Our reporters hit the streets to talk to the public in our major cities across the UK about the news making the headlines this week. In this episode, we look at the Post Office scandal, Blue Monday and ask if Londoners know their own city names
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Welcome to The Verdict on the Street, the show that
00:14 listens to its audience.
00:17 We're going to take some of the hottest topics
00:19 out onto the streets of Britain to ask you
00:22 what you think of them.
00:24 In a world that seems full of experts,
00:26 sometimes it's the opinions of the people on the street
00:29 that really matter.
00:30 So, great British public, it's over to you.
00:35 We send our reporters out into a number of cities across the UK,
00:38 armed only with a camera and a microphone
00:40 to ask simply, what do you think?
00:42 Here's what's coming up on this week's agenda.
00:48 The post office scandal has finally
00:50 got the recognition it deserves after an excellent ITV drama.
00:53 But what do you make of it all?
00:55 The third Monday in January is known as Blue Monday.
00:58 How are you going to cope?
01:00 And we talked to Londoners to see
01:01 if they can pronounce area names in their own city.
01:06 But we start with the post office.
01:08 And after years of press coverage on the subject,
01:10 it was a superb ITV drama that really
01:13 put the story on the map.
01:14 More than 900 workers were prosecuted
01:16 after faulty software wrongly made
01:18 it look like money was missing from their branches.
01:21 After 20 years, campaigners won a legal battle
01:23 to have their cases reconsidered.
01:26 A public inquiry began in February 2021
01:28 with victims still seeking appropriate address.
01:31 And the heavily criticised former post office chief
01:33 executive, Paula Venels, said she would hand back her CBE
01:37 after a petition calling for its removal
01:39 gathered more than a million signatures.
01:42 How angry has the story and lack of accountability made you?
01:47 She should be stripped, yeah, definitely.
01:49 And not only stripped of her title, yeah.
01:52 She should have all the bonuses that she's
01:54 been paid while she was in that position, yeah.
01:58 And stripped away from her.
02:00 Like the post office people had everything
02:02 stripped away from them.
02:04 I don't understand why it's taken a TV programme to get
02:08 the police to investigate what was going on.
02:11 And the bosses should be held responsible.
02:14 Two responses there from the public
02:16 to the post office IT scandal, which has recently
02:19 come into the spotlight following the ITV drama
02:23 Mr Bates versus the post office.
02:25 The computer system the post office spent an arm and a leg
02:28 on is faulty.
02:30 No one else has ever reported any problems with Horizon.
02:34 No one.
02:35 You're responsible for the loss.
02:36 I haven't got that money and I don't know where it's gone.
02:40 Between 1999 and 2015, the post office
02:44 pursued 736 sub-postmasters and postmistresses.
02:49 That's about one per week.
02:51 And they were using data from an IT system called Horizon.
02:55 Now, despite claims of innocence and raised Horizon concerns,
02:59 some faced imprisonment for false accounting and theft,
03:02 causing financial ruin.
03:04 After 20 years, campaigners secured a legal battle
03:08 for case reviews.
03:10 But only 93 convictions have been overturned.
03:13 A public inquiry persists with many victims still
03:17 battling to reverse convictions or obtain
03:20 rightful compensation.
03:21 Here's more on what people had to say on the subject
03:24 across the country.
03:25 Some people lost their lives.
03:27 Some people lost their livelihoods.
03:29 It's a disgrace.
03:30 The government have acted fairly quickly, I think.
03:33 And they're going to get some money to these people
03:36 pretty promptly.
03:37 And it's the least they can do.
03:42 It's probably some people at the post office
03:44 who have got a lot of questions to answer,
03:46 especially why they were getting hundreds
03:49 of apparently criminally minded postmasters.
03:53 Honestly, I found it such, such hard work to watch.
03:56 And that's just me, you know, just awful, awful.
04:01 There's no resolution even at this point,
04:03 in spite of all the media attention
04:06 that's been given to it.
04:07 I didn't realise, even though I remember it going on,
04:10 I didn't realise the injustice of what had gone on
04:13 and the actual story behind it, what had happened.
04:16 In response to the ITV drama,
04:18 current post office chief executive Nick Reed
04:21 says he encourages those who've been affected
04:23 to seek redress.
04:25 And here's what Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
04:28 had to say on the affair.
04:30 An appalling miscarriage of justice,
04:33 an appalling treatment of all the people affected.
04:36 And it's right that they get the redress that they deserve.
04:39 As for Paula Venels, the chief executive
04:41 at the time of the scandal,
04:43 well, this million plus petition has seen her relent
04:47 with the offer to hand back her CBE.
04:50 - Ah, would you look at the weather.
04:55 It's cold, it's dark, it's miserable.
04:58 Christmas is over and it's ages until payday.
05:01 And summer is a lot further away than that.
05:04 It's no wonder they call the third Monday
05:06 in January Blue Monday.
05:08 So what are your tips for coping with the most dismal of days?
05:12 - I think we all do get affected in January
05:15 because, I don't know, it seems such a long month.
05:19 You get paid early in December for Christmas
05:22 and then it seems such a long period
05:25 before you get money again in January.
05:28 So, and I think the only way, get out,
05:32 have a walk around, try and find things to do.
05:37 It's the best thing I can suggest.
05:38 - Once the festive cheer of Christmas,
05:40 the combination of shorter days and chilly, damp weather
05:44 can compound a feeling of gloom
05:46 as we approach the so-called most depressing day of the year.
05:50 Next Monday has been proclaimed
05:52 by a UK travel company Sky Travel
05:55 as the year's most dismal.
05:57 Initially presented in a 2005 press release by the company,
06:01 they claim to have devised an equation
06:03 to pinpoint this date, factoring in the number of days
06:06 and the weather conditions pertinent
06:08 only to the Northern Hemisphere.
06:10 Despite their assertion,
06:11 some dismiss this concept as pseudoscience.
06:14 But to be fair, with the dark days and freezing weather,
06:18 you could be forgiven for feeling a bit down.
06:21 Here's more from people around the country
06:23 discussing how they cheer themselves up.
06:26 - Well, you just try and lift your spirits
06:29 in any way you can, I suppose.
06:31 I just try to do the best I can.
06:34 - I'm beating the January blues next Monday
06:36 'cause I'm going to the Caribbean for three weeks.
06:38 Simple as.
06:40 I can't, there you go.
06:42 - My tip, and I do it every day,
06:44 especially at this time of year,
06:45 I check the sunset times
06:47 and you can literally see that every day
06:49 you get a minute more daylight.
06:51 And that actually really sustains me.
06:52 I know it's sad, but true.
06:54 - I quite like January, actually.
06:56 And all of a sudden I feel Christmassy at last.
06:59 As soon as it starts snowing, I love the snow.
07:01 I don't like the cold, but I love it when it snows.
07:03 And I quite like January 'cause I actually feel like
07:08 I'm one of these people that like to change their life,
07:12 try new things, albeit for six weeks
07:14 before I run out of enthusiasm.
07:16 - I don't know what it is.
07:17 I think maybe 'cause we know that it's sort of coming up.
07:20 Maybe it's just like psychologically
07:21 you make yourself sort of worse
07:23 'cause you know it's happening, I don't know.
07:24 But yeah, I just find it just a bliss
07:27 to be able to just be in the moment
07:29 and just find it just a bleak,
07:31 everybody looks miserable and I don't know.
07:34 It's just like if it snowed,
07:35 it'd be something to look forward to.
07:36 It doesn't even do that.
07:37 It's just cold.
07:39 - I mean, if anybody's really depressed,
07:41 they should watch a Marx Brothers film
07:44 or Laurel and Hardy or a bit of Tim Vine on TV.
07:49 It'll soon cheer you up.
07:52 You know, no matter how bad things are,
07:57 there's always something that can get you out of that.
08:02 - I read a lot, so I suppose I find reading quite relaxing.
08:05 - TV's my best mate.
08:06 - You like your TV.
08:08 - Just for company. - Watching on series.
08:09 - Yeah, well TV's company as well as company.
08:12 For people who are alone, I think it fills time.
08:15 - Yeah, it's my best mate, so.
08:17 - Well, I don't know about Blue Monday,
08:22 but this should give us all a bit of a chuckle.
08:24 Can Londoners actually pronounce
08:26 all the area names in their city?
08:28 So, James, how long have you lived in London for?
08:34 - Well, I don't technically live in London.
08:36 I'm a little bit further north,
08:38 just north of Enfield in a town called Cheson,
08:40 which is technically in Hertfordshire,
08:42 but I've been commuting in all my life.
08:45 - Right, and how well do you think
08:46 you can pronounce London names?
08:49 - We'll find out, I guess.
08:50 I'm not massively confident, but we'll have to see.
08:54 - How long have you lived in London for?
08:56 - I mean, I was born and raised,
08:59 so whole life, pretty much.
09:00 - Okay, right.
09:01 So how confident are you that you can pronounce
09:04 the names of places in London?
09:05 - I mean, I know south better than I know north,
09:08 so some of them might be a bit of a mystery to me,
09:10 but we'll see how we get on.
09:11 - So I've been in London since September,
09:13 so it's been about six months.
09:15 So in theory, I should recognise some of these,
09:17 but don't know how well I'll do.
09:19 - Okay, we're gonna start off with some easy ones,
09:21 straightforward ones that you should get.
09:22 - Okay, don't say that before.
09:23 - And then it'll get a bit harder, okay?
09:26 So if you're all right just to read out
09:29 the first one for me there.
09:30 - Chiswick.
09:32 - Chiswick.
09:32 - Chiswick.
09:33 - Chiswick, nice and easy.
09:34 And then the second one?
09:35 - Subbock.
09:36 - Subbock.
09:38 - Subbock.
09:38 - Yeah, and the third one?
09:40 - Penge.
09:41 - Penge.
09:42 - Nice.
09:43 So are you--
09:44 - I live in Penge.
09:45 I'm struggling to think how else anyone would pronounce it.
09:49 - I have never heard of that.
09:50 Penge?
09:51 - Penge is correct, so that's good.
09:53 The fourth one, this is a street name in London.
09:56 - I would just say Berwick Street.
09:57 - Berwick, so it's actually Berwick Street.
09:59 - Berwick, okay.
10:00 - Berwick Street.
10:01 Berwick Street?
10:03 - Yeah, Berwick Street is correct.
10:05 Four for four, going well.
10:07 This next one?
10:08 - Surrey Quays.
10:09 - Surrey Quays.
10:10 - Yeah.
10:11 - Surrey Quays.
10:11 - That's correct.
10:12 The one underneath?
10:13 - Hoban.
10:14 - Hoban?
10:15 - Hoban.
10:16 - Hoban is correct.
10:17 - Aldwich.
10:19 - It's Aldwich.
10:23 - So, one wrong.
10:24 - Aldwich.
10:25 - So it's Aldwich.
10:27 - Ah.
10:27 - Technically.
10:29 - Aldwich?
10:29 - Yes, Aldwich is correct.
10:31 - No.
10:32 - Ryslip.
10:33 - No, it's Ryslip.
10:34 - Ryslip.
10:35 - So, here we go.
10:36 Starting to tumble here.
10:38 - Ryslip.
10:39 - Okay, I would say that's Ryslip.
10:41 - Nice.
10:42 This is a square in London, just underneath.
10:45 - Oh, I haven't heard of that.
10:46 Maybe Cadogan Square?
10:48 - I'm just gonna go for a Hail Mary.
10:51 Let's say it's Cadogan or something.
10:53 - Cadogan Square?
10:56 - Incorrect, it's Cardigan Square.
10:58 And then the last one, this one I think
11:00 might catch out everyone.
11:01 - Playstow.
11:04 - It's incorrect, it's actually Plastow.
11:06 But listen, seven out of 10, 70% pass rate.
11:09 - Respectable.
11:10 - I think that's really good.
11:11 Are you happy with that?
11:11 - I am very happy with that, yeah.
11:13 - Plastow?
11:14 Close.
11:17 - Do you know what?
11:19 (laughing)
11:20 That's a really tough one, 'cause it's,
11:22 say it again for me.
11:23 - Plastow.
11:24 - Do you know what, I'm gonna give you that.
11:27 - All right, sounds.
11:28 - Plastow, but Plastow is closer than Playstow.
11:33 I'm not sure on this one.
11:34 - Okay.
11:34 - I might give you a half point for that one.
11:35 - Okay, I'll accept six and a half.
11:37 - Six and a half, about 65%.
11:38 - Yeah, that's respectable.
11:39 - Yeah, respectable.
11:40 - Yeah.
11:41 - The last one, if you get this right,
11:43 you're the champion, so no pressure.
11:46 Have you heard of that last one?
11:46 - Oh, I have, I think that's Plastow.
11:49 Is that right?
11:49 - Yay!
11:50 - Well, I know that.
11:51 (laughing)
11:53 (upbeat music)
11:56 (upbeat music)