Post Office, post Independence
This should be a very easy question, but I'm stumped for a sensible answer that isn't bad news for the islands.
What happens to the Universal Service Obligation - the obligation to deliver post anywhere in the UK at a single fixed price - post Independence?
I posed this question to a senior SNP member, and got abuse in return; when I hoped for enlightenment. These questions, and many other similar questions, are going to be asked over the next couple of years and the public will want answers, or the "fear factor" will win. That is the downside of the delay in the poll.
Shoot me down if I am wrong, but the USO will disappear, meaning that postal services in the islands will need to be subsidised by the new Scottish Royal Mail. The current postage stamp system - of course - won't exist, and it is likely that many rural Post Offices will lose their subsidy and close. Unless Edinburgh guarantees to underwrite the cost.
Royal Mail will likely continue to deliver to Glasgow and Edinburgh - where the volume is - but the rest of the country will be up for grabs. Or not as the case may be.
The SNP need to get a grip, admit and address the reality of additional costs in setting up the public services, and provide answers to some very basic questions that those more erudite than I will raise in more public fora.
Let's frame the least scary scare headline, "Islands to lose daily post in Independent Scotland".
Comments very welcome.....
What happens to the Universal Service Obligation - the obligation to deliver post anywhere in the UK at a single fixed price - post Independence?
I posed this question to a senior SNP member, and got abuse in return; when I hoped for enlightenment. These questions, and many other similar questions, are going to be asked over the next couple of years and the public will want answers, or the "fear factor" will win. That is the downside of the delay in the poll.
Shoot me down if I am wrong, but the USO will disappear, meaning that postal services in the islands will need to be subsidised by the new Scottish Royal Mail. The current postage stamp system - of course - won't exist, and it is likely that many rural Post Offices will lose their subsidy and close. Unless Edinburgh guarantees to underwrite the cost.
Royal Mail will likely continue to deliver to Glasgow and Edinburgh - where the volume is - but the rest of the country will be up for grabs. Or not as the case may be.
The SNP need to get a grip, admit and address the reality of additional costs in setting up the public services, and provide answers to some very basic questions that those more erudite than I will raise in more public fora.
Let's frame the least scary scare headline, "Islands to lose daily post in Independent Scotland".
Comments very welcome.....
6 comments:
I am waiting with interest to see the SNP's ideas for the structure of 'independent' Scotland laid out formally and transparently. So far all we've had is a load of flame fanning about questions and agency, and visions. All BS so far.
This is ridiculous scaremongering. And irrelevant...
Way back in 2003 residents who went to presentations around the islands were told of a magical new communication system, Connected Communities Broadband.
We'd all have superfast, reliable, cheap, "state of the art" - and those words were used - internet connectivity, meaning that things like letters would become a mere thing of the past.
So, as it's been coming up for a decade now, it can only be assumed that everyone in the islands has had this for a while, making the postal service redundant as we all plug in to our promised hyperfast connections. Who needs post and letters when Sir Donnie has made us the promised world leaders in Internet connectivity...
Was the abuse you received First class or Second class
Is it me or does this whole Independence thing seem completely ill thought out.
I can think of every single "United" public service delivered within and without Scotland and cannot get my little head around how it will be disentagled after the split...
And how is Scotland going to pay for the services that are delivered centrally when they need to invest in Infrastructure and train people to do the job done down South?
Also, IF Scotland votes yes, does Independence happen the very next day.
Does that mean I need a passport to get in and out of England?
What laws are going to be adopted? Minimum Wage, Health & Safety, Equality?
What currency will be use as it cannot be the British Pound so will it be the Scottish Pound and how will the exchange rate be set.
Will there be a Scottish Stock Market where Scottish shares are traded instead of the FTSE?
I could go on all night and this is just off the top of my head....
Answers - proper ones not just SNP flannel - would be gratefully received....
@ 5.25pm
No, it's not just you, it's me as well. The one like the PO which crossed my mind was the BBC.
BBC TV is not available outside the UK so what would happen if Scotland ceased to be part of the UK? Presumably, the Scottish Government (i.e. tax payer) would have to pay the BBC to keep broadcasting to Scotland because saying no more Easties or Wimbledon might be a bit of an electoral two edged sword for the Gnats. So in other words, we'd probably keep paying our licence fee to London as at present (which suits me fine) but also have to pay for some crappy SBC to churn out local parochial nonsense - wall to wall Gordon Brewer, Kirsty Wark and Take the High Road. Come back Holby City all is forgiven.
2:22pm
No it will be BBC Alba in Gaelic 24 x 7 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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