Makes you proud to be British...NOT!

Casdon

The Post Office situation is just not that straightforward.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/08/post-office-horizon-it-scandal-five-things-we-learned-from-the-report#:~:text=There%20are%20about%2010%2C000%20eligible,June%2C%20according%20to%20the%20government.
The fact that people who have been, or who claim to have been, affected are still coming forward, and the complexity of some of the cases and claims and counter claims for compensation mean that inevitably there isn’t going to be a neat line drawn under this for some time - over 7000 compensation payments have been made, but there isn’t a magic wand to tidy it all up, whoever is in government.
I think the Infected Blood scandal should be resolved however, it’s been going for so long and the victims have been clearly identified. More resources need to be put into resolving the outstanding claims - the funding is set aside, and there is a process, it’s just taking too long as I understand it.

I think I'd prioritise to he blood scandal. As you say it should be straightforward to get that done.

M0nica

Well, at least Starmer cannot take us out of Europe!! but not much worse.

Well - it could be Johnson, or Truss.

Labour have had just one year. Tories had 14. Plenty of time to do the right thing for the infected blood scandal which was over 50 years ago, but they did nothing. Then the PO scandal has to be dealt with after so so many Inquiries.
Let’s give him time to deal with this before slamming him as failing.

theworriedwell

Casdon

The Post Office situation is just not that straightforward.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/08/post-office-horizon-it-scandal-five-things-we-learned-from-the-report#:~:text=There%20are%20about%2010%2C000%20eligible,June%2C%20according%20to%20the%20government.
The fact that people who have been, or who claim to have been, affected are still coming forward, and the complexity of some of the cases and claims and counter claims for compensation mean that inevitably there isn’t going to be a neat line drawn under this for some time - over 7000 compensation payments have been made, but there isn’t a magic wand to tidy it all up, whoever is in government.
I think the Infected Blood scandal should be resolved however, it’s been going for so long and the victims have been clearly identified. More resources need to be put into resolving the outstanding claims - the funding is set aside, and there is a process, it’s just taking too long as I understand it.

I think I'd prioritise to he blood scandal. As you say it should be straightforward to get that done.

Have they given all the money back that was stolen from the sub postmasters? No, not yet 🤬

It’s not straightforward though petra, if you read the piece I attached there are lots of new cases, still unresolved cases and compensation disputes where settlements have already been made. As I read it, 7 out of 10 claimants have now received compensation, but whether that is full and final is unclear.

As Casdon said the post office one is complex, they need to get on with it but at the same time there would be another scandal if they were paying it out to the wrong people or the wrong amount.

For the blood it must all be recorded.

Was Tony Blair questioned at the enquiry?
He has blood on his hands.

Casdon

It’s not straightforward though petra, if you read the piece I attached there are lots of new cases, still unresolved cases and compensation disputes where settlements have already been made. As I read it, 7 out of 10 claimants have now received compensation, but whether that is full and final is unclear.

All I can say, is: where there’s a will there’s a way.
Trouble is, there isn’t enough will 😥

What do you think is the way though petra? For the Infected Blood issue it has to be purely down to resources to resolve the claims which have been lodged. For the Post Office one there are a multitude of ongoing issues, which are not all down to this, or previous government inefficiency, and it realistically will take years to reach a conclusion even if a lot more resources are invested.

Casdon

What do you believe ‘the decent thing’ would be? I think that’s the fair outcome, but I don’t actually know what it is, obviously there’s a financial compensation aspect, but that’s not the whole answer?

The decent thing would be to pay an appropriate amount of compensation, not just the financial amount the sub postmasters and sub postmistress lost, but proper compensation and also to those affected by the blood scandal AND to bring to account those responsible for both scandals and, if appropriate, charge them.

Where's the money to come from? The government doesn' t have a bottomless pit they can dip into at the drop of a hat. I'd gladly pay an extra amount in tax to compensate these unfortunate people, especially if they were given it NOW, would you?

I agree - but with the PO one we just aren’t at that stage yet. I’ve been following it, and it’s like a seething pit of snakes. The inquiry has already turned up so many more questions than answers - I’m glad I’m not trying to sort it out, I think to some extent the initial remit was just not wide enough, there are so many loose ends.

Sorry, that was in response to Allira.

ExDancer

Where's the money to come from? The government doesn' t have a bottomless pit they can dip into at the drop of a hat. I'd gladly pay an extra amount in tax to compensate these unfortunate people, especially if they were given it NOW, would you?

Ask MaizieD!!

Yes, I would pay more tax if necessary for many things.

Casdon

I agree - but with the PO one we just aren’t at that stage yet. I’ve been following it, and it’s like a seething pit of snakes. The inquiry has already turned up so many more questions than answers - I’m glad I’m not trying to sort it out, I think to some extent the initial remit was just not wide enough, there are so many loose ends.

I haven't been able to follow it closely as we've been busy with family but the longer these issues are put off, the more people involved have died, the more they could be ignored and only remembered as historical scandals.

Allira

Casdon

I agree - but with the PO one we just aren’t at that stage yet. I’ve been following it, and it’s like a seething pit of snakes. The inquiry has already turned up so many more questions than answers - I’m glad I’m not trying to sort it out, I think to some extent the initial remit was just not wide enough, there are so many loose ends.

I haven't been able to follow it closely as we've been busy with family but the longer these issues are put off, the more people involved have died, the more they could be ignored and only remembered as historical scandals.

Agreed - but it’s going to take a lot of people a lot of time I think.

ExDancer

Where's the money to come from? The government doesn' t have a bottomless pit they can dip into at the drop of a hat. I'd gladly pay an extra amount in tax to compensate these unfortunate people, especially if they were given it NOW, would you?

They had a bottomless pit where HS2 was concerned 🙁

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98486dzxnzo

ExDancer

Where's the money to come from? The government doesn' t have a bottomless pit they can dip into at the drop of a hat. I'd gladly pay an extra amount in tax to compensate these unfortunate people, especially if they were given it NOW, would you?

The costs of these enquiries, lawyers etc will end up costing more than any amount of compensation offered if they drag on and don't reach resolutions.
The longer they drag on, the more the costs go up and the money will, of course, be found in the bottomless pit.

Grantanow

I think all governments delay compensation schemes to save money ey. They hope people will settle for less, die or simply give up.

Reasonable idea. And it will happen.

ferry23

MayBee70

Another post blaming Starmer for everything that’s wrong about this country ?

No, it's posts about the Post Office Scandal and the Infected Blood scandal.

If it were about blaming Starmer it would no doubt be headed up as such.

Why, but why is there ALWAYS someone (often the same "someones") who cannot comment without trying to disprove the original hypothesis, or indulging in political point scoring, or trying to pick a bl***y argument?

I so agree with your point. There is a poster who makes it her life’s work to disagree with just about every comment I make. I have done nothing to upset her, as far as I know, but she keeps on contradicting me .
I am ignoring her she is wasting more of her time than mine as I now don’t read anything with her name at the top!

MayBee70

Another post blaming Starmer for everything that’s wrong about this country ?

MayBe70, I would appreciate it if you would stop ridiculing and remarking derogatively on every post I write. I have no idea what you have got against me, as to the best of my knowledge, I have never crossed you. I also did not give you permission to quote my whole post just to try to drive your point home. Whatever reason you have for doing this, please get off my back unless you have something sensible and helpful to say. So far, this hasn’t been the case!

Crossstitchfan

MayBee70

Another post blaming Starmer for everything that’s wrong about this country ?

MayBe70, I would appreciate it if you would stop ridiculing and remarking derogatively on every post I write. I have no idea what you have got against me, as to the best of my knowledge, I have never crossed you. I also did not give you permission to quote my whole post just to try to drive your point home. Whatever reason you have for doing this, please get off my back unless you have something sensible and helpful to say. So far, this hasn’t been the case!

Can I just say that the only time I’m aware of you and I discussing the same subject is on a thread in which you actually agreed with me so I’m confused by your accusation. If I have done this repeatedly it’s because I’ve replied to the comment not the writer of the comment. Can you please give me examples of what I have done because I genuinely am not aware of doing it.

ExDancer

Where's the money to come from? The government doesn' t have a bottomless pit they can dip into at the drop of a hat. I'd gladly pay an extra amount in tax to compensate these unfortunate people, especially if they were given it NOW, would you?

£12b has been 'set aside' so it doesn't look like finding the money is a problem.

MayBee70

Crossstitchfan

MayBee70

Another post blaming Starmer for everything that’s wrong about this country ?

MayBe70, I would appreciate it if you would stop ridiculing and remarking derogatively on every post I write. I have no idea what you have got against me, as to the best of my knowledge, I have never crossed you. I also did not give you permission to quote my whole post just to try to drive your point home. Whatever reason you have for doing this, please get off my back unless you have something sensible and helpful to say. So far, this hasn’t been the case!

Can I just say that the only time I’m aware of you and I discussing the same subject is on a thread in which you actually agreed with me so I’m confused by your accusation. If I have done this repeatedly it’s because I’ve replied to the comment not the writer of the comment. Can you please give me examples of what I have done because I genuinely am not aware of doing it.

I am so sorry MayBee70. Part of my reply to you wasn’t meant for you at all! I have got confused about who said what. I do apologise. As you said, we have agreed on things before and we are, in my opinion, usually on the same wavelength. In my defence, I have had an operation, and the after effects of the anaesthetic occasionally addle my brain, even after a considerable while.. Normally, proofreading sorts this out before I say something I don’t mean, but I clearly forgot to do it this time! I would appreciate it if you would ignore my response, so we can carry on as normal. Once again, my apologies.

Oh phew! I was really confused ( not unusual for me!). I do wish we had an edit button…!