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The Horizon software was originally designed to save money and reduce fraud in connection with benefits and pension payments. The Benefits Agency eventually dropped the software, leaving a massive £700M bill.
Horizon was a joint venture between the Post Office, the Benefits Agency (as the DWP was then called) and ICL, a subsidiary of Fujitsu.
The intention was to create a swipe card system for benefits and pensions to be paid out at Post Offices, replacing paper payment books.
The project began in 1996, but by 1999 the Benefits Agency had lost all faith in the system ever working and pulled out, leaving the taxpayer with a massive £700 million bill with nothing to show at the end of it.
In desperation, the project was repurposed to allow electronic bookkeeping to replace paper accounts in post offices.
And the end result of that is now playing out in the media, the courts and a public inquiry.
Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner.
I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it.
Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much.
I asked him what was wrong; He said, "nothing."
I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset.
He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it.
On the way home, I told him that I loved him.
He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behaviour. I don't know why he didn't say, “I love you, too.”
When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent.
Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep; I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.
They say you should never meet your heroes. But I met mine many times and he became a good pal. Leighton James was a wonderful footballer, perhaps @BurnleyOfficial best ever. I know he had been ill but still a huge shock to get the news he has died. RIP Supertaff pic.twitter.com/JV7bMNpzbR