Do all government scandals need a television drama for people to take notice? ITV’s ‘Mr Bates vs The Post Office’ horrified the public and triggered outrage.
I am delighted that the Post Office Horizon scandal victims will finally be exonerated and compensated – but why did it take a TV drama to do this?
Let’s not forget the ‘Lockdown parties at Downing Street’ drama, which brought home to the public the contempt that the then Prime Minster Boris Johnson had for the public during the COVID-19 crisis.
“I am delighted that the Post Office Horizon scandal victims will finally be exonerated and compensated”
It gets worse. We recently saw calls for the Windrush Compensation Scheme to move faster. This has dragged its heels in compensating the victims for the inhuman treatment they have received.
Public inquiry after public inquiry has seen the Government promise to right the wrongs of what has happened. How many times do we need to hear this?
Victims of the infected blood scandal – viewed as the NHS’s worst treatment disaster – have questioned why they haven’t seen coverage similar to the Post Office injustice. The publication of yet another public report has been delayed again.
As I write this, the Grenfell Tower survivors were confronting executives from companies blamed for the disaster, after saying – in the wake of the Post Office scandal – that it was increasingly clear that “those in power have lost their moral compass”.
How long will this inquiry go on for, and how long before those responsible are brought to justice?