the receiving bank as well as the paying bank will have to be looked at.
Do we have faith in the people in the people in government that made important decisions on our behalf during the early part of the covid 19 crisis?
Probably the fastest changes ever in the world are occurring and I would not want to be standing in the shoes of the people responsible for overlooking them on our behalf , but they have to get things right and be seen to do so. Independence and fairness is required for all our sakes. Let us hope that they get it right.