The following quote is from the Facebook page of a French person living in the UK and trying to obtain UK citizenship, because of Brexit. Why does the UK Home Office and the Post Office, and their operatives, feel it necessary to be so obstructive, awkward and unhelpful? It is not necessary and not in the traditional British spirit of tolerance.

I am very, very angry.

In the process of my citizenship, once I have received the letter requiring me to do so, I have 15 working day to go to the Post Office and register my biometrics. If not, my application can, and will, be rejected. I have received the letter on the 4th, and duly went to Cambridge Central Post Office today, to register.

The biometrics system is broken.
No, they don’t know why, it just does not work.
No, they don’t know when it is going to work, if ever.
No, there is no other place in Cambridge or Cambridgeshire where you can have your biometrics taken.
You have to go to either Norwich or Colchester.
No, you can’t check with Colchester or Norwich that this is in fact the case, or that their own systems work, because Post Offices don’t have phone numbers.
No, they can’t do any kind of attestation or certificate stating that there was a delay because of their lack of required facility.
No they don’t care.

I will therefore have to go to either Norwich or Colchester this Saturday (probably dragging my children along), in the hope that an hypothetical biometrics system hypothetically works there. I am lucky to be in a position to do so. What if I did not have the money? What if I did not have the time?

I usually try not to post anything either political or critical of the country where I have, after all, chosen to live. But the whole residency and citizenship applications process, the shambolic state of the whole system and of various administrations, the complete lack of care, empathy and knowledge of a great number (not all, of course) of public agents are really trying. Really, really trying.

Heaven forbid that a major international centre like Cambridge should have a working biometrics system. Heaven forbid that, in case it fails, something should be done to replace or substitute it. Heaven forbid that Post Offices should start thinking that they are, I don’t know, centres of communications and be contacted from other cities.

End of rant. Still angry.

Who wouldn’t be?

Yet another Brexit related disaster.