No surprise there, then.

In message , harryagain writes

Our magnificent Post Office is now a charity shop (with a small area at one end where you collect the parcels and signed-for stuff. The sorting and the little red vans still operate from the back). The Post Office counter is across town where the parking is worst, in the back of a sweet-shop.

I take it that you are referring to RM's dropping share price because they can't compete with the competition, or something like that.

They get no sympathy from me, as they are too damn expensive to send anything more than a standard letter.

In message , Tim Streater writes

Car tax now mostly on line, pensions mostly paid into bank accounts. I use letter post so infrequently that a universal service is of no interest to me. About 80% [1]of people who live in rural areas have chosen to do so why should I pay for their mail deliveries - or their broadband or their bus services etc?

The price differential between RM/PF and others can be astonishing. A recent parcel, very light and something like a pizza box in shape, RM/PF offered £11.99 (IIRC - or at least close to that), Hermes £3.79.

However much I might want some aspects of the RM/PF service to continue in existence, that level is not something anyone can ignore or swallow.

For all its hysteria on this (and everything else), there seems to be a pretty close correlation between the price of a stamp and the Daily Mail - both were 3d when I was a child in the early 1960s.

Why should the rural dwellers pay for your street lights, policing of the town centre binge drinkers,

Broadband is a bad example, rural dwellers pay the same subs for a generally much poorer service:

Nov 2013 average speeds: Urban: 31.9 Mbps Sub-urban: 21.8 Mbps Rural: 11.3 Mbps

If you are thinking of the rollout of FTTC, that has been paid for by BDUK and county councils but covers both builtup and rural areas. Note that builtup areas tend to get FTTC first and rural areas second or even not at all. Many places are stuck with ADSL2 ("up to 8 Mbps") and even then whole villages may only get 2 Mbps or less. iPlayer no chance...

Or pay more if you're in an exchange area classed as "market 1".

iplayer desktop works fine on slow links (just select download rather than stream). If that doesn't work then bypass the restrictions on pirate bay and download a torrent version of the program you want.

So move.

Share were discounted by around 25% at the time of the float (or even more than that, depends who you believe), so I would let the shareholders lose a little more before entertaining any change to their obligations.

I'm not really much interested in their shareholders. Only in the service provided.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

That's one of the benefits of privatisation. No interfering politicians throwing taxpayers money at it.

Really? Lots of once publicly owned now privatized companies get taxpayers money thrown at them.

Not sure why you refer to them as "publicly owned". They were wholly owned by an entity called "the Government" and the public had no say in the matter.

You mean "publicly owned", as in by members of the public (with some exceptions, where that "Government" thingy has bought up all the shares).

Collins GEM English Dictionary public n. the community, people in general. ?adj. of or concerning the people as a whole; for use by everyone; well-known; performed or made openly. ?publicly adv. ?publican n. person who owns or runs a pub. ?public house pub. ?public relations promotion of a favourable opinion towards an organization among the public. ?public school private fee-paying school in England. ?public-spirited adj. having or showing an active interest in the good of the community.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

No the utilities, and not the telecoms companies other than to provide broadband and mobile phone access to winging ex-townies in rural areas - which is where I came in.

I take it you haven't understood this thread?

Thanks for confirming my point. And private fee-paying schools in England are so-called because at the time they were established, they were the only place that poorer [1] members of the *public* could go to get an education.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Perhaps you should get yourself a decent newsreader.