Patronised by The People's Post Office

What is the best form of defence for a cash-strapped post office network brought to its knees by the Government? Attack. This can be the only explanation for that ridiculous £10 million advertising campaign about 'The People's Post Office.'

People? They must mean us. At best it is simply patronising but at worst an insult to all those struggling branches and customers across the land. Ad men sitting on their beanbags must be having a good laugh at how they have pickpocketed the Post Office with such ease.

Take that latest clunky piece of marketing designed to show how 'relevant' the post office is by force-feeding us The People's HomePhone and Broadband. They use a gormless looking subpostmaster - given the innocuous title of Ken - with a mug of tea in his hand.

The brew up isn't for us but appears to be a two-fingered metaphor for anyone with brains.

'Our broadband runs at up to 8Meg.*' That's really, really fast to you and me.' Just because many post office users are elderly it does not mean they are babbling idiots - and * loosely translates into 'no chance'.

So, please Ken, don't confuse us with your pretend customers, which include such A-list luminaries as Keith Harris and Orville and Bill Oddie, who are paid to suffer this artless drivel.

Just think what £10 million could do if it was ploughed into the network rather than wasted on such spin?

The timing of the advertising campaign also has a nasty smell. It seems to be an all too obvious cynical bid to divert attention from the real 'cost-cutting' closure of 2,500 branches.

Toby Walne, Financial Mail on Sunday

toby@walne.co.uk