Tonight:
4°c
We shall find out today whether a national postal strike is on the way, perhaps even as early as next Thursday.
This could be the most suicidal decision yet from a post office union that has set its face against the modernisation which deregulation and the internet have made essential.
This industry already has the worst strike record in recent British history.
Already many of us fear our letters or eBay purchases are among those lost in the backlog of millions of deliveries delayed by unofficial action. More localised strikes are expected in London tomorrow.
Major businesses long ago farmed out their bulk mail to competitors such as the privatised Dutch post office.
Royal Mail has already lost Amazon, a £25 million customer, to the Home Delivery Network. A preChristmas postal strike will be the biggest incentive yet to buy presents online for delivery by courier.
Oxford Street, the high street and the post office itself will be the losers.
Not everyone can switch to online communication and courier companies. The expansion of ecommerce has increased the number of small companies that sell online but need to deliver catalogues or products by post. The strike could be devastating for them in recessionary times.
All this is because the Communication Workers Union cannot see the writing on the wall.
It reads: modernise or die. Royal Mail has a £9 billion pension deficit, and lacks the new investment that the part-privatisation proposed by Lord Mandelson would have brought. The union is resisting change which is essential to keeping Royal Mail in business.
Most workers have to adapt to new technology and changing customer needs. They do not see why postmen and sorting office staff should be any different.
Management may yet be able to head off a strike by promising adjustments to the modernisation programme.
But the outlook is not good, either for the staff setting out to cripple the service they work for, or for all of us who use the post.
Olympic legacy
Olympic officials arrive in London today to view the possible venues for gymnastics and badminton in 2012.
Rather than the £25 million purpose-built venue in Greenwich which had been under discussion, the other options include Wembley Arena and a site in Barking, as part of an attempt by the Mayor to save £34 million.
Lord Coe says the final decision must be made on the basis of cost, legacy and athlete experience, and he is right. The case for spending large sums on a venue that will disappear after the fortnight of the Games is weak in the extreme.
It may be that athletes have to travel a little further than originally envisaged. Surely, though, this is surely a problem that can be managed within the schedule.
It can have little weight beside the principle that the Games must have an enduring legacy.
It is vital that London holds the line on this, not just for the sake of British taxpayers but for that of all the future host cities, many of them in countries poorer than this one.
The scale of the costs involved is underlined today with the announcement of 1,000 job losses at one of the building firms involved.
The London Games will be a great festival of sport. We just need a little flexibility to get from here to there.
A bonus from Boris
Boris Johnson has used his new planning powers to give a Docklands skyscraper project the go-ahead, while extracting a contribution from the developer towards the building of Crossrail.
The 63-storey tower, even taller than Canary Wharf's One Canada Square, had been turned down by Tower Hamlets council.
But after further consultation and a deal whereby the developer will put £4 million into Crossrail and contribute to local buses and parks, the scheme has the green light.
It is a good example of how the Mayor's role can be used to capture some of developers' gains for the public good.
