by DAVID NAPIER
The Cameron government’s intention to cut immigration has found an echo among ordinary Britons. It is not so much that they are getting more racist, but that they resent the loss of old-fashioned civility. But most of all, as the financial crisis bites, they are worried about benefits, jobs and also less tangible core values
The day before Britain’s post offices closed for their long Christmas break, I stood in a pavement queue outside one, just before nine in the morning. The queuers were all pensioners, older and cold, politely waiting for the office to open. I wasn’t there to do last-minute festive business, but to ransom my rarely used car. This had been clamped by a predatory private company because it lacked a tax disc. The faded notice it pasted to my windscreen told me I first had to get a disc and then find their company somewhere in West London and pay hundreds of pounds to release the car. Doing this would save me another £200 in charges which would otherwise soon accrue (the actual clampers aren’t qualified to verify that the disc has been placed on the windscreen, or to accept payment of the initial fine). The office, however, weren’t answering their phone.
I was determined to get the disc from the post office, locate the clamping firm and liberate my car for Christmas. As we waited, a man came down the street, went to the door of the post office, tapped on the window smiling broadly, and was let in. It was exactly nine o’clock, and I assumed he was an employee. We all followed him inside, still maintaining our queue places, only to find him at the counter asking in very broken English about buying stamps. I felt an urge to intervene, because I was annoyed by his queue jumping, especially ahead of the elderly.
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