SIR – In the past it has at least taken a bit of time for it to dawn on the majority of the population that a market sell-off of a public utility or asset was a very bad financial deal for the taxpayer. And of course, ‘services’ for all were turned into profit-making opportunities for the few.

The consumer has had to pay more and more for a commodity they cannot do without and, in contrast, a private monopoly rakes in ridiculously high profit margins for their shareholders.

Now we have the rushed privatisation of Royal Mail which appears to be a ‘lose-lose’ deal for the taxpayer as it emerges that the new shareholders (mainly corporate business) have made an immediate bumper return on their investments.

And no doubt, like the local bus services which were deregulated in the mid-1980s and allowed the companies to axe loss-making services or gain extra cash subsidies from councils to run them, some remoter areas of the country will find delivery costs increase disproportionately.

In other words, Royal Mail joins electricity, gas, water, telecom, rail and bus deregulation as a bad deal for us the voters. How do governments/big business interests get away with it?

David Hornsby, West Avenue, Wrose