Many villages in Oxfordshire have suffered in the past from the loss of their post offices.

Now it seems many more are to disappear as the Government wields the axe.

The closures are said to be necessary because the post office network is running at a loss of more than £4m a week.

What a negative attitude. What we should be doing is considering how we can make these loss-making post offices, mainly in rural areas, more profitable.

The loss of a post office rips the heart out of the community.

A focal point, a meeting place for villagers and visitors, disappears. It is just as important as the local shop, the local pub and the local church.

The Government, the Post Office and local communities should be working together to finds ways of keeping services going, not meekly throwing in the towel.

We should not be concerned with just counting the pounds and pence.

There is the small matter of quality of life and public service, words which mean nothing to our penny pinching bureaucrats and politicians.