I often get frustrated at the lack of big picture, long term-thinking. I also despair at the lack of thinking across subject matter boundaries. Take the post office closure programme. This whole issue is driven by cost ie many post offices are not commercially viable anymore. However, if you think about another issue that government is grappling with: the ageing population, it is easy to see how the two are connected.

For many older people their local post office is not just somewhere to get their pension, their stamps and some shopping (if attached to a convenience store as many are these days). It is a place to socialise, to mingle with the local community and to find out what is going on in the local area.  It keeps people connected to one another. It also means that people don’t have to get to their nearest town to do their business with all the transportation challenges and costs that that can entail.

Communities are very important to the elderly. Indeed they are very important for people of all ages. Closing  post offices is having a detrimental effect on local communities, the support they provide and therefore the strength of the social structure of our society. It is short-sighted and there will be many negative unintended consequences in the years to come.

Government would do well to look at the ‘whole system’,  the bigger picture and get people from different disciplines collaborating effectively on these issues.

Sally Bibb