The bigger question in the Post Office scandal is how the political parties treated the very people they claim to represent (“The Post Office’s innocent victims deserve justice”, Editorial). Subpostmasters are small-business owners who serve their communities. All three main political parties describe them as an essential part of our economy and society, yet they were ignored.
When Paula Vennells, the Post Office’s former chief executive, was honoured in 2019, the case was well under way and it was public knowledge that there had been a major miscarriage of justice. Ed Davey, the present Liberal Democrat leader, was the minister responsible at the time of the scandal but seemed to believe the version of events offered by officials. The scandal unfolded mainly under Labour administrations and trade unions were alerted.
It took a TV series to open the eyes of all political parties. Perhaps we need to dramatise other tragedies such as Grenfell to expose how the establishment works to protect its own.
Dr Lalith Chandrakantha
Northampton
Your leader was absolutely correct. But it wasn’t only those whom the Post Office (wrongly) prosecuted who suffered. At the time, a good friend of mine, now sadly deceased, was a subpostmaster. He was something of an IT and accounting whizz, having previously worked in both industries. During the time the software was failing, and the PO was in denial, he spent his weekends endlessly checking and correcting the software’s errors. It kept him out of prison, but pretty much ruined what turned out to be the last years of his life. It’s too late for personal justice for him, but there must be others in a similar position who deserve justice.
Steve Townsley
Bridgend
England rugby in a bind
Michael Aylwin is right to highlight the dilemma facing [England rugby coach] Steve Borthwick as more of his top players seek to ply their trade abroad (“Borthwick needs his England best back from overseas exodus”, Sport). It’s really all about money, isn’t it? The Premiership’s business model is clearly not fit for purpose, whereas particularly in France, it is thriving.
The rule debarring players from wearing the England jersey if they play for foreign clubs needs looking at. Football appears to have no problem. Players such as Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham will continue to appear on England team sheets despite not playing in their country’s major league and nobody seems to have a problem with this. Track and field stars and swimmers often live and train abroad. So why is the RFU so picky? Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
John Marriott
North Hykeham, Lincoln
Inspiring, oh yes it is
Reading “‘It’s important to find light in times of darkness’: how London’s Jewish centre has dealt with war in Gaza” (News) has filled me with some much-needed optimism and praise for Raymond Simonson, who is at the helm of the JW3 centre in London, and for Vivien Duffield, whose idea the centre was. As a non-religious person, I find inspiring Simonson’s aim of increasing the variety and conversations of the Jewish community. The pantomime with a Jewish slant sounds so inventive.
Valerie Halford
Reigate, Surrey
It’s the pledges wot won it
In discussing Tony Blair’s strategy for the 1997 election, Andrew Rawnsley omitted the most important weapon that we Labour party door-knocking soldiers had: the five pledges given out to voters on the pledge card (“Keir Starmer won’t just be battling the Tories this year but also the absence of hope”, Comment). These were pledges on the economy, health education, crime and jobs. All this was fulfilled. We could do with a similar card this time around. It made it much easier for us to state what we were trying to achieve and then show we had achieved it.
Steven Bowditch
Carlisle
The dark side of sport
David Goldblatt is spot on with his piece about the Africa Cup of Nations (“Awash with fossil fuel money, African football is sowing the seeds of its own destruction”, Comment). Sponsorship from fossil fuel companies for a competition in a continent already suffering considerably from climate change does seem beyond parody. But sports governing bodies have ever appeared to welcome money from anywhere, and public health has always been the loser. Arguably, tobacco and alcohol money built the modern sports sponsorship model along with sugary drink companies. Coca-Cola has been involved with the Olympic Games since 1928; the women’s professional tennis circuit was launched in 1970 in partnership with Philip Morris and its Virginia Slims brand; Budweiser has been the official beer sponsor of the Fifa World Cup since 1986.
If we are to challenge sponsorship from fossil fuel companies, we should also challenge that from other industries that have a similar capacity to damage our health.
Robin Ireland
Glasgow
Give it up for Mr Jones…
Will Hutton is providing good advice to Keir Starmer. Following his article on pension funds (“Britain is stuck in a doom loop”, Comment), he makes an excellent case for revisiting industrial relations (“Management and unions cooperating? That would make everyone happier”). However, I feel he unfairly misrepresents Jack Jones to some degree. Without the role Jones played in the Bullock inquiry into worker-director models of industrial democracy (1975-77), the TUC would not have agreed to engage so positively in the inquiry. Sadly, there were too many misgivings in the labour movement generally (along with CBI opposition) for there to be a successful outcome. But Jones was clearly in favour of effective worker representation on company boards.
Given the current situation of massive payouts for executive failure, and widening differentials between execs and everyone else, it is truly time to revisit this issue. I think Jones would have agreed.
Vivien Fraser
London N1
… and Granny Smith
Many of the problems with the Royal Mail (“Dead letter office? Royal Mail wrestles with difficult future”, Business) were predicted in Roy Mayall’s excellent book Dear Granny Smith: A Letter from Your Postman, published in 2009. He forecast that Granny Smith doesn’t matter any more.
Barry Norman
Drighlington, Leeds
