What I Learned in London
It's not at all a secret that I worked for our government. In 2014 (photo from that trip) I went to GLA to secure a contract - or actually get a contract (that we had not won before) - for Web site support. It would soon become a Big Client and I'd be the main and almost sole person dealing with all those tickets. I did lots of work on these. Later we hired another person who helped me catch up with tickets so that I can go on holiday without worrying. This person would later be employed directly by GLA, but that's another story. I contacted him about the pension fraud a few years ago. GLA doesn't want to know or hear about this because it can then become a scandal (legal liability) for GLA and, by extension, for our government. Their contractors are not outside their reach.
Based on the financial report released 1.5 months ago (25 June 2026), the employer that stole money from its own employees now has less than 2,000 pounds in the bank and there are lawsuits coming its way.
I'll always remember how my MP, who is now Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and also Secretary of State for Education (that's new), tried to help my colleague and I get justice or hold people accountable for the stolen money. Action Fraud simply ignored her in the same way it had ignored the victims.
To me, that was a valuable lesson in "British Justice".
It's not just that it's about "connections" (they'd try harder if you're famous or some royalty or some super-rich businessman, otherwise "meh!"), it takes a lot of persistence or perseverance to reach something, almost to attain justice, even when it is elusive because the stolen money is already spent. Thankfully some ministers still help us in our fight for press freedom in the UK. Recovering lost money is an impossibility, but there's more to life than money. █
We fight on. Thank you, Lucy.
Published last week: (2026-08-07) The psychology of overconfidence: why excessive self-belief is often a successful strategy in life
Image source: Horsemen