fumes

Post Office scandal victim, 92, ‘disgusted’ by treatment as she fumes ‘they killed us’

Betty Brown, from County Durham, ran a Post Office with her late husband and was affected by the scandal

Betty Brown, 92, believed to be the oldest victim of the Post Office scandal said she was “disgusted” at the treatment of sub postmasters as she pledged to continue her fight.

Betty from County Durham, operated the Annfield Plain Post Office with her late husband. She has previously revealed that she spent thousands of pounds of her own savings covering shortfalls that never actually existed after faulty data made it appear money was missing from the branch.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Friday (October 10), she discussed the “heartbreak” the victims had suffered, reports Wales Online.

“Totally disgusted that a government could treat their own people in the manner that they have treated the sub postmasters,” she said.

“Every one of us, not only me, every one of us. They’ve killed a lot of them.”

Betty told the ITV programme’s presenters Kate Garraway and Adil Ray: “They haven’t taken the one iota of care to any of the people left on their own, the families left, the struggles that they’ve had to go through and all the heartbreak and everything associated with it.

“And they’ve stood back, not our fault, we don’t want anything to do with it and if, when they’re forced to do with it, it’s as little as possible and how they can turn it over upside down so that the blame doesn’t go on to them, it’s all the postmasters.”

Viewers at home were moved by Betty’s comments, with one writing on X: “Get a government minister on at the same time as Betty so she can get them told!!”

“I’m so sorry for Betty,” another person penned on the platform, previously known as X. “Another person let down by government after government like so many.”

The scandal and its magnitude have come to light in recent years, with the Post Office later expressing regret to those affected, stating they were “deeply sorry for the suffering caused to so many people by Post Office’s past actions”.

In a statement, the Post Office further added that “we will continue to learn from past mistakes and are committed to continuing to transform today’s Post Office, rebuild trust, and move forward for our current postmasters and the 10 million customers who rely on us each week”.

This week the government announced that all victims of the scandal who are claiming compensation will be entitled to free legal advice to help with appeals.

Good Morning Britain airs on ITV.

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SAG-AFTRA union fumes over AI ‘actress’ Tilly Norwood

Sept. 30 (UPI) — Hollywood’s actors union SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday sounded the alarm over reports that talent agents are interested in signing Tilly Norwood, an actress generated by artificial intelligence.

SAG-AFTRA’s statement opposing the replacement of “human performers by synthetics” comes days after Deadline reported that AI studio Xicoia has engaged with multiple agents who are interested in signing the digital creation Tilly Norwood for representation.

Studios’ use of AI technology was a central issue in the 2023 SAG-AFTRA-led strike that was the longest actors’ work stoppage in Hollywood history. Now, Norwood’s emergence points to an ongoing source of dispute between studios and actors.

“To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers – without permission or compensation,” SAG-AFTRA said in the statement. “It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience.”

The union said that Norwood relies on “stolen performances” and will put actors out of work.

Norwood resembles a brunette twenty-something who speaks with a British accent and made her debut over the summer in a short AI-generated film. She already has an online presence.

Eline Van der Velden, an actor and technologist, revealed Saturday during a panel at the Zurich Summit that agents were interested in signing Norwood, the creation of the AI production studio Particle6 she founded, according to Deadline. She also said that studios and other entertainment companies were quietly embracing the technology.

“We were in a lot of boardrooms around February time, and everyone was like, ‘No, this is nothing. It’s not going to happen’. Then, by May, people were like, ‘We need to do something with you guys.’ When we first launched Tilly, people were like, ‘What’s that?’, and now we’re going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months,” said Van der Velden.

Van der Velden later responded to the initial backlash over Norwood, with a statement saying she is “not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work — a piece of art.”

But concerns about what Norwood means for the industry remain. Actress and producer Anne-Marie Johnson told Los Angeles NBC affiliate KNBC that “this is no laughing matter.”

“Our agents and our managers have to be partners in this because when we don’t get hired, they don’t get their commission,” she said.



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