Psychology, Plagiarism and the Post Office Scandal Part 1

Quick intro to a video series connecting psychology and teaching about plagiarism with the UK post office scandal. In this first video I focus on the scandal. I will connect to psychology and teaching about plagiarism in part 4, which is coming soon.

NOTE: In the UK, I am called a 'Critical Psychologist'. In Australia, which is where I presently live, the title 'psychologist' is a protected title used to denote psychologists who are registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). I am not registered as a psychologist with AHPRA as I am not a qualified health practitioner - I am an academic and social activitist and I do not offer psychological services, I offer critical and political analysis to benefit those working to create progressive social change.

[corringhamdepot]

As an ex UK IT Civil Servant with 15 years experience on IT, I see the the PO Horizon scandal as just an extreme example of the way our CS works. Whitehall demands a particular thing. Department Heads pass on the demand, and it goes on down the line. With no level ever daring to to raise any problems or objections. Until it ends up on the desk of the person who has to implement the change. Then we end up with 2 alternative realities. The managers who maintain the fiction that everything is always going perfectly, and the staff who know it is a total mess, or that it can never work in the way claimed. The staff then end up being split into "sheep and goats". The sheep follow the party line, brown nose the managers and get an easy life. The goats raise problems, make the managers look bad. So they are harassed, overloaded with work and given bad annual reviews. Until they either shut up, or leave. They end up spending thousands on a new IT system that fails badly. The development manager gets promoted and leaves just before it goes live. Then the replacement manager gets praised and promoted for fixing the problems that many already predicted would happen after it went live. Win, win.

[pippipster]

It seems that the dynamic at Post Office from a psychological point of view was really quite simple. It was a group think that PO must be protected at all costs. If that meant prosecuting and persecuting SPMs so be it. But one could see as well on occasion elements of sadism creeping in. Appeared to contain psychological aspects that would make for an effective totalitarian state with a combination of Orwell and Kafka.

[Wilkins_Micawber]

I am in the U.K. To say this scandal has caused a bit of noise, is an understatement. The noise is deafening. I think if the Post Office wasn’t a monopoly the British Public would run them out of business. Government ministers are passing the buck around. In a “Who me? Naa, not me! Look over there.

[wilson]

reputations weren't damaged, they were irreversibly demolished and/or ruined !!

[janebuckland]

Thank you for this Paul. Have shared with my Aussie relatives of which my brother is a Brit. 🙏🙏🙏

[tangledcharlotte]

It'll be shown in the US on PBS some time in March.

[XCaz]

If it hadn't been for this series most UK citizens would know nothing about this.
But this teaches us about cover ups, dishonesty and greed.

[xcskidog]

Well done for pointing out the abysmal failure of the UK media to do their job in reporting the case, until the ITV drama aired

[fortuner]

7 subpostmasters yes. 70 possible. 700 absolutely impossible.
Each one should get £1, 500, 000 immediately while all the legal stuff is going on

[garybowman]

Arrogance, inability and too much "power" in the hands of people who shouldn't have been allowed to turn on a kettle or write a holiday postcard. I would like to suggest that if you are going to work for Fushitsu or POL, you have regular check ups, because working in these environments, apparently, totally destroys memory!

[xcskidog]

This was also a compmete failing of the judicial system

[lufe]

The story has all sorts of subplots (from the top down). At the top, extreme arrogance and absolute uncaring of the harm they did to ordinary people, and digging the hole deeper because they were covering up their culpability. The bottom because power corrupts and puts the brain into a fixed belief, the clowns who did the investigations into alleged fraud, were not in any way trying to get at the truth, only in confirming what their 'belief' was. The judiciary, as usual siding with the 'establishment' and authority (the right people). The lawyers, as always. profiting from people's misery.

[therealspixycat]

Was Fujitsu in a position to tell the sub postmaster about the bugs and defects of Horizon?

[liamhemmings]

I will watch with interest. I hope by plagiarism you mean more then text, but thought and lazy thought too. Thank you, at least, for an intriguing introductory video.

[andrewgilbertson]

Computing Today, Radio 4, Private Eye all covered it, years and years of investigation.

[DavGv]

You're not quite accurate when you say nothing happened until the TV programme although I agree that did get the Government to move.. A lot of people, me included, were convinced that the PO was wrong while the prosecutions were happening and wrote to their MPs about it. Of course the MPs ignored this to toe the party line. Also there was group litigation before the High Court in 2018 and 2019 brought by Alan Bates and others (sub postmasters) which ruled in the claimants favour and was very critical of the PO and a case before the Court of Criminal Appeal in Hamilton & Others [2021] EWCA Crim 577 on 23 April 2021, in which the Court held that the private prosecutions of 39 sub-postmasters had been “an affront to justice”. That was for information not a criticism of a fascinating series,

[andrewgilbertson]

Group think, not taking responsibility for one’s actions. Buck passing.

[lancepymble]

I've watched almost all your videos on the Post Office scandal with a mixture of enthrall and appall. As an Australian I see massive parallels with our Robodebt scandal. But Robodebt seems even worse because the agency entrusted with persuing the criminal perpetrators has itself corruptly failed to bring them to justice. Can you please look into Paul Brereton, the NACC, Scott Morrison, Gail Furness, Kathryn Campbell and why Anthony Albanese is so reluctant to persue criminal charges against Scott Morrison for his role in this human catastrophe.

[mnoxman]

I know Fujitsu is a large company but I can't help but think the corruption is enterprise wide. FWIW: I live in the US.

[JelMain]

It's still going on, prosecutions are still happening.