Now I Don't Know About You....

Now I don’t know about you (obviously, as if I did, then you should be very worried indeed!) but I shop at the supermarket through gritted teeth. There are a couple of reasons for this, the first one being that there should be a time of day when people with children aren’t allowed in. To me this is just common sense as it would mean that anyone parked in the parent and children parking spaces really were just trying it on. Also, I wouldn’t have to tut-tut loudly and glare my best "yes I do think you’re a terrible parent" look at those whose children have just decided to throw a tantrum together with the contents of the trolley across the aisle.

However my main beef with the big supermarkets is that over the years they have changed from just the place where people did their weekly shop. They are now a force so huge that they seem intent on world domination.

I would much rather shop the old fashioned way and visit the butcher, the baker and maybe even the candlestick maker if there was time. This doesn’t seem possible however as the deals that the big supermarkets can offer make it hard to shop with a conscience. Although I would much prefer to be totally organic, locally sourced and free trade over the whole situation, it is a basic case of economics. However I think the eventual price will be a heavy one. We will end up with a High Street of charity shops, trendy cafes, mobile phone shops and themed pub chains while people drive their Chelsea tractors out to a huge out-of-town supermarkets to buy a "Made In China" toaster for £4.

The difficulty I have with all this is that the profits of big supermarkets seem so vast that they just don't need to steam roller the competition out of the way in the way that they do. Why do they need to do this just to build huge aircraft-hanger sized stores out of town ? What's wrong with having one in the town centre so that the existing shops can have a fighting chance of surviving ? They used to co-exist perfectly well in the not too distant past. Town centres used to "bustle" in a way that I don’t see them doing anymore.

As published in the 15th February 2008 edition of The Kemptown Rag

I've got this feeling..........

I feel that 2008 is going to be a collective belt tightening year, however, I’m not sure how many more notches I have left on my particular belt. I’ve already cut back, cut down and consolidated all my debt into one monthly payment and done all the things that a fairly responsible member of the rat race should do when it comes to finances. However it still doesn’t seem to be enough. My reward for a very cash conscious 2007 and an economic Christmas, is having to fork out even more every month as Gordon Brown’s beancounters come up with yet more dastardly policies and plans to heap misery onto the average man and woman on the street.

I wouldn’t mind so much if I thought the average politician, from all factions, wings, sides and colours, actually cared about how we’re managing and how the current situation is making many people feel. While I could possibly be just about convinced that deep down many of them do care and care very much, there is so little evidence of this. All we get is a general "we know what’s best for you, how dare you question us!" type attitude that seems to come over instead. The thing is that I helped to vote in these dingbats, as I actually thought that they might do some good in the long run. I’m sure some statistician somewhere will say that I am actually ten bob a week better off and that we have made progress really, however, it’s just you can’t see it, touch it or do anything useful with it. I feel as worn out by politics, parties and Government as I did in 1997 when, after what seemed like about 200 years, the Tories finally got kicked out of office.

So what now ?

Well we could vote in the Liberal Democrats……stop sniggering at the back! It is very hard to say who can get us out of the mess, although it is not an official mess yet I’m sure, that we seem to be in. The way I see it, as I approach my mid-thirties, is that after having had donkey’s years of Tories and donkey’s years of Labour, very little seems to have changed, too much is the same and a hell of a lot is worse.

As publised in the 1st February 2008 edition of The Kemptown Rag