Peter Rhodes on noisy neighbours, dodgy computers and the power of TV drama
Trigger alert: this blog contains toilet noises. It is indeed a bog-blog. Readers of a nervous disposition should look away now.
But first, the awesome power of telly. People who follow the news have known for years that a faulty computer system called Horizon wrongly convicted hundreds of Post Office staff of dishonesty. Some were forced to sign false confessions, some were jailed. The whole squalid, bullying episode was like something out of Stalin's Russia. Thankfully, it ended with wholesale acquittals and millions of pounds in compensation to postmasters.
As I say, those in the know have been aware of this grotesque national scandal for years. It was in the public arena but it was all rather complicated and, by and large, the public either didn't know or didn't want to know.
But now it is simplified for telly and turned into an ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, starring that nice bloke from Detectorists. Suddenly, the nation is horrified. There's a national petition and even talk of those who led this witch hunt themselves being investigated.
