to enjoy hearing Paula Vennels being taken apart?

[Sausagenbacon]

Is anyone else listening - radio 5 at the moment. Paula Vennels being slowly picked apart by an expert?

Love how JB stopped her in her tracks when she hoped to garner sympathy with her wibbly wobbly voice 'Pause....compose yourself. Then continue with your testimony when you're ready.'

Game, set and match to Mr. Beer.

Feed her to the sharks. Her ‘I was too trusting’ line in particular. Wtf - signs of a true sociopath; they always turn it back onto themselves.
And if she thinks that is anywhere near admissible guilt or the very start of an apology it doesn’t even touch the sides. Evil cow.

So awful. Yet she and the rest of them carry on with their pensions and big wages.

Exactly!!

I think Dido Harding was married to a politician. And Alice Perkins Chair of PO when Vennells was ceo is married to Jack Straw. Think there may be nepotism going on in appointments?

I'm not surprised that she did this at all. Sadly.

I don't suppose she will be defrocked by the Church of England? Probably not when they happily protect the paedophiles amongst their ranks.

This enquiry is one thing but are people like Vennells really going to be personally prosecuted and even imprisoned?

Or is it just going to be a white wash and lessons will be learnt kind of thing ?

From guardian below

what was going on, Paula explained: “I was too trusting.” Barely a quarter of an hour later this humblebrag had done a complete 180, as she said: “I was sometimes criticised at team development events for being too curious.” Was she? At one stage Vennells had even been unaware that her organisation employed a team of about 100 enforcers driving private prosecutions. I’m reminded of those people who worked for Bernie Madoff on the 18th and 19th floors in his offices, and somehow didn’t realise he and a crack unit were running the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme on the 17th.

I have often wondered how these people manage to get such "big" jobs as it certainly isn't on merit. I recently retired from the NHS and have worked with some incredibly talented people over the years, very few of them rose up in management. How is it that people like most of us who are intelligent and diligent don't get the roles like Vennells and Dido Harding? It does puzzle me.

Someone asked upthread if Fujitsu would be questioned too. Has anyone else clocked who the head of it was? The husband of the current Education Secretary, no less
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68106040

Exactly this

It#s not about "increasing the pay to attract the best", much as the timeservers already in post would appreciate it for themselves, but that the best will go nowhere near the stultifying culture involved

I'm so glad I found this thread! I've been absolutely gripped, but it's so complex it's been hard to find anyone to talk to about it.

I just find the whole thing so fascinating, tempered of course by the aching tragedy of the awfulness of what happened to the poor sub postmasters.

The real kickers for me were twofold: firstly, when it was noted that the briefing PV got for the parliamentary hearing said that she should say that the system could not be tampered with, but TO ADMIT THAT IT COULD BE ONLY WHEN PRESSED. Which PV said she did not read or take in, despite it being HER BRIEFING DOC.
Has the person who wrote that briefing been questioned? That is absolutely smoking gun stuff.

secondly, when she was told that there was a "communications gap" between what they had said publicly about the above and what the truth was, when the questioner picked up that she didn't query what a "super user" was (ie the people who could fiddle with the system from the outside) implying that she already knew of their existence. That was a real masterclass of close reading but also the documents show how the cold, clinical psychopathy of corporate speak always underpays things.

I have zero sympathy whatsoever to be clear but I honestly can't tell if she is criminally stupid, or actively evil.

That;s very interesting, thanks. I caught a bit of the Janail Singh evidence when looking through at other witness testimony and he was a car crash,I did wonder the import of that particular document. The whole thing is just layers and layers of the most awful corruption and cover up.

I haven’t followed this closely but obviously I’m aware of the story. Those who know the details - what do you think was PV’s motivation for shafting the postmasters? Was it a power trip? Or could her ego not cope with mistakes being revealed on her watch?

What I find staggering is her lack of accountability.

Didn't she realise that when she took on the role?

She needed a big sign on her desk "the buck stops here".

Her imperious /pained looks when reporters have tried to question her are maddening! As if she's a victim.
I think she sees herself as a victim.

It is a very important part of the saga. Failure to acknowledge / act on Clark advise led directly to Seema Misra going to prison.

All of the PO salaried lawyers have denied being aware of it. Their excuses are pathetic, didn't know how to print attachments, downloaded it but couldn't read it on their BlackBerry screen and then forgot, ect, ect, ect.

Vennels was in charge of this crowd of charletons. It was her job to ensure that things like this didn't happen. She keeps saying "with hindsight". Pathetic weasel words. The simple fact is that she was paid a huge amount of money to have foresight. What she says with hindsight is irelavent.

@PaperTyger I completely agree. She doesn't seem to recognize that whatever the ins and outs, as a CEO she is ultimately accountable - for actions, for culture...

But at the same time one can see how rotten it is with her at the helm setting that tone.

Watching Jason Beer KC at work is fab. Same as watching Ben Cooper KC.
Masters of their craft.

Mark Davies, the Comms Director used to work for Jack Straw. The Chair of the PO Alice Perkins is married to Jack Straw. Mark admitted to hearing about the opportunity through his contacts but claims to have gone through a competitive recruitment process. Of course you did Mark.

She’s had nearly ten years to be a good Christian and apologise for what she oversaw on her huge wage while hundreds of people were being imprisoned, committed suicide and lost everything they had

she did nothing. She took other jobs with big wages. I have no sympathy for her.

it was her job. She was CEO

Failure to acknowledge / act on Clark advise led directly to Seema Misra going to prison
Clarke.
Sorry, he’s a relative.

He was also grilled strongly, he did the right thing though.

Thanks again @Sceptic1234 it stinks more than 3 day old fish left out in the sun.

I am seriously annoyed that public money is being spent on the employment of these inept charlatans who seem proud to portray their total incompetence and chicanery to the world.

The number of times I shouted at the screen It was your job to know.

None of them should ever work in a public paid role again and a mass clear out in other publicly funded organisations should take place.

You do wonder what these people think they're being paid for. Paula Vennells was on something like £800k 20 times more than the average person. Anyone could just ask for advice and not do any more digging. Anyone decent would have gone to fujitsu themselves and asked to see what was going on and reassured themselves there was no remote access.

Is there any chance she can end up in a courtroom? If not the whole thing is a waste of time.