Messages of support need to be given to those 130,000 members of the CWU who took strike action today.

The BBC news just said that the costs of modernisation of the Post Office would cost £1 billion (that sounds cheap - presumably none of the big consultancies are involved then) and the Guardian reports that 40,000 jobs could be lost.

Who benefits?

Does it really help anyone to put all those people out of work? And it might be worth considering the social and environmental impact. I don’t have the figures, but if there are now a range of different companies delivering mail then presumably each has it’s own fleet of trucks. So instead of one post office van going round your area, there’s the fun of looking forward to TNT, Kwik Mail, Poundstretcher Mail and all the rest of them. Yeah, really good for the environment.

And while everyone talks about benefits, consideration should be given to dis-benefits. There are an awful lot of people in Britain who are horribly and depressingly isolated for whom contact with the Postie, and a visit to the local post office or library make a huge difference to their well being. Sad but true.

I use the word at the beginning of this entry in the traditional sense. The vast majority of use would benefit from a more social and co-operative approach to how society is structured and managed. Only a very few will benefit from this ‘modernisation’.

And that brings me finally to categorisation. I’ve put this under the category of ‘e-democracy’ because I’ve also been brought up to believe that democracy is about people having their opinions listened to, and that in general, the majority who vote for something should get that. I don’t know who voted for this ‘modernisation’ policy, or indeed how many people are working on it, or want it. But I doubt it’s anywhere near the figure of 130,000 who voted for and went on strike today.