tomo,
That's a hideous document. A bit of double-counting in their "long-duration electricity storage" options (not that *any* of them is storing electricity — has anyone asked for a grant to experiment with a really big plastic comb yet?). They rate batteries as "short-term", but then have five different sorts of batteries in their long-duration list, just to pad out the options. All they really have is pumped hydro and batteries.

The document would be a lot shorter if they corrected its first sentence:

To achieve decarbonisation targets whilst meeting significant increases in electricity demand, the GB power sector requires large levels of intermittent renewables on the system.

To achieve decarbonisation targets whilst meeting significant increases in electricity demand, the GB power sector requires lots and lots of nuclear generation.

On the Post Office debacle, I wasn't advocating futile railing at the state of the world, just suggesting that expectations should be low. There can be no justice for the people who have killed themselves. As for the British taxpayer, he is on the hook for more for the NHS system.

As for choice of actions to be taken over it, I'd set different priorities from Mailman's. The PO high-ups who knew (or should have known) that the system was hopeless, but decided to proceed with it anyway, should face criminal charges. Likewise anyone who accepted a bribe from the suppliers.

Not so sure how bad Fujitsu's sins were. Common elements with what I argued with TinyCO2 on big pharma vs. MHRA and who should pay more for regulatory capture: the ruthless vendor or the corrupted regulator.

Agree with Mark Hodgson that it would be very fitting if Mr Davey was dethroned over it.

Back on the decline of airlines, Matt Walsh on "diversity hire" pilots and the easy run they get on licensing. There is mention of diversity hires in the maintenance departments too, and mechanics refusing to have their torque wrench calibration checked by inspectors (sounded a bit contrived to fit the current sensation).

I read somewhere earlier today that a (former) sub-post mistress is so angry about Ed Davey that she is thinking of standings as a candidate at the imminent general election in his constituency. It would be marvellously satisfying if she beat him.

Tomo,

Sounds like Fujitsu is now being dragged in to the picture (as they should since this was THEIR application).

If they are at fault then they should be forced to pay up and cover ALL the damages that should be awarded to every single post master wrongly caught up in this mess.

And then everyone at the PO who had their dirty little fingers dipped in to this fiasco need to pay a price.

And every Politician who was responsible for the Post Office (Ed and co) should be held accountable. Actually, speaking of Ed Davey, Id love to know what he did every time someone brought this to his attention back in the day. Who did he pass that correspondence on to and what was his instructions.

Its a bit pointless having someone at the head of a Department who did f88k all when issues were brought to his attention. I mean we might as well have a picture of a Moose as the head of the Post Office for all the good he did (and every other politician through the years).

People in top positions MUST be forced to pay a price.

Robert

UK Post Office + lawyers / judiciary ...

Futile railing at the state of the world might be one take... but *why* should taxpayers foot the bill for the poisonous individual deeds of the Post Office and lawyers ( many lawyers surely knew, after 20+ years that the software was irredeemably shit)?

There's literally dozens of postmasters that avoided prosecution by giving the post office literally their worldly goods and some cases ended up living in a caravan... Strangely (sarc) there's no claims that the software overpaid any postmasters...

MikeHig,
Thanks for those links. I'll earmark one or both for my next visit to the UK (may be a while, given my current rate of travel). Amazing it was still doing its assigned job in 1980. Other amusing thing in my read-through was the idea of an "engine house". No, no, not just a housing, a *house*.

I suppose the modern pumping stations are not so impressive. When I was working for the NSW electricity generator, it was always much more exciting visting the old power stations. You needed the hearing protection at Pyrmont, for example (old, 200 MW), and had a real sense of the energy involved. Visiting any of the brand new (at the time, now being decommissioned) 2,000 MW generators, there was a large cowling over the workings, and it just sat there and hummed.

tomo,
I think you introduced me to the Post Office scandal a year or two ago. My favoured example for IT debacles is the UK NHS system for unified patient records. NHS one was more expensive, but the PO system more evil. Roughly equating to the worlds of Yes Minister and Brazil respectively.

Mailman,
And if it sticks to the Brazil model, there won't be anyone answering for its evil. All are just cogs in the great bureaucratic machine.

They won't building museums celebrating that sort of machine.

Thought this, on the Boeing 737 MAX door blow-out was very good. I hadn't previously heard that the depressurisation burst open the cockpit door. There's meant to be an alternative path for pressure equalisation.

It is darkly humourous that much of the cockpit emergency checklist was sucked out. Do they have another checklist for that? Anyhow, it did make a pretty good excuse for the pilots forgetting to halt the cockpit voice recorder.

Well it is good to see things are moving along now for those SPM who were treated like dog sh1t by the PO.

Now lets start seeing management being held accountable for what went on...and by management I dont mean someone like a developer or a project manager or someone middle management BUT the people in very senior positions who valued the name of the Post Office over the actual people at the share end who WERE the post office!