The problem with self-checkout tills

Our national malaise arises in part from the poor state of many of Britain’s private services. No, not a misprint. I mean private services. Many on the political right berate public services, implying that were they only to be privatised everything would be sweetness and light. Yet modern technology now makes it all too easy for companies to treat their customers with just as much high-handed disdain and bureaucratic inflexibility as any state enterprise.

Drive into a pub car park and forget to record your number plate and you’ll receive a fine of £100. Contesting this requires several hours of your time trying to find a receipt to prove you bought a drink.

Or consider the technological hoops you negotiate to read a utility bill, cancel a credit-card subscription or locate an ‘unidentified object in the bagging area’. New technology has offloaded work that was once performed by workers on to hapless customers.