Dear Ben,
Positive or Negative? The messages you receive as MP for Exeter are going to fit in somewhere on the spectrum between these two extremes. Superficially, my third email might appear negative, but is in fact extremely positive. I am aware that government is complex and difficult, and I have no wish to criticise unfairly. With government bringing itself into serious disrepute, both locally and nationally, a basic reassessment is essential if it is going to reconnect with the people. Make no mistake, we can see government is way off track. Knocking it isn’t helpful, but pointing out the way to a proper balance is highly positive.
You have been shown that the City Council has robbed the community of my services and those of John, our Club coach, by depriving us of our base using underhand tactics. In our case, this particularly harms the children, and ultimately promotes vandalism and gang culture. I feel fairly confident that this was not the Council’s intention, but by behaving like a bull in a china shop and not appreciating the full circumstances, this is exactly what it has achieved. Sadly, we have experienced obduracy and arrogance in addition to its ignorance.
It is now being proposed that our community be further deprived by losing the services of Tim and Margaret. Is national government mad? Is it deliberately trying to destroy community? It is behaving as stupidly as local government if it thinks that it is simply closing post offices to improve efficiency.
Our local post office is scheduled for closure. This has been brought about because “the economy” is regarded as everything, and “the people” treated as if they were of no account. Government manipulation and lack of understanding has brought about this crisis, and closing post offices is tearing the heart out of communities. It is not just our post office which needs to be saved. Tim and Margaret are vital carers in our community, and depriving them of their base is senseless. Jenny and I are frequently in and out of our post office, and greatly admire the way in which the elderly and vulnerable are helped, being shown warmth and genuine concern. Yes, these good folk are running a business, but Tim and Margaret are doing so much more, of which the government seems totally oblivious.
If our post office closes, Jenny and I will be inconvenienced to an unacceptable degree. We regularly need cash, and the extra travel to collect our pensions, post parcels and packages, and all the other post office services we use frequently makes no sense. Neither is it ‘green’. This government is needlessly creating hardship. A revived economy in two years time will in no way blot out the damage being done to community. Too many nails will be holding down the coffin lid. Why is this government so determined to commit suicide by making itself unelectable?
Unless there is a sea change, this period of Labour government will go down in history as the administration which DESTROYED COMMUNITY and STRANGLED FREEDOM.
Quality of life is far more important than wealth. People matter infinitely more than money. The whole country seems to be trying to tell the national government what it thinks about local government bureaucracy and bullying, and is being ignored.
Destructive actions will not be obscured by fine sounding words, especially when they are clearly perceived to be false and to contradict reality. Meaningless promises will not win our votes at the next general election. I cannot see any way back for this government if it will not listen to the clear voice of the people. Post offices are post offices. Counters in stores and mobile solutions are no substitute for the real thing, especially when extra travelling is involved. The Post Office has to adapt to changing technology, but the government has undermined its profitability, and is blind to the fact that communities need their Tims and Margarets.
With all due respects, !*@!!$#*/* the economy and all those obsessed with money! IT IS PEOPLE THAT MATTER. Please listen, Ben, and ensure the nation’s post offices are saved and given security. That would begin to get things back on track.
Yours sincerely,
Jim.
Bcc: Tim & Margaret.
Emails to MP (3 of 3) -
This series of three emails was sent to Ben Bradshaw MP in response to the letter he had received from Hazel Ball about tennis provision in Exeter. The third and last in this series was sent on 23rd June 2008.
The page heading should probably read, ‘National and Local Government Failure’, but that’s surely quibbling in the context of this website. There seems to be a common tendency for both to give a great amount of lip service to community and social considerations, and then to act entirely as if money were everything. Unthinkable as it is, we could live without money, but what would the world be like without people?