Difficult Delivery

Well, here's a thing: yesterday, a spokesbeing for His Lordship the Third Incarnation of Mandelbloke said that the concern of the Secretary for Pandering, Plundering and Profiteering was "to save the Royal Mail and secure its future, not privatise it" during the present parliament. After all, New New Labour has been left with "a manifesto commitment to a publicly-owned Royal Mail"; and reneging on manifesto commitments carries consequences almost as serious for a government as trampling the law or tearing up the constitution. Nevertheless, today His Lordship announced that the Royal Mail will be partially sold off to a Dutch company "as part of a range of measures to protect its long-term future"; much as privatisation has ensured the long-term future of our transport, energy, water and health services. Anyway, the Government remains "firmly committed to the universal postal service", apparently because it's a Britishness enhancer: it "helps bind us together as a country" now that we no longer meet face to face, talk to each other or use the internet.