While MPs try to stop the closure of the three local post offices, have they or other members of the public noticed what has been going on with the posting boxes?

There are no little plates showing what time the next post will be and the large metal notice that usually displays the times of collections from a particular box has disappeared and been replaced with a time of last collection. Other information is that post will be collected when required. How does the Post Office know this? Does it have CCTV in each box to see when it needs to be emptied?

I asked a postman the reason and was told it was shortage of staff and they collect when they feel like it. This method will surely produce a large amount of sorting late at night and loss of delivery next morning. Perhaps that is why the second collection has been stopped. What a state this country is getting into -we pay higher prices for a service that is becoming worse. So, come on, MPs, try to get things sorted out and get this country back to being Great Britain.

P J Benham, Dale Avenue, Keymer, Hassocks

Cruel world

The closure of the post office in Havelock Road, Brighton, is an interesting example of a pitiless society controlled by a faceless leadership that does not care about the needs of people. Decisions are made on the basis of financial expediency alone and the welfare and needs of people who pay their taxes count for zilch.

In a bizarre leaflet, the much-loved owners of the Havelock Road post office have been told to bring to my attention, I read the following words: "We have decided to close this Post Office branch on 12/04/03." It continues in this vein. There is no apology, no explanation, nothing. On the back is a description of "nearby branches and the

services they offer". The first recommended is half a mile away, the second 1.2 miles away (just the sort of distance I would expect my 90-year-old mother to walk) and the third 0.6 miles away.

Every time I go into this post office, I stand in a queue of people in need of the many services offered. We do not stand there for our health. We stand there because we need postal services. But somebody has decided we no longer need personalised services. So, this branch will be closed.

These decision-makers rule our lives as the leaders of the communist and fascist states did, without reference to people because people are of no consequence.

-Anthea Ballam, Chester Terrace, Brighton