While we're on the subject of competition...

I had just observed that competition in software is a good thing when I came across this article about the UK Postal Service.

It made me think back to the days before the British Telephone service was privatised 22 years ago. I have just moved house and am getting my line rental from one company, calls from another and broadband from a third. Whilst still far from perfect (BT is still too powerful and too inefficient), the difference is staggering. I still remember my parents having to request BT for permission to install a second phone point in our house when I was a child. Truly we were privileged that the mighty public telephone company allowed us to have a telephone service at all!

On the assumption that our need for a postal service will remain, who knows what it will look like in 20 years if competition continues to increase?