I usually fail to get round to sending Xmas cards anyway, and think it's shameful that trees die just for me to write "Merry Christmas, love Jon" on the back of a picture of a robin.. but I digress.

I totally support the striking postal workers in holding out against the ever tighter demands of "modernisation". I think the postal service offers value for money as it is.

Managers talk of "flexibility"- their ideal postal service would mean you get a different postie every single day (because they're all on short-term contracts), who don't know any of the rounds (because they don't know from day to day where they'll be), and will leave a parcel on the doorstep rather than wait a minute for you to answer and miss their "productivity targets". And when you do complain cause the parcel got nicked, you'll be put through to a call centre in Bombay. Welcome to the new, competitive postal service.