Lost Intelligence - Public issue, private pain

In the aftermath of the latest London Bridge terror attack we once again hear media reports from members of the public who say they phoned the hotline to tip off security services. The same thing happened after other terror attacks and the security services responded by saying they had no evidence that the alleged calls were made.

These were 'lost intelligence' events.

Theresa May has said, "Enough is enough."

That was profound, but meaningless.

Does she mean she is going to stop terror attacks?

Surely not.

If it was possible to just stop terrorists killing and maiming the public then our security services would have done so before Theresa May announced she had reached the point of having enough.

Mrs May's comment was a tough talk sound bite, nothing more. But it could have terrible repercussions for our society if May looks for a technical solution to what is a human problem, and I fear that will be her solution as this morning the discussion appears to be focused around encryption and how this facilitates the transfer of information necessary for terrorist groups to plan in secret. We could allow the government to access every item of data in every person's life, as individuals we could have our privacy removed by government in order to protect us from terrorists. Big Brother could prevail, but would that make us safer?

Not necessarily - unless we address the 'lost intelligence' issue first.

Trying to explain what we mean by intelligence is difficult enough, in recent decades psychologists have recognised that there are more dimensions to intelligence than the old IQ tests or psychometric tests can measure. Explaining what lost intelligence is, and why it's such a problem is an even bigger challenge.

But lost intelligence is a social issue and it is affecting many more of us than the terror attacks are.

In February I returned to Britain as a slightly broken 70 year old, trying to adjust to life as a widow after 40 years with the man I loved, grieving over his death, and struggling to come to terms with the financial loss  of my husband's £121,000 Barclays UKRF pension fund due to a lost intelligence event.

Barclays' lost intelligence was never in question. Barclays accept that he did ask to transfer to a UK fund, but the administration team did not action his requests. They failed to act on multiple occasions, but Barclays take no responsibility for these failures. As his widow I lose 121K, a negligible amount for Barclays but a sum that represents the whole of my husband's pension savings for his Barclays employment. In the Stage 1 decision letter Barclay's Ian Malone is content that Barclays only exceeded the service level standard by 3 days when servicing an urgent request from a dying man. In assessing this Barclays response to an urgent request from a terminally ill pension scheme member as acceptable Malone illustrates a corporate culture devoid of compassion and humanity. For Malone the information that the scheme member had terminal cancer was irrelevant, only the service level standard targets matter.

Within a few weeks of arriving at my new home, far from friends and family, a place chosen because it was cheap enough for me to afford I experienced more 'lost intelligence' that placed me under intolerable pressure.

The house I moved into has pay-as-you-go meters for gas and electricity, something I had not encountered since the coin in the slot days of the council house I grew up in. Ovo Energy and Scottish Power sent me bills. I didn't understand how I could owe so much when I was supposedly paying for the power through a pre-payment card.

I wrote letters explaining my confusion and asking how this could happen. Neither company replied to my letters. Ovo Energy escalated the tone of their letters, and also the amount I allegedly owed. Within a few weeks I received a demand for 256 and was advised that a warrant would be applied for and entry to my property without my presence would occur. As these threats were made I was advised that the costs would be escalating throughout this time, Ovo Energy had the right to charge for every step on the way to extracting payment.

Ovo Energy made their right to enter my home very explicit, the threat worked and I was afraid. My fear was that anyone entering my property might allow my two elderly cats to escape. Cat welfare might be trivial nonsense for many people, but these two cats had come with me from Australia and they are my only companions. I suffered many tearful nights of worry. Should I just pay the money? I didn't understand how I could owe the money, Scottish Power and Ovo Energy hadn't answered multiple letters I had sent them, but maybe paying would bring peace of mind.

I decided that for me it wouldn't help. For the same reason that just walking away from the Barclays pension problem will not bring peace of mind. Because I sincerely believe that these things are not just my individual problems, they are social justice issues. Big corporations are bullying individuals, and it just isn't acceptable. To borrow Mrs May's words I thought, "Enough is enough".

At that low moment in my life I read a poignant and disturbing story in the Guardian, an article about 20 year old Jerome Rogers. Jerome's story made me realise the problems I experienced were not limited to profit making corporations. The lack of compassion in dealing with individuals occurs throughout British society wherever the individual is in dispute with a legal entity that is not human, and these include our government agencies. Our social justice has been eroded by giving those entities powers beyond those enjoyed by humans.

 Jerome was a young man with a parking fine bullied to suicide by the escalation of costs and the actions taken by those granted authority to ensure the parking fine was paid. Jerome's only way of earning a living was delivering pizzas by motorbike. Because he had a parking fine the authorised enforcers took his motorbike, thereby removing his only means of earning a living. 

Is this the Britain we want to live in?

When I read that article I wondered if I should travel to Bristol and commit suicide in front of the Ovo Energy office building. My burning body would surely extract some response from the British legal system and I could leave an explanation for my actions. But the thought of how my cats might suffer if I left them alone stopped me. Instead of suicide I made contact with Diane Taylor, the Guardian journalist who had written about Jerome.

Diane replied saying she would telephone the energy companies, and she did.

Within hours of her call I was contacted by both companies. They offered effusive apologies and goodwill gestures of cash. Both companies allege lost intelligence, my letters were ignored by both companies and I suffered. My husband's emails and letters were lost intelligence ignored by Barclays and he suffered, and I now suffer as a result.

For the corporations and institutions there are great savings in lost intelligence. No need to pay for customer services to deal with public communications. Many of those inconvenienced by corporate bullying will just do nothing, they will pay more than they should rather than spend time arguing, another group will go to Citizens' Advice. Citizens' Advice may work adequately, or not. I really cannot comment - yet, for I haven't seen any significant headlines being made and I am still not totally clear whether the corporations are paying for Citizens' Advice or if we, the public are paying for what appears to be a form of customer service necessary because those who should be providing it have failed. 

For the public the pain is felt, the effect on our mental health is significant. And for some, like Jerome it is too much to bear. 

Lives are being ruined by bullying corporations who apparently now have more rights than individuals. For Jerome it is too late and that does make me sad. We need a society with more compassion and more humanity we need to understand that efficiency and profit targets are not indicators of a decent caring society. A nation that meets standard service targets while driving individuals to despair cannot be what we need.

Lost intelligence is not just a terrorist issue, it is a public issue causing private pain. 

If the security services did lose intelligence because their staff were operating under the same pressures that are present throughout so many organisations, then God help us.