“Use it or lose it”, those of us of a certain vintage will recall, was the slogan to save hundreds of local post office branches in the 1980s. Largely unsuccessful at the end of the day, it was perhaps the first real sign that institutional regard for community presence and purpose was on the slide.

Whether vandals or visionaries, the proponents of the policy of centralisation set in motion one of the most fundamental shifts in how the public interacted with an institution of the state in ways few today would raise an eyebrow at. At its core was the notion that the public should go to the service rather than the service to the public.

Across the Highlands and Islands, and rural Scotland more widely, post offices were the first domino to fall. They were quickly followed by dozens of small local primary schools, GP surgeries, hospitals, secondary schools. After that came banks, ambulance stations, satellite council offices, fire stations, and so much more.

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Each closure was preceded by a sham of a public consultation going through the tiresome ticking of boxes everything has always demanded. Each consultation promised no diminution in local service with some creatively suggesting the alternative would be an improvement on what it was replacing. Despite this, local voices would oppose, local bureaucrats would ignore, and the closure would happen regardless.........

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