Friday 24 May 2024

‽istis thanks goodness (weekending May 25th 2024)

 

‽istis thanks goodness (weekending May 25th 2024)

Following on from last weekending’s blog when ‽istis wondered what ‘mantras’[i] might get us through or might help us to be good enough and to survive testing times:

·         ‘This too shall pass.’

·         ‘No peace without justice.’

·         ‘It will be alright in the end and if it’s not alright, it’s not yet the end.’

·         ‘I’m doing the best I can.’

·         ‘Give it the beans.’

·         Etc, etc…

 

This week there is perhaps a link as Jason Beer KC questions Paula Vennells at the UK’s ‘Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry’[ii] and identifies several ‘false statements’, examples of organisational folklore…

·         ‘Every time we go to court, we’ve won.’

·         ‘Horizon has no faults in it, every time we its been investigated no fault has been found.’

·         ‘No remote access is possible for either the Post Office or Fujitsu.’

·         ‘The contract for sub-postmasters says that they are responsible for all losses.’

·         To which might be added: ‘You are the only sub-postmaster experiencing these problems.’

Oh, the power of organisational ‘truths’ and ‘facts’ and assumptions that may be no more than opinions masquerading as universal truths (OMAUTs); constructs or opinions which are presented as truths (COWPATs)[iii]; that seem to be more than beyond question – people do not think even to wonder whether there is a question to be asked; that comprise ‘wisdom’ received and absorbed; that are perhaps somewhere on an extended ‘Rumsfeld spectrum’[iv] with known unknowns and unknown unknowns – perhaps we might call them ‘unknown knowns’…?

And what a week for public inquiries[v] and their outcome:

  • The Grenfell Tower (Fire - lest we forget - in which 70 people died and two more people after the event) Inquiry has posted an update this week [Va]       
  •  The ‘Covid 19’ inquiry still sits[vi]
  •  The report following the ‘Infected blood Inquiry’[vii] is published and the Chair refuses to close the inquiry until the recommendations are implemented[viii]

 So ‽istis has been listening closely to the proceedings of the Post Office/Horizon inquiry and thinks:

·         firstly, thank goodness for public inquiries[ix], and that we live in a country where these are carried out, every costly, detailed day of them

·         thank goodness for the storage and retrieval (and occasional leaking?) of primary sources, minutes, documents, reports, emails, WhatsApp messages (well, the latter mostly stored and retrievable![x])

·         thank goodness for a process that means individuals can tell their own ‘truth’ as far as they see it (with Paula Vennell's statement to the inquiry running to hundreds and hundreds of pages) and have an opportunity to reflect

·         thank goodness for those who can actually remember and who have not lost messages

·         thank goodness for a forum and a stage for apology when ‘We have left undone those things that we ought to have done; and we have done those things that we ought not to have done’[xi], however late or of little consolation, or however much the apologies can perhaps sound like something that could be called a ‘politicians apology’ (“sorry if I have caused offence” “sorry of my remarks were taken out of context”…[xii])

·         thank goodness for those who blow the whistle[xiii], who campaign and just do not give up despite the persistent exercise of organisational and institutional weight, pressure and power – and despite enormous personal cost[xiv]

·         thank goodness for those who put professional integrity above organisational reputation (when Paula Vennells - the Post Office Chief Executive of an organisation described as one where "our culture, (is) self-absorbed and defensive”[xv] - can say that the general legal counsellor for the company ‘was possibly more loyal to her professional conduct requirements and put her integrity as a lawyer above the interests of the business’[xvi])

·         thank goodness for those who can wade through enormous amounts of information, reports, statements and other documents - and challenge and question and probe with forensic attention to detail but with an eye to the bigger picture

·         thank goodness for those who can construct a clear narrative from vast and disparate accounts and who do not shy away from making a judgement when required

·         thank goodness that convictions can be overturned[xvii] and that compensation can be paid

·         thank goodness for those who

o   do not forget and will not forget

o   who hold the organisational memory

o   who will work so that lessons are actually learned

·         so that recommendations are implemented

o   so that change will happen

§  so that occasionally, perhaps, possibly, maybe ‘never again’ may actually mean just that…‽

And the inquiries continue…

And meanwhile, in Britain the rain falls, a General Election is called (again, thank goodness) an expensive indoor media suite is eschewed, a lectern is set up outdoors and a bespoke-probably-suited Prime Minister gets very wet!

©‽istis

NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog entries to be found on X/Twitter with replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders.  X/Twitter ‘follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...  


[i] And still, at a quick glance, if you type ‘Mantras for the modern world’ into a search engine there seem to be many, many suggestions as to what could be the ‘most influential’ phrases and sayings of all time and for now… 

[ix] See v, above

[xi] https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/daily-prayer/forms-penitence Church of England ‘confession’. Paula Vennells is an ordained Anglican priest…

[xvi] https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/post-office-chief-vennells-complained-that-gc-put-professional-integrity-above-the-business/5119464.article though Ms Vennells sought to clarify (1'43"+ in to the evidence on 23.5.2024) what was meant by those words which were apparently expressed "very badly." "I absolutely did not mean what this reads when you read in the cold light..." "Why did you type it?" asked Mr Beer... 


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