It is beyond any understanding how somebody at the post office didn't twig that hundreds of postmasters and mistresses were unlikely to all be criminals, syphoning off money from the organisation. So why didn't anyone from the post office look a little deeper at their own organisation and ask a few pertinent questions? The answer is probably that they were more prepared to accept that they had hundreds of criminals running their organisation rather than accept that it was the organisation itself at fault.
Seeing the anguish, heartbreak and financial ruin that this has caused so many people is frightening. Obviously all the convictions will now be quashed but this will leave a very nasty taste. I hope that all those wrongly accused are given significant settlement packages that help them to move on with their lives without the stigma involved with being accused of crimes they didn't do.
One poor women actually pleaded guilty to stealing money from the Post Office because she was told that if she pleaded not guilty and was convicted she would go to prison. That is a form of torture - forcing somebody into making a decision that they do not wish to make.
As I've said before in these blogs, we have all been accused at one time or another of something we haven't done. There is nothing worse and nothing more frustrating than having people think you are guilty of something you know damn well you haven't done.
If this happens to me nowadays (and thankfully it rarely does) I just say "I know that I didn't do it and that's all that matters to me. If you don't believe me that's your problem and not mine."
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It was good to hear Radio Two DJ Johnny Walker talking this morning about The Bay City Rollers following the death of their frontman and singer Les McKeown.
Walker acknowledged that the Rollers were probably the blueprint for subsequent boy bands and also that he hadn't always been kind about them.
Did you know that over the years there have been many re-incarnations of the Rollers with no less than 24 different members? Walker apparently wasn't happy with the Rollers being likened to the Beatles although he now realises that this was meant as a comment on their popularity rather than their music.
Their biggest hit was Bye Bye Baby and I bet as you read this you have started singing it. This was of course a cover of the Four Seasons' number.
The Rollers come from a very interesting time in pop/rock music when so many genres were battling for identity. Bye Bye Baby was a hit for them in 1975. That was five years after the Beatles had split and around the time that Punk took music in an altogether different direction. Apparently punk royalty The Ramones loved the work of the Rollers.
Music is what you want it to be - all things to all people and that's something Johnny Walker now embraces whilst still being true to his roots which are firmly planted in pirate radio. He was once lambasted for not frothing verbally at the music of the Bay City Rollers and was told by his bosses at the BBC that he needed to be more enthusiastic about it. His reply was along the lines of "I have to accept this kind of music but it doesn't mean I have to like it."
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It has been so good to see the European Soccer Super League has bit the dust. Not only were the fans against this dreadful idea, but so were the players, the TV pundits, ex-players and managers. In fact the only people for it were the rich owners who saw it as a way to get even richer.
Hopefully thanks to the weight of opposition, the idea is now dead in the water and long may it remain so. The fans have spoken and it's good to see that they have some power. They have been a force for the good of the game in this matter. Yes there are likely to be changes now but these will be good changes around the ownership of British clubs and, hopefully, a limit on the powers of greedy rich men and women who want to take over a football club and use it as a money-making machine or simply as a plaything. It will be interesting to see how the sport evolves and changes over the next five years.
One thing that is certain is that no fan will believe the nonsense that came from owners' mouths as they tried to backtrack on their ideas and appease the fans. I don't think these owners will be welcome back at the clubs they own. Keeping a low profile seems to spring to mind.
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Went for my first walk for some months yesterday around the fields of Hethersett. The sun was out and the skies were blue.
It's going to be another lovely sunny day today so I would like to take more pictures of Norwich in the sunshine. Maybe another trip to Kett's Heights to take pictures over the city. The other times I have been there it has been windy and stormy with dark skies. It will be nice to see the view in the sunshine.
Just a few pictures taken in and around Hethersett for today's blog.