The Post Office has a death wish

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

This week, of all weeks, when there is huge outrage at the way the Post Office has behaved towards subpostmasters over the Horizon scandal, thanks to the excellent ITV dramatisation Mr Bates vs The Post Office - on X/Twitter someone whose bio makes it abundantly clear she's a lesbian tweeted about a patronising and offensive tweet from the Post Office last summer about the word 'queer'. Instead of apologising, or deleting the tweet, or even just ignoring it, some blue-hairded genderist with the password for their social media has doubled down. It's not going down well, I'm pleased to report.

Couldn't happen to a nicer misogynist. The Lib dems have safeguarding disasters baked into their DNA. Every word from Davey demonstrates why he shouldn't be allowed near positions of power and why they're a danger to women and children with him in charge.

This week a much talked about documentary has aired about post office management wrong doing, and the media has been critical of them.

It's not surprising they are engineering some other dead cat for people to discuss instead, if they are.

I doubt this was engineered tbh - and this isn't acting remotely as a 'dead cat', it's acting as an amplifier.

Yes. One of the screenshots I put in the OP shows that several people objecting to the use of the word 'queer' pointed out that this week of all weeks the Post Office should be keeping its head down and not presuming to lecture the rest of us on how to behave.

Quite.

When you're suddenly cast in a shocking light in the public eye for very questionable behaviour, it is not the moment to let your interns demonstrate that you're not only questionable but out of your minds.

Article in the Telegraph

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/06/post-office-defends-homophobic-slur-queer-outcry/

https://archive.ph/tfnZy

Good report, although I'd argue the toss over which side were being 'activists'. Well said Aja and Bev, you tell 'em.

I think I said upthread that the Q word is as offensive to me as the N word - it's disgraceful that they say the marvellous Aja the Empress is wrong. How very dare they?

And as puncheur has reminded us several times, the Post Office is separate to the Royal Mail (no, I don't understand either) and the RM is being besmirched when it's not them being wrong.

The telegraph is very slowly inching towards understanding that 'LGBT+' is now code for gender ideology political lobby, and not a term inclusive of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. And it excludes them and harms their interests as it excludes and harms the interests of women who dares to have lives and needs that do not fit with the desires of activists.

Hey Jess, why don’t you educate us on what the Post Office actually does? That would be much more useful.

The Post Office persecutes postmistresses into prison, penury.

Throws them in prison on manufactured evidence and drives them to suicide.

Thanks for the link. What a bunch of arrogant bastards.

Good report, although I'd argue the toss over which side were being 'activists'. Well said Aja and Bev, you tell 'em.

Theres a very clear need for continued activism by LGB people, particularly the L, as there is for feminism. Whereas what the PO is doing seems more like lazy misguided 'virtue signalling'.

People who believe that TWAW lack critical thinking skills, so is it surprising to see that both Ed Davey and Jo Swinson were involved in this scandal? Their inability to ask any difficult questions or provide any oversight of an area they were responsible for meant the Post Office were able to continue there vindictive campaign of persection for another 5 years.

Spot on! It speaks to a lack of critical thinking, values and moral courage Unsurprising when these people turn out to be sadly inadequate politicians unable to see corruption and wrongdoing, even when it's staring them in the face.
The Lib Dems are a busted flush but worrying to see so many labour politicians in thrall to the same delusion.

Back in 2019, the Post Office Twitter account put up a tweet about their support for employees "suffering from mental ill health" at a time when the abominable treatment of their Subpostmasters was known to them. No self-awareness at all.

I do feel very cross that our incompetent but self serving government has suddenly decided that the post office scandal is an issue, though. Too late: we see through you. I hope people do get their compensation quickly, though.

Have been watching the ITV programme about this and the sense of cognitive dissonance and utter disbelief at the insanity does remind me of gender ideology so not surprising the PO believe in those emperor's new clothes too.

It was proper ducking stool stuff the way the spms were treated- there was no evidence beyond Horizon that they took that money. None of them were jetting off on inexplicable luxury holidays or suddenly buying themselves new cars. Where did the supposed money go? There was no evidence of it in real terms at all, just numbers on a Horizon printout. It just didn't make sense at the most basic level. These people had gained nothing from their supposed (made up) crimes - and lost everything including in some cases their lives. Children's lives were destroyed too and their wider families. Just appalling.

Shocking that the PO was profiting from basically making up that decent, normal, hardworking people owed them 10s of thousands of pounds. Then Vennells gets millions in a 'bonus' because the PO made a profit - yes, some of that profit was theft from the subpostmasters! There really need to be criminal charges brought as it's pretty clear it was known quite early on that people could alter horizon remotely. If the courts had known that fact the outcomes of all the trials would have been different.

I do think they should get compensation for all of them but particularly for those who've lost their lives, compensation isn't enough - criminal charges including corporate manslaughter are needed.

It was proper ducking stool stuff the way the spms were treated - yes! Guilty of being a witch if you sink, guilty of being a witch if you float.

I have to say, I find it quite satisfying to see him getting his comeuppance after he was such a twat to us- seems like his attitude towards the SPMs has been quite similar to what we saw. He’s an excellent example of what happens when your selection pool for party leader is reduced to 15 people- just not up to the job.

Slightly unrelated, but does queer not also mean strange or unrelated. Why has this meaning of the word gone out of fashion?

I just caught a bit on a Nicky Campbell show when I was giving my mum her breakfast. A woman called Amanda ended up pleading guilty, she lost absolutely everything and now lives in a caravan. 😢

The compensation for these people needs to be massive to make up for their harrowing experiences!

What did she plead guilty for?

It's still used. Nowt so queer as folk.
But it's being displaced in the same sort of way as gay, I suppose.

Maybe we need to queer the 'queering' by using it with the original meaning at every opportunity.