It seems to be one thing after another as we try to preserve services in rural areas.
The campaign to support our Post Offices, which are subject to the threat of closure because the Government has decided to pay benefits through bank accounts, still continues. And at this point I want to point out that, under close questioning, Ministers have confirmed that there will be no compulsion on those recovering benefits to switch to bank accounts.
i personally hope as many people as possible will not switch to bank payments and perhaps whose who have will switch back to Post Officers, in order to help this campaign.
But now, on top of this, we are being faced with the closure of 13 magistrates courts in Cornwall and Devon.
This is just as important as the Post Office closures. Local justice should be just that, it should be done and seen to be done locally.
These closures will substantially increase the distance between courts and, once again, the inadequacy of rural public transport will be exposed.
Of course saving money is the root of the decision and, whilst the Government will go through a process of public consultation, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that their mind is made up.
I doubt this will generate the same sort of community rage as the closure of community hospitals last year and Post Offices this year, but it should. Local justice demands that magistrates courts are accessible both in terms of opening times and travelling times for all court users. A few years ago a number of courts were closed for 'administrative convenience'.
Well I think we are now at a point where there are no more efficiency savings to be made and we have the minimum number of courts within the county which could genuinely dispense 'local' justice. To decimate the service once again would substantially change the whole nature of the local court system.
When these closures are added to the Government's proposal to restrict trial by jury, they amount to a serious and worrying attack on our once proud British justice system.