This is the whole story of Britain's postal service - how it was built, how it led the world for two hundred years and how it has struggled to survive in the face of mounting odds since the arrival of the internet. It brings a fresh slant to many of the most famous episodes in postal history - from the origins of the royal monopoly to the Great Train Robbery - whilst also recounting several hitherto strangely neglected stories - how, for example, letters and parcels reached the Western Front in 1914-18; how the Post Office survived the Troubles in Northern Ireland (and the Easter Rising in Dublin); and how the boffins of the postal world invented machines that could sort hand-written envelopes at fantastic speeds, though it took them thirty years to build them.
Above all, perhaps, the book brings a rare perspective to the two great political themes of Britain in modern times: trade union power and privatisation. How the postal service should be run - and who should own it - has been bitterly debated for far longer than most of today's newspaper headlines would suggest. Passions ran high among those vying for its loyalties, whether moderate union leaders like Tom Jackson and Alan Johnson or politicians with a modernising vision like Tony Benn. At the core of this history is an even-handed account of one of the longest running feuds in British labour politics, probably due to reach a climax before the end of 2011.
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