THE Post Office Horizon scandal bears all the hallmarks of a TV drama so it’s no surprise that ITV decided to turn it into one.
Although if it was a merely a work of fiction, TV writers might have been asked by bosses to make a few edits to make it a bit more believable.
It’s frankly beyond belief that a miscarriage of justice on this scale has been allowed to remain unresolved for so long.
A faulty computer system might have been the match that set the house alight, but we now know that there were plenty of powerful people who were content to stand back and watch it burn to the ground.
The obfuscation, cover ups and abuses of power by the Post Office during this scandal is a set of behaviours that will be familiar to those who follow politics.
The same politicians who will defend their own parties to the hilt when they are exposed in wrongdoing are now on TV asking why the Post Office refused to admit its mistake as soon as it discovered the fault in the computer software.
In a week where this issue finally secured the prominence it deserves, the Horizon scandal also got top billing at FMQs on Thursday.
Party leaders spoke about the plight of the subpostmasters while trying really hard not to do so in a way that made it obvious that they had one eye on the injustice itself and the other fixed firmly on the upcoming General Election.
READ MORE: All Scottish Post Office scandal victims will be cleared, Humza Yousaf says
Douglas Ross urged the First Minister to work collaboratively with the UK Government to deal with Scottish cases promptly.
The relationship between the UK and Scottish governments has two modes: "fight to the death" and "collaboration in the best interests of both countries".
If it’s set to the latter, you know something must have gone badly wrong. Deadly virus. War. The LibDems in a coalition government.
Douglas Ross (below) went on to highlight the fact that in Scotland prosecutions were taken forward not by the Post Office itself but by Scotland’s Crown Office. And he said the prosecution service in Scotland knew about problems with the Horizon system as early as 2013.
In response, the First Minister paid tribute to the work of former subpostmasters and said it shouldn’t have taken a TV drama for their voices to be heard.
He was keen to remind Douglas Ross that the Post Office is a wholly reserved institution that is accountable to UK Government ministers, but said that he would work with the UK Government to ensure that victims get justice.
Anas Sarwar also went on the big topic of the week, saying that evidence from the public inquiry has shown that "Post Office employees were going door to door in Scotland to threaten and extort money from subpostmasters".
READ MORE: Firm at centre of Post Office scandal has major Government contract renewed
The Scottish Labour leader said that there had been potentially criminal behaviour by the Post Office in how they dealt with staff, and asked if it would be properly investigated.
The First Minister said he empathised ‘’in the strongest way possible’’ with the experiences of those affected by the scandal, and that any allegations of criminality are a matter for the Crown.
It was a relatively sedate first FMQs back for MSPs after the Christmas recess.
Expect "fight to the death" mode to be activated from here on in though, as election season finally gets underway.
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