DAVY PULLS IT OFF

Good to see that David Cameron’s controversial choice of highly-paid lobbyist Lord Hill as leader of the House of Lords has been so roundly vindicated.

As revealed by the Daily Telegraph and despite mutterings of conflicts of interest Tesco’s lobbyist Hill has already rightly intervened, purely on a matter of the highest moral and ethical principles of course, to support plans to sell off the country’s state school playing fields to, er, Tesco, a paymaster of his that badly needs some good luck following the equine PR disaster.

Some may carp but for our part it’s good to know that, courtesy of our Davy, and in this great democracy that is the UK, we now have the finest House of Lords money can buy.

HEDGEHOG YOU CAN TRUST

Arguably one of the reputations most damaged by the horsemeat affair is that of retailer Iceland, which uses the advertising claim FOOD YOU CAN TRUST, clearly something a tad optimistic when the state of the current supply chain of the supermarkets is considered.

Iceland’s chief executive Malcom Walker did his firm, or his industry few favours when he blamed schools, prisons, councils and hospitals for wanting the cheapest possible meat and therefore encouraging suppliers to break the law. He also claimed that supermarkets like his own should not be blamed for failing to test for horsemeat in products being sold by them as something else saying “Why should we? We don’t test for hedgehog either”.

A few weeks before the story broke Iceland were reassuring customers with complaints about their products “We regularly monitor our suppliers to check that they’re upholding our high standards”.

BOBBIES ON A BUNG

Police forces have been caught selling confidential details of road accident victims to insurance companies, claims management companies and ambulance- chasing lawyers.

The referral fees earned by one force, the Met, amounted to more than £5 million since 2009 and represented more than 10,000 people subsequently pestered to make a personal injury claim, one saying that he had been contacted 340 times.

Referral fees, which have greatly increased the cost of motor insurance, and the income of Police forces, will become illegal in April.

PORKY POLL

Police forces have been caught selling confidential details of road accident victims to insurance companies, claims management companies and ambulance- chasing lawyers.

The referral fees earned by one force, the Met, amounted to more than £5 million since 2009 and represented more than 10,000 people subsequently pestered to make a personal injury claim, one saying that he had been contacted 340 times.

Referral fees, which have greatly increased the cost of motor insurance, and the income of Police forces, will become illegal in April.

TRUST THE ONES IN WIGS?

Meanwhile the legal ombudsman has put a shot across the bows of solicitors trying to market themselves by revealing that a legal firm, unnamed, charged an unnamed wife going through a divorce £4,000 for photocopying, aggressively chasing her for the money when she was unable to pay.

Given that an A4 black and white copy costs around 1p to produce, and the on-street price is around 10 pence this could represent a massive 40,000 copies at 10p, or 4000 copies at £1 each, or 1000 copies at £4 each, or 100 copies at £40 each. Whatever, the ombudsman service felt it was “extortionate” and ordered the unnamed firm to waive the charge, along with another £11,000 worth of fees. Continue reading

ETHISCORES

Ethical Consumer magazine has published ratings for ethical behaviour for seven supermarkets, based on the firm’s impact on the environment, its treatment of animals and people and its stance on such things as genetic engineering and anti-social finance.

  1. The Co-operative 6.5 (Most ethical)
  2. Marks & Spencer 6 3
  3. Waitrose 4
  4. Morrisons/Tesco 2.5
  5. Sainsbury’s 2
  6. Asda 0

BT HOLD US TO RANSOM

BT, a firm which makes considerable profits from billions of unwanted telephone sales calls now wants to fill its boots stopping some of them reaching their targets.

The BT 6500 is a handset that BT say will block 80% of the marketing calls, often from outside the UK and with number withheld, and costs £44.99. Apparently BT’s clever marketeers got the idea from the 50,000+ calls it gets every month to its nuisance call advice line.

Rumours that BT’s next marketing move is a very expensive system for telephone marketeers that gets calls past its new device, should be treated, in our view, as a real possibility, so watch this space….

JUNK FOOD SURVEY

Manchester is the worst place to live if one is trying to lose weight, according to Weightwatchers.

The firm recently compiled a list of UK cities and counted the number of inhabitants per junk food outlet, including take-away shops and cafes. Manchester had the least number of people per outlet at 492 followed by Bristol with 623, Edinburgh with 725, Brighton with 768, London with 820, and healthy Glasgow with 923.

The results come as obese people are being told that they could lose benefit, and therefore only be able to afford junk food, if they fail to shed the excess.

STOP THE SALES PITCHES

Have you ever been to a seminar or session at an exhibition or conference that was promoted as an educational opportunity but turned out to be an obvious sales pitch, with the seller enjoying a captive market from the stage?

If you have you will not be surprised to hear that some speakers (sellers) pay for their slots at some events, and at others are persuaded by the exhibition or conference organiser to speak for free and the chance to sell to the audience, hence the number of sales pitches that have to be endured. Continue reading