Swiftly They Move
The business section of today’s Daily Mail remarks upon a sell-off of Royal Mail taking place as early as April of this coming year. The paper also briefly details a list of potential buyers including TNT, Deutsche Post and the US Federal Express.
This merely points out the true inevitability of the situation – that the future of Royal Mail is in ‘privatisation’. It does not matter what we think about this; whether we agree or disagree with ‘privatisation’, it is not up to us to decide any longer – and it has not been our decision for quite some time.
As I previously highlighted, the European Union Postal Services Directive 2008/6/EC, which amended the previous Postal Service Directive 97/67/EC has decreed that ‘privatisation’ will indeed occur. Furthermore, as Directive 2008/6/EC clearly states:
Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 31 December 2010 at the latest. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
Therefore the ‘privatisation’ of Royal Mail from its position as majority universal service provider must occur by 2011. In targeting April for a sell-off, our Labour administration is simply doing as it is being told by our EU masters in the Commission rather than following the advice of any policy groups or reports.
I should also point out that even if the Conservative party were against the ‘privatisation’ of Royal Mail (which they are not), then it wouldn’t make the blindest bit of difference. Our continued membership of the European Union confers upon us the necessity of obeying its legislation which is now part of our own law.
Your Comments:
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Hi Chris, I have read all the terms of EU Postal Services Directive 2008/6/EC, and like you I have deep concerns. In particular I am anxious to know how the proposed changes will affect those of us who reside in red letter boxes. I have tried to ask my local MP to press the matter with the relevant minister (who I believe in this case is Caroline Flint) but he does not seem to be taking my concerns seriously for some reason. I have also written to Royal Mail but have received no reply, (unless of course my reply got mixed up with all the other letters in here). I need answers Chris, Have you any suggestions? Can you post them to me? I’m the ‘VR’ box at the end of Aylestone Avenue, Brondesbury. Please don’t put crap in the envelope, I hate that. Ta!
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I would imagine that upon implementation your Red Box will be taken to the nearest recycling centre and crushed into something the size of a sugar cube.
Don’t worry though, may be you’ll be one of the lucky few to be placed in a museum to gather dust in peace and quiet. Wouldn’t that be nice?
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That sounds bloody awful, though I suppose it doesn’t matter to me now anyway. I was evicted from my letter box yesterday and am currently living in a bin at the bottom of Sodsbottom Lane, Wimborne Minster. What a horrid little town. Oh hell, I feel like opening my wrists and ending it all! Pity really, in my time I’ve read letters you wouldn’t believe – all to be lost forever like ink in rain… Time to die.
