How did we allow our post offices to become so grotty? | Patrick Collinson
(The Guardian Money News)

They were once a national institution; now they are crammed into tawdry storesThe long, slow and premature death of the Post Office has been agonising to observe. Never has `death by a thousand cuts` been more apposite than the deliberate destruction of a once-proud service into the shabby shell of a business it is now.The litter-strewn floor of my scruffy and dimly-lit local branch is now squashed behind a Lebara phone merchant. As you join the long queue amid the discarded Coke cans and lottery scratchcards, you have time to scrutinise what is being advertised in the Post Office. Continue reading...