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Great summing up Dr. Paul - Shame was the killer. Thank you.

As Duckett says, Perkins apology was very, very carefully crafted.

Hello Dr Paul, I have watched a lot of the Post office enquiry. It is difficult to distance yourself from the effect it has had on so many lives. With this analysis you have identified so many of the dangers and effects that Corporate think, or as often quoted by KC Jason Beer, group think, can have on individuals like Tim Parker is clearly revealed. Thank you to George Orwell. Thank you to you Dr. Paul.

Love your fade out music - reminds me of something cosy from my childhood - Thought for the day - or Wooden Tops theme (Watch with mother)

I wish you could make it up, but Wikipedia says this man was made chairman of HM courts and tribunal service after he left the post office. Yet another example of why this country is totally fubar.

Jason is a master of language. “He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.” I hope the study of this scandal becomes incorporated into university business courses.

Brilliant👍

Unfortunately I don’t think the “wrongdoers” will be held to account. Why? Unlike the “little” person these dreadful people can afford clever lawyers. I hope I’m wrong but…

Vennells was an incompetent CEO. That is hard to comprehend, but that is the case.

It makes me wonder about the things we do that we are unable to undo if they are found to be dangerous and the more i think about it the more it applies to all our lives and each others actions innit!

IMHO, POL should be financially audited, to determine how much money was stollen from SPM and then determine if this lead to the bonuses POL staff received are proceeds of crime.

George is absolutely right! Horizon is a robust piece of software. If problems existed before Horizon and SMPs were prosecuted accordingly as he claims. How many of these were unsafe orosecutions? We may never know. If nothing else, the Horizon software has shown just how often the auditors got it wrong. So, I agree with George. It's a great piece if software😊 The apples metaphore is perfect!🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎🍏🍎 Spot the bad one!

On the topic of Institutional Plagiarism, it is worth considering who owns the copyright to statements made by individuals who represent the institution when those statements are made on behalf of the Institution. I don't see an element of plagiarism in text created within an Institution (by one person) and used by another person on behalf of the Institution. I think in this case the copyright belongs to the Institution and anyone within the Institution is free to use the material on behalf of the Institution. What can sit awkwardly in this context is when the attribution of text within the institution is concealed or misrepresented. I see that more as an internal matter of poor management than of plagiarism. As an example of what I mean, consider a regulatory submission - as part of an institution's normal business - of scientific data related to approval of a new drug/medicine, which may be compiled by a named employee but created by a number of contributors (not plagiarism in my opinion) compared to the presentation of the same scientific data at a scientific symposium by an individual who represents the data as their own work to advance their scientific profile and hence their career ( plagiarism, in my opinion). So, not always so easy to say plagiarism or not.

Thank you Dr Paul Duckett for your erudite and rational assessmet of the particular issue you you addressed in this video. You have restored my faith in the possibility that there are actually people out there who possess the gift of passion that most people seem to lack. Your video ignites a wider concept than just its Post Office Scandal subject. You have a rare insight into humanity that I share, but also despair. So, it's reassuring to listen to your voice and feel hat I am not alone ...

What a rat this twat is.

He was head of a pseudo bought off trade union . That union should not exaist on the TUC watch

Thinking of (just a few from the UK): Hillsborough, Mid-Staffordshire, Infected Blood, Rape Grooming Gangs, Grenfell and of course Post Office, I am drawn to a few words from my favourite poem: Therefore, since the world has still Much good, but much less good than ill, And while the sun and moon endure Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure, I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good. Thank you for the insightful videos on the PO scandal, looking forward to all your new content in 2025.

The Brilliant Mr Beer!!!

Elton John was wrong. "Sorry" doesn't seem to be the hardest word. AP confessed to not really understanding the IT world. It's 2025! IT is the foundation of any modern corporation/business. A rudimentary understanding is the very least requirement for anyone working in this arena including the COB. How can you possibly fulfil your function as a stategist if you dont understand the technical foundations upon which most large businesses are based?

You really nailed it. Brilliant and so interesting, particularly the examination of the difference between guilt and shame and its connection with cultural/ societal differences. It got me thinking how guilt is so much easier to bear as it has such a strong link to legal matters, so often open to interpretation and so often an action and as you rightly identified this allows the Vennells and the Parkers to feel that their actions and words have been misinterpreted and that they are therefore not guilty, so they feel no guilt but sorry for themselves ( Vennells tears). As you said it is more internal and domestic but it feels as if shame is far more about one’s place in the world and how one has been seen by the world and judged as unworthy and feels that sense of being outcast and alone as being seen as a bad person. I do love a bit of theatrical delivery ( Mr Henry)? and will remember your quote: ‘Speaking truth to the heart - Not just to the mind’.

Mr Beer is magnificent. I came to this conclusion after watching nearly all the witness sessions. I got hooked. I also watched Mr Bates v The Post Office and like everyone here in the U.K. I was consumed with anger. My sons didn’t feel as strongly as me, (they are in their 30s), so it must be an age thing, I’m 70. I found your videos by chance and after watching them several times, I found some answers. Morally angry - yes, that’s how I feel. I thought I was just angry before. As you have pointed out, the Post Office scandal comes on the back of so many others here in the U.K. I think what really eats away at me is that at the bottom of all this is that people in authority/Goverment et al, just don’t seem to care about ‘ordinary people’ , they don’t matter and worse think they are expendable. My question to you Paul (and perhaps this is a topic for one of your videos) why is this? Why don’t they have compassion for their fellow human beings ? I get they want to hang on to power, their high paid jobs and the PR of the company, but at all cost? We have a long wait until the Chairman releases his report. I hope some answers will come of it.

Very Sound 🙂

👍 Always enjoyed your videos that I watched. I've now subscribed, my tiny contribution of support. Lovely to hear you mention 'the silent assassin' Jo Hamilton. Her stoic presence. usually front and centre every day at the Enquiry was so powerful. 👍👍👍👍👍

I am an anglo kiwi, 20+ years away.Thought about this job 30yrs ago. I am impressed in the extreme at your hyper quality reporting and insightful points of view I could listen to this kind of reporting for hours. Will be seeking more videos...😊

Her constituents decided that they thought she wasn't the full shilling.

Paul, love your channel. So glad to hear you are in Oz. Have you considered doing some episodes looking at the Robodebt scandal here? That is our local equivalent of this disaster. Would love to hear your thoughts on the Australian version (if will not cause you problems with the uni you work at).

Vennels was all about self pity, Van den Bogard was all about self preservation & both were trying to stay out of jail

Did Crown offices experience short falls? If yes, who was blamed? If no, were they not using the horizon system?

Shame & Guilt explanations were very interesting & understandable in cultural context. Having lived in Asia, shame or loss of face is palpable.

Brilliant & thought provoking!

Lol just found this one, I wish I found it earlier 😊

I think her commnets about IT issues not going to the board and CEO area complete crop of shit. I worked for a large governement corperation that introduces new mission critical software. It didn't work after 3 days. The corperation took action to replace the new system with the old system that did work. All the senior managers knew exactly what was happening and the fallout was several very senior managers were told to leave the building. It ended up a complete nightmare and it was left to many junior employes to rebuild the data tha was lost. Paul Vennells is complete moron and shouldn't have been left incharge of wiping her own backside let alone in charge of POL

My background is finance & I also served on the executive of my bank’s union (Ireland). Quite simply, I have been horrified at how ordinary decent postmasters / mistresses have been walked on by these institutions over a period of many years. The thought of paying your union dues to an organisation that not only failed to represent these people - but actively conspired & colluded against them??? Jaysus!!! And as for the Post Office itself? Blind hubris!

I am in no way familiar with court proceedings, but I was drawn into this enquiry after watching the TV show. Mr Beers questioning of witnesses/accomplices was a joy to watch. What an extraordinary professional he is.

Thank you Paul , your explanations are trully brilliant

Powerful insights Doctor.

The work that must have been done by Mr. Beer & his team in preparation for his line of questioning for many of the witnesses must have been colossal. I particularly enjoyed Mr. Beer tying up George Ward in knots after discovering that he had deleted parts of the Jenkins witness statement!

I recently read the book by Nick Wallis about the Post Office scandal. What really struck me is its similarity to the Robodebt scandal here in Australia in which 100s of thousands of welfare recipients were lumbered with false debts. The method used to generate this debts was completely faulty and was proven to be both illegal and immoral. Innocent people ended up bankrupted, homeless as a result of Robodebt and at least 8 people committed suicide. One MP even said ‘.We’ll find you, we’ll track you down and you will have to repay those debts and you may end up in prison,” which meant many people were so scared that they just paid the debts that they didn’t even own. In the UK and Australia those people in charge have yet to be held accountable. There was a Royal Commission into Robodebt and in the 900 page report there was a sealed section in which several people who were responsible for the scandal were listed as being recommend Ed for either civil or criminal charges. It has been recently been announced that prosecution of these people ‘is not in the public interest. I am so angry, it seems once more the people responsible will get scot free because they are positions of power.

People want accountability, not apologies.

Well done, I really enjoyed your perspective! And its made me want to learn more about the psychology and science behind human nature. Thank you and keep up the good work!

Don't let the uni censor you (I know which one it is). It's a great uni, but free speech is important and employers shouldn't be able to discourage you from providing your valuable, critical editorials on TH-cam. The classroom isn't the only arena where we can teach people to think, nor should it be. I think it was Carl Jung that said something like "thinking is difficult, so people judge". So let's educate people to think outside the classroom!

I think it so important that you continue to share your observations and analysis with the general public. I have observed a growing sentiment of dismissal and even distrust amongst my fellow humans towards academic comment. This being particularly noticeable in reference to our Covid experiences, but it is seeping through in other areas too. So, if our societies are to retain and even expand concern and caring for community and not just pursue "success " in terms of profits, then we the ordinary people need to keep being exposed to analysis such as yours. Thankyou.

Greetings from the UK. Todays Daily Telegraph features claims by a far right right party that JP met Elon Musk and as a result Musk came out against their leader. Specifically JP disagreed with their policy of rejecting a racist called Tommy Robinson, currently in prison for refusing to stop repeating lies about a lad of Asian background. The lies are on Musks platform, I have read, so Robinson makes money from them while serving his time. I first heard of JP when a self-styled ‘fascist’ formerly in a band some people liked praised him online. But I had not realised how practically close to the far right the man is. So good to see some critical thinking applied to JP though I disagree with some of your assertions, especially some involving a rejection of ‘binaries’…….

Not keen on his syrup!

Amazing summary, excellent analysis. Thank you.

Rich and powerful do not shame anything what they do to working people.

Truly excellent

I have a 😂BA Hons in Psychsocial Studies and your videos have been of great interest to me because of their psychosocial insight. I think the 'shame vs guilt' is also linked to to 'have or to be', that guilt is and add on to a persons behaviour, where shame is more a sense of being, more personal and internal. Thanks for posting your videos, they always provide food for thought.

No problem Paul Thank you & I am glad to read that you clearly have a large audience.

Roderic Williams is definitely "on the spectrum" - MIGHT have forgotten the question in his cross wired mind, or was playing for time, or both - the way his replies had so many rapid partial false starts was REALLY fucking annoying.