Archive of all comment and opinion articles – Page 456
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Comment & Opinion
When good men do nothing
They say evil prospers when good men do nothing. And by doing very little today, the coalition has managed to upset almost everybody. Retailers in England and Wales are to be banned from selling booze below the cost of duty plus VAT.
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Comment & Opinion
Unhappy Mondays
Today is Blue Monday. That’s the most depressing day of the year, if you believe ‘research’ paid for by online travel agents that want you to book some winter sun. Perhaps that explains the tetchiness in the weekend’s exchanges between Tesco and Asda over the latter’s 10% pledge.
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Comment & Opinion
Third Party: Obese UK must seize Swapathon opportunity
The Change4Life initiative is a step in the right direction, but we need to do more to tackle the issue, says Sue Davies
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Comment & Opinion
Thank you, Hugh, for fighting fish discards
Sustainable policies must be backed by regulatory reform and a wider repertoire of seafood on sale, says Leendert den Hollander.
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Comment & Opinion
Tales of Titania: Dioxin quiche and bondage buyers
Karoline (with a K) loves a great big crisis. It means she can double our hourly charge-out rates, swan around like a proper 'consultant' and get the rest of us to do the actual work. So she's bitterly disappointed that none of our clients were...
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Comment & Opinion
Second Opinion: Inflation is the big worry this year
Retailers will push the promotional envelope to deliver value to shoppers, says Clive Black
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Comment & Opinion
Listen to the eerie silence surrounding Asda’s Price Guarantee
What took you so long? It was a strange way for Asda to respond after it was overtaken by Sainsbury’s in the Kantar Worldpanel data this week. But there was no shortage of strange responses.
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Comment & Opinion
Careers File: If you're looking for an angel to help with your career, why not consider a coach?
I read over the Christmas break that, according to a recent survey, one in three people in Britain believe in angels. There have certainly been a fair few occasions in my career when I have felt like someone was watching over me.
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Comment & Opinion
Terry Caton's Expert Advice: How to win in an austere new year
Freezing winds, climbing taxes and shoppers feeling the pinch... but it’s not all bad news for c-store owners
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Comment & Opinion
Ice, lemons and hot pork bellies
Last weekend in the FA Cup there was the usual talk about bog-like lower-league pitches being “a great leveller”. Top clubs don’t fancy having lumps kicked out of them on swampy pitches, so there’s more chance of a giantkilling.
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Comment & Opinion
Justin's cracking Christmas
No wonder Justin King was looking so pleased with life at today’s 90-minute briefing in Holborn, attended by The Grocer’s newshounds.
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Comment & Opinion
Bright Youngs things
Hyperbole is without a doubt the worst crime any retail chief can commit. Well, perhaps that’s an exaggeration. Dalton Philips avoided too many verbal fireworks when he said Morrisons was “a nose ahead of the market” after reporting a solid, if unspectacular, 1% rise in like-for-likes for the Christmas period.
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Comment & Opinion
Saturday Essay: Tesco should face tough questions from the OFT
Its acquisition of Mills shouldn’t be waved through simply because it plans to use One Stop name, says James Lowman
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Comment & Opinion
Editor's Comment: Nudges and swapathons won't change many lives
The new year. A time for resolutions, rollbacks and, er, price hikes. Actually, the price hikes have not exactly kicked in thus far. While Starbucks and McDonald’s (along with utilities and rail services, of course) have been exposed for opportunist…
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Comment & Opinion
Second Opinion: A lame case for the prosecution
The BBC fell on its face trying to dig the dirt on cheap supermarket food, says Kevin Hawkins
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Comment & Opinion
Third Party: Make sure your lease is not anti-competitive
Changes to competition law mean leases – and how they are handled – will face greater scrutiny, says Catriona Munro
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Comment & Opinion
Blogof’s crystal ball: your guide to the year ahead
January Shoppers revert to a feral state as the big freeze returns. Man turns on wife, parent on child and pet against pensioner as society's norms break down. There are even reports that a tribe of heavily...
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Comment & Opinion
Critical Eye... on the adult Blue Peter
There's obviously demand for an adult version of Blue Peter as The One Show demonstrates (and shame on you if that wasn't what sprang to mind!). But when it comes to kids-style TV for grown-ups there's a fine line between success and failure and...
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Comment & Opinion
Careers File: If 2010 was about recovery, 2011 should be on nurturing talent
Wow, what a year 2010 turned out to be. After a very tough 2009, I was wondering what to expect and was struggling to keep my 'glass half full' outlook on things. Thankfully, in our sectors, things have turned out much better than anyone watching...
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Comment & Opinion
Sisters, suitors and underwhelming surprises
So Ranjit Boparan has until 21 January to get a bid together for Northern Foods. It seems a long shot, with some observers questioning whether the 2 Sisters owner can raise the kind of cash that would tempt Northern’s shareholders to turn their backs on the Essenta deal’s promised upside.