Paula Vennells and the very British vice of bestowing awards for failure
SIR – Paula Vennells, the former CEO of the Post Office, is handing back her CBE (telegraph.co.uk, January 9).
Yet she received this honour, along with a senior NHS appointment, when the Post Office scandal was well advanced. How did those two things occur? Professor Anthony
Goldstone
Radlett, Hertfordshire
sir – I’ve always thought that the executive merry-go-round in Britain is rotten and unaccountable. The Post Office scandal is a clear example.
Then, when things start to go wrong, people in high places set up an inquiry. If nothing else, we in Britain are very good at carrying out inquiries. It is part of the noble art of kicking anything nasty down the road – or, better still, into the long grass.
Ian Johnson
Chelford, Cheshire
sir – As a former Post Office employee, I have been shocked and saddened by this story. An organisation once held in respect and affection by the British public became a brand to be protected at all costs.
Baji Kapadia
Sutton, Surrey
sir – One of the many disturbing questions arising from the Post Office scandal is: if there was no money missing, how was it proved beyond reasonable doubt that there was?
The convictions can only have been based on what the computer system (in this case Horizon) came up with, and the courts were apparently happy to accept that situation.
With the rise of AI, and the current blind faith that governments and businesses have in IT, the future looks very scary indeed.
Mike Bussell
Yeovil, Somerset
sir – Does anyone think that Fujitsu, the company behind the faulty software, will simply pay up (Leading Article, January 8)? No. I suspect it will mount a defence and fight this through the courts, causing another five years or so of delay.
The Government has to exonerate all the sub-postmasters now and make sure they are adequately compensated – although what is to be considered adequate after a 20-year wait is open to debate.
Duncan Rayner
Sunningdale, Berkshire
sir – I know a sub-postmaster who opened a small Post Office two years ago. It uses Horizon, and Fujitsu continues to have remote access. The Post Office still expects him to make up any shortfall, which he refuses to do.
Some of the cash input terminals – for the Lottery, for instance – don’t even link to Horizon, which complicates running the system.
It appears the Post Office has learnt and changed nothing.
Ken Wilson
Lymington, Hampshire