Author | Lightnews

James Christie

@jamesdchristie.bsky.social

460 followers 740 following 260 posts

Semi-retired IT consultant. Experienced in software dev, IT audit, testing, info security management. Still active in whatever engages or angers me (eg #PostOfficeScandal). Match reporter for Dundee FC. Loves writing. See clarotesting.wordpress.com.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · Nov 15

My current #PostOfficeScandal project is a deep dive into the contractual confusion between the Post Office and Fujitsu about what Horizon was meant to do. Neither corporation took the trouble to be clear about the system's purposes, specifically about how system evidence would be used in ... 1/4

1 2 6

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 1d

Falkirk 2 Dundee FC 1. The Dark Blues threw a point away at the end. They were short of their best but should have taken a point today. My report for the club website.
dundeefc.co.uk/match/falkir...

Falkirk - Dundee Football Club - Official Website

Dundee lost 2-1 at Falkirk this afternoon. The Dark Blues had the edge in a first half in which they took the lead from Clark Robertson’s header at a corner. Falkirk started the second half strongly a...

dundeefc.co.uk

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 3d

Driving up the A846 on the Isle of Jura at sunrise. It's surely one of Scotland's most scenic 'highways'.

Reposted by James Christie

Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 10d

Populists live on simple answers and cheap applause. When those no longer work and they are confronted by unpopularity, they have nothing.

Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 10d

👏 "We've lived here all our lives. And I have never felt so unwelcome in my own hometown as I do since your party came into Caerphilly."

"With all the rhetoric that you bring in, I have to say to my sons, please don't go there. Please don't do this."

"I blame you for that."

3 39 160

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 12d

Facetious or not, it was more sensible than the government announcement. I doubt if even 1% of students taking STEM degrees have an A level in English Language.

1 2

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 12d

In Scotland it makes sense to take Higher level English Language because pupils typically do 5 subjects in 5th year and some more in 6th if they stay on. In England, however, A level English Language is far less attractive because pupils have to specialise, taking 3 or maybe 4 A levels over 2 years.

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 12d

This is nonsensical, meaningless posturing. English Language A level includes linguistics. It was introduced only in the 1980s. Before then a good O level in English Language was all that was required to demonstrate proficiency. Only a tiny minority of STEM students have A level English Language.

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 16d

I agree. I have no patience with those who adopt Christianity as a cultural badge while ignoring Christian teaching. Evangelical Christians in the UK are different from those in the USA. I go to an evangelical church, whose members' politics are much the same as any other random social group.

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 17d

I'm of the generation with fathers who served in WW2 and scorned nostalgia. Dad served in 1st Airborne; 1942-47, North Africa, Italy, Arnhem, Norway, Palestine, in his teens & early 20s (the ages I was a student). He once snapped at a friend. "No, life's far better now. No-one's trying to kill me!"

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 17d

The letters columns of every local newspaper are filled with retired men moaning that modern life is rubbish and everything was so much better when they were a lad.
Why don't women moan like this? Do they tell their husbands to shut up, stop boring them, and write to the papers instead?

2 8

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 19d

A friend once lent me a copy of CS Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters", just as a book to read. It was a pristine 1st edition in its original cover and signed by the author in 1942. I hardly dared touch it never mind drink coffee in the same room. I had to do some explaining to the owner.

1 2

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 21d

Aberdeen 4 Dundee FC 0.
That was awful from the Dark Blues, who got what they deserved. My report for the club website.
dundeefc.co.uk/match/aberde...

Aberdeen - Dundee Football Club - Official Website

Dundee went down to a 4-0 defeat against Aberdeen at Pittodrie this afternoon. The Dons tied up the points with three goals in eleven first half minutes. Jesper Karlsson opened the scoring from the pe...

dundeefc.co.uk

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 21d

Obviously that's a ridiculous comparison, but it's entirely Badenoch's fault for bringing it into play by promising to get rid of people without considering how deportation would work. Anyone with a brain or a sense of decency would have steered well clear of the stupid & callous response she gave.

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 21d

The question is only irrelevant if she doesn't expect to win, or to be taken seriously. It's like a school-leaver saying they'll be earning £150k a year in 12 months and insisting it's irrelevant to ask how.

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 23d

Is internal audit dead? No, but if it doesn't learn some important lessons (especially from the Post Office scandal) it might as well die. My blog.
clarotesting.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/i...

Is internal audit dead?

This piece is prompted is a thought provoking post from Ankit Chakrabarty on LinkedIn. [Link opens in new tab with Ankit’s full post.] Ankit’s headline, that internal audit is dead, is …

clarotesting.wordpress.com

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 23d

I don't think I've ever seen a more stupid insult than "lanyard classes". Taken literally it means anyone with a job. In practice it just means "people I don't like".

Reposted by James Christie

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 25d

I have watched his bit and the bit after Kuenssberg asks the question about 20 times and my ribs hurt.

Janey, Janey, Janey, still making me laugh from beyond.

25 260 860

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 27d

Duncan was a music teacher and leader of the Royal Dundee Institution for the Blind's Orchestra. He was in great demand as a dance pianist, and was renowned in Dundee for his one man band act. Dolly followed in his footsteps, becaming the resident pianist in a Dundee dance hall at the age of 16. 3/3

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 27d

It was a long wait for Bob Christie to return to his "darling Dolly". There was much to smile about that summer for the Christies and Macphersons.
This is Dolly Macpherson in her mid-20s in 1920, and her father Duncan. He was blinded aged 4 in an accident, but became a professional musician. 2/3.

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 27d

I love these old family photos I found. My newly married great-grandparents, Duncan & Florence Macpherson in the 1890s. My grandmother, Dorothy (Dolly) Macpherson, May 1920, at the Birks of Aberfeldy. That summer her boyfriend, my grandfather, left the army after joining up at the start of WW1. 1/3

1 3

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 29d

St Mirren 1 Dundee FC 0. The Dark Blues can't do enough to save a tight game. My report for the club's website, which is awful to work with. The formatting is screwed up and won't recognise my HTML code to sort it. One is not amused.😒
dundeefc.co.uk/match/st-mir...

St Mirren - Dundee Football Club - Official Website

Dundee went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat against St Mirren in Paisley this afternoon. Killian Phillips scored the only goal late in the first half. The Dark Blues had their fair share of the ball, but ...

dundeefc.co.uk

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 29d

...recognised Nedham. Last year I enjoyed Anna Keay's history of the Protectorate, "The Restless Republic". A chapter is devoted to Nedham, a skilled survivor and utterly unprincipled opportunist, switching sides whenever circumstances required. I love it when fiction and history come together. 2/2

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · 29d

I'm reading the excellent "The Black Friar" by @shonamaclean.bsky.social. A character called Marchamont Nedham has been introduced as the Proctorate's "mouthpiece to the masses... he would write whatever it paid him most to write, regardless of any truth". From that description I immediately...1/2

2 1 2

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · Sep 25

My extensive experience of building, testing, and auditing complex IT systems has left me wondering, "what could possibly go right?" It's much harder than people think, and the government has a dreadful track record. See the Post Office scandal.

1 2 4

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · Sep 20

Dundee FC 3 Livingston 2. I quite enjoyed that. Well, most of it anyway, and certainly the 97th minute.🙂
My report for the Dundee FC website.
dundeefc.co.uk/match/living...

Livingston - Dundee Football Club - Official Website

Dundee beat Livingston 3-2 at Dens Park to secure their first league win of the season and they did it in the most dramatic fashion. Simon Murray gave the Dark Blues a deserved lead late in the first ...

dundeefc.co.uk

James Christie @jamesdchristie.bsky.social · Sep 18

Q: "Did you ever tell Donald Trump his name is in the files?"
A: "I have never spoken to President Trump about the Epstein files."
The question covered passing information by any means. The answer dealt only with a verbal exchange. Maybe he didn't lie, but did he try to carefully mislead Swalwell?