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Government must bail out the Post Office or prepare to sink
WHAT has come over the government? Is it on a suicide mission?
Doesn’t Gordon Brown, not to mention his colleagues, many of whom have that eyes-down, don’t trouble me look, realise that if they don’t bail out the Post Office and keep the threatened post offices open, they’ll deal a massive blow to Labour in the coming local elections in Britain?
To keep the offices open, the Post Office needs a subsidy of a few hundred million – a fleabite compared to subsidies paid annually to franchised rail companies, and a fraction of the billions wasted on the Iraq misadventure.
A possible explanation may be, of course, that the government does not want to upset the real power-makers in much of domestic politics today, the EU bureaucrats, whose laissez-faire policies aim to put any nationalised undertaking into a deep dark hole.
Suddenly, this newspaper can – thank goodness – report one protest after another against closures of post offices in the borough.
The familiar faces of Victoria Wood and Bill Paterson turned up in sedate Highgate Village on Tuesday to support a local campaign to save the local post office (see page 7).
Protests also ring out to keep the Englands Lane post office open as well as a vital one in South End Road.
Years ago protests against the first wave of post office closures were on a much smaller scale, and, perhaps, this made the Post Office bold enough to have another try. But this time they may have miscalculated. Gordon Brown didn’t sound at all convincing when he attempted to defend the closures at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday (Wednesday).
The protesters should keep on pushing. Faced with more public protests, the government may begin to realise the political cost of saying No is too high a price to pay.
Director cut
WE are saddened to hear of the death of director Anthony Minghella. Never playing the big movie man, Mr Minghella was always considerate whenever our reporters contacted him.
When he was appointed a CBE seven years ago he was more than pleased to take his parents with him to the Town Hall to meet the mayor. There he chatted amiably to our reporter, introducing him to his parents who were clearly proud of their son.
When he wanted to set up production company in Fleet Road he was warned it would be broken into. He dismissed those fears. He said he wanted to bring trade and jobs to the area – and he meant it.
He cared about Camden. He did not want to put himself in an ivory tower. All he wanted was to create beautiful pictures. He will be sorely missed.
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