I have removed the photograph I had posted yesterday at the request of the Postmaster. Apparently he was upset that I had taken pictures of his staff at work. I am told it is “a data protection issue for them as an organisation”. I did ask permission of the person concerned, but of course I do not wish to needlessly upset people, especially local people who are doing their best to provide services to the community, so I have complied with the request.

However it does open up questions about the whole nature of our society and how our attitudes have changed over the years towards the people who work within our communities. My guess is that this request has come from the “arse-covering” rules and regulations that have almost become a necessity because we are, as a society,  becoming increasingly litigious. I don’t really have any issue with the local manager but this is a great shame as it stops us all celebrating the people we share our communities with in a free and honest way. If we can only take pictures of people at work in our community under conditions controlled by a marketing department or a legal department then sincerity soon flies out the window. When I say how attitudes have changed, I used to work in a local newspaper advertising and managed the account of The Post Office at a regional level. This was a very long time ago when BT was still a division of the Post Office! In those days the marketing and advertising people were begging us to photograph their happy and industrious employees at work. Plus ça change!

Well here is the envelope that I had hand stamped yesterday: