NEWS of more closures of post offices in rural areas is another sign of the pace of change in everyone's life. Village post offices are one of the mainstays of the life of villages.

The other major ones, traditionally, were the church, the school and for many, the local pub. They were the hubs around which the wheels of the villages revolved.

One of the ways in which post offices have fought for their lives recently is by diversifying into providing groceries and a great range of other household items.

In some cases it has held off the evil day of closure.

Some village shops have been very successful. Bigger villages have been able to support the local shop and some people prefer to do their shopping locally, from a shopkeeper they know.

Frequently, however, those who shop locally are those who cannot travel, except perhaps by public transport of one sort or another. They tend to be older and, often, less well off. So they do not spend as much.

The increasing payment of benefits and pensions by credit transfer means people do not go into post offices so much.

So they do not buy the other goods on offer. So there are fewer goods on offer and people do not come in for them and the shop starts to descend into a vicious circle, from which escape is difficult.

The financial pressures on small shops in towns and in the country are frequently too much to bear.

The supermarkets' buying power is such that they can often sell goods for less than the price for which the small shops can buy them.

In an increasingly-mobile society, where many work in local towns, the fact that the weekly shop is under-taken wherever the work is, rather than where people live, is crippling the local shop.

The argument is, of course, that the car might as well be used for shopping as well as commuting. It is thought to be more convenient.

I wonder whether there might be less walking when visiting a few shops in a market town than there is tramping around a super store about the size of an aircraft hanger?

By shopping locally I am sure there is less environmental damage in terms of vehicle movements and distances involved.

You also have a much better chance of actually meeting someone who knows where the food comes from, and, perhaps, also cares.

We have just had a budget from a Government in charge of a very strong economy, and a vast, secure majority. It has, it says, a commitment to the environment and to small businesses.

How nice it would have been if our ever-inventive Chancellor could have found some way of reducing the burden of local and national taxes on rural shops.

The council tax payable by these small shops is huge. It increases almost every year.

Often it is only by a small percentage. When that small percentage is on top of a small percentage for most of the last ten years or so, it becomes a lot of money.

Central government relentlessly demands more and more of small businessmen.

Now they have to pay more national insurance for their employees.

The biggest payers will be the NHS, which means you and me, again, since they have the largest number of employees.

Time alone will tell where the money goes.

Sadly, I predict the shops will continue to close and NHS bureaucracy will increase.

Updated: 12:30 Tuesday, April 23, 2002