Britain is no country for old men who still write letters to family and friends

An article in 'The Telegraph' today was entitled :

Stamp price hike will have 'disastrous' effect on elderly and vulnerable

It centred on the fact that  the Royal Mail wants to increase the cap on the cost of second class stamps from 36p to 55p from April.

So that means it will cost another 19p to send a letter by the cheapest post.

Members of Parliament on the 'Business, Innovation and Skills Committee' have announced an inquiry into the move and are today taking evidence from postal regulator Ofcom as well as Consumer Focus, the watchdog.

          
Adrian Bailey, Chairman of the committee, said :
 "I think that certainly we will be questioning whether a potential 53% increase in the second class stamp and an uncapped increase in the first class stamp will have anything other than a disastrous impact on traffic.The people who will be hit will be the elderly, the vulnerable, and those on low incomes, but also small businesses as well."

It is true that the number of 'silver surfers' has increased rapidly in recent years and millions of old men now communicate through e-mails, but it is equally true that millions do not and still depend on letters to communicate with family, friends and business and left out and marginalised, Britain in increasingly no country for them.