This seems like a good idea, but I hope it doesn't stop the recent tradition of yarn-bombing[0] the postboxes[1][2]. The ones near me are really creative, change with seasons & national holidays, and just add a bit of British whimsy to day-to-day life.
(Looks like there's already some articles on this angle [3]!)
nothing will ever stop the knitting nannies. if the postboxes went away, they'll cover the post offices in blankets of yarn.
drweevil 5 days ago [-]
>"The firm [Royal Mail], bought by a Czech billionaire in December..."
I've no words. We're just playthings in a billionaire world.
dan_can_code 9 hours ago [-]
That's the UK in a nutshell this past decade. Privatise all of the public services for a quick buck, and slowly but surely the service decays whilst the prices for consumers increases. The trains in the UK are a great example of this.
ch4s3 1 hours ago [-]
There's no iron law stating that private services must necessarily decay or be under provisioned.
card_zero 58 minutes ago [-]
Besides, government-run British Rail was historically shit, reaching peak shitness in 1984 when they brought out the pleading slogan "We're Getting There".
pas 4 hours ago [-]
water companies in England and Wales are perhaps even better
the same sorry ass situation that PG&E is in California, everything is brutally expensive because it's an absolutely shitty old system sustaining an overgrowning fucking sprawl (which coincidentally also means more roads and pipes and less trains and tickets)
jacobp100 8 hours ago [-]
The EU were the ones who forced Royal Mail to be privatised
halo 8 hours ago [-]
If this is the case, why are many other EU postal services still state-owned (e.g. Ireland, Poland, Cyprus, Greece)? The UK left the EU 5 years ago yet it’s still being used as cover for UK political decisions.
osrec 5 hours ago [-]
We live in a world where, for certain topics, people believe whatever narrative suits them at the time. Facts seem to not matter too much. Brexit is one of those topics.
rwmj 8 hours ago [-]
Citation definitely needed for this one.
zimpenfish 8 hours ago [-]
> Following the 2010 general election, the new Business Secretary in the coalition government, Vince Cable, asked Richard Hooper CBE to expand on his previous report, to account for EU Directive 2008/6/EC which called for the postal sector to be fully open to competition by 31 December 2012. Based on the updated Hooper Review, the government passed the Postal Services Act 2011. The act allowed for up to 90% of Royal Mail to be privatised, with at least 10% of shares to be held by Royal Mail employees.
> Summary of legal position: Article 7 of the EU Postal Directive (Financing of universal services), has required the progressive – and since 1 January 2013, total - liberalisation of postal services throughout
the EU.
“The external financing of the residual net costs of the universal service may still be necessary for some Member States. It is therefore appropriate to explicitly clarify the alternatives available in order to ensure the financing of the universal service, to the extent that this is needed and is adequately justified, while leaving Member States the choice of the financing mechanisms to be used. These alternatives include the use of public procurement procedures including, as provided for in the public procurement Directives, competitive dialogue or negotiated procedures with or without the publication of a contract notice and, whenever universal service obligations entail net costs of the universal service and represent an unfair burden on the designated universal service provider, public compensation and cost sharing between service providers and/or users in a transparent manner by means of contributions to a compensation fund. Member States may use other means of financing permitted by Community law, such as deciding, where and if necessary, that the profits accruing from other activities of the universal service provider(s) outside the scope of the universal service are to be assigned, in whole or in part, to the financing of the net costs of the universal service, as long as this is in line with the Treaty. Without prejudice to the obligation of Member States to uphold the Treaty rules on State aid, including specific notification requirements in this context, Member States may notify the Commission of the financing mechanisms used to cover any net costs of the universal service, which should be reflected in the regular reports that the Commission should present to the European Parliament and Council on the application of Directive 97/67/EC.”
IE Privatizing Royal mail was not required by the EU, instead they needed to allow for competition by UPS, FedEx etc.
They did not force the privatisation of Royal Mail; it was first made a special sort of PLC back in 2000 so that it could access private money, and arguably that helped accelerate the EU belief that postal services needed competition.
But they did force competition in EU postal delivery, and that effectively drove the decision to essentially fully privatise Royal Mail so it could compete.
It also had a very unfortunate outbreak of Crozier Disease and that didn't help.
FridayoLeary 5 hours ago [-]
Other users have pointed out this isn't entirely accurate but i'm still shocked. My understanding was the job of the eu was to impose continent wide standards to enable free exchange between member states. How does dictating the policy of national postal services achieve any of that?
avianlyric 4 hours ago [-]
The EU generally doesn’t like state subsidies of services. Which makes sense, because state subsidies would provide an unfair advantage to companies operating in that state, over other member states. Reducing trade and competition across the bloc.
For postal services, the same applies. EU doesn’t like the idea of a state owned or subsidised postal business, preventing the entrance of competition from companies in other member states, or allowing the subsidised entities to expand and outcompete companies in other EU states.
The EU doesn’t set national postal policy. It only requires that the basic postal service is an open to competition from entities (private and public) in any EU member. With a carve outs for the funding of universal service (I.e. making sure that every address gets post regardless of profitability), where state aid is clearly needed.
hdgvhicv 5 hours ago [-]
Preventing governemt monopoles in a specific areas is what the eu predecessors started of back in the coal and steel days.
(Looks like there's already some articles on this angle [3]!)
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarn_bombing
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper
[2] - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-63833983
[3] - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly9q5jwv18o
I've no words. We're just playthings in a billionaire world.
the same sorry ass situation that PG&E is in California, everything is brutally expensive because it's an absolutely shitty old system sustaining an overgrowning fucking sprawl (which coincidentally also means more roads and pipes and less trains and tickets)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mail which links to https://web.archive.org/web/20150224033637/http://stakeholde... (the EU directive has gone from their website and isn't in archive.org) which says
> Summary of legal position: Article 7 of the EU Postal Directive (Financing of universal services), has required the progressive – and since 1 January 2013, total - liberalisation of postal services throughout the EU.
Hopefully this qualifies as a valid citation.
“The external financing of the residual net costs of the universal service may still be necessary for some Member States. It is therefore appropriate to explicitly clarify the alternatives available in order to ensure the financing of the universal service, to the extent that this is needed and is adequately justified, while leaving Member States the choice of the financing mechanisms to be used. These alternatives include the use of public procurement procedures including, as provided for in the public procurement Directives, competitive dialogue or negotiated procedures with or without the publication of a contract notice and, whenever universal service obligations entail net costs of the universal service and represent an unfair burden on the designated universal service provider, public compensation and cost sharing between service providers and/or users in a transparent manner by means of contributions to a compensation fund. Member States may use other means of financing permitted by Community law, such as deciding, where and if necessary, that the profits accruing from other activities of the universal service provider(s) outside the scope of the universal service are to be assigned, in whole or in part, to the financing of the net costs of the universal service, as long as this is in line with the Treaty. Without prejudice to the obligation of Member States to uphold the Treaty rules on State aid, including specific notification requirements in this context, Member States may notify the Commission of the financing mechanisms used to cover any net costs of the universal service, which should be reflected in the regular reports that the Commission should present to the European Parliament and Council on the application of Directive 97/67/EC.”
IE Privatizing Royal mail was not required by the EU, instead they needed to allow for competition by UPS, FedEx etc.
They did not force the privatisation of Royal Mail; it was first made a special sort of PLC back in 2000 so that it could access private money, and arguably that helped accelerate the EU belief that postal services needed competition.
But they did force competition in EU postal delivery, and that effectively drove the decision to essentially fully privatise Royal Mail so it could compete.
It also had a very unfortunate outbreak of Crozier Disease and that didn't help.
For postal services, the same applies. EU doesn’t like the idea of a state owned or subsidised postal business, preventing the entrance of competition from companies in other member states, or allowing the subsidised entities to expand and outcompete companies in other EU states.
The EU doesn’t set national postal policy. It only requires that the basic postal service is an open to competition from entities (private and public) in any EU member. With a carve outs for the funding of universal service (I.e. making sure that every address gets post regardless of profitability), where state aid is clearly needed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4mm3kx0v2o
Křetínský is well known in France. He's less right wing than the other billionaires buying médias, such as Bolloré.