EVERYTHING seems to be wrong with our postal service, from the ridiculous re-branding as Consignia downwards.

The much-berated new brand for a service that has been with us for nearly 300 years has not been a success with anyone. Even new Consignia chairman Allan Leighton has indicated that he dislikes the name.

Changing the name back to the Royal Mail won't solve the many problems facing the postal service - but it would be a good start. The absurd new name was merely the thin and showy icing on a thoroughly rotten cake.

It is a disgrace that such an important service should be in such a mess. Bad enough that we live in a country that cannot run a decent railway service - now it looks as if the postal service is slipping into the same dark hole.

From the announcement that a First Class stamp won't guarantee next-day delivery to the suggestion that domestic, non-business post need not arrive until later in the day, everything about the modern post office indicates decay and decline.

Consignia was expected today to announce huge job cuts as part of a massive restructuring programme. It is feared that as many as 40,000 jobs could be cut over the next three years as part of a drive to fend off competition and end losses of £1.5 million a day.

The ailing parcel delivery business Parcelforce is likely to be hardest hit, because the service lost almost £200 million last year.

There are fears that as many as 3,000 urban post offices could be closed as part of the cost-cutting measures. How disgraceful - these are much-valued local institutions, placed near to the people who need and use them.

This utter shambles comes about under the shifty gaze of a Government that has already proved itself incapable of managing a railway service.

Local postal workers will have been awaiting the news about their jobs with great trepidation today. They, along with users of the postal services, are hardly likely to look fondly on a Government that has presided over such a mess.

Updated: 10:42 Monday, March 25, 2002