Rich Man Joins Social Network! Fails to Engage the Lower Classes!

As of about 8.15am, on Wednesday 20h March 2013, Gideon 'George' Osbourne joined the quagmire of nonsense that is Twitter. Not that anyone will really care after about 5 minutes of realising and once they've sent one tweet expressing their opinion of him. His first foray into the muddy waters was a brief, not overly insightful and rather self-indulgent:

'Today I'll present a Budget that tackles the economy's problems head on helping those who want to work hard & get on'

It was made worse by the use of this picture as an accompaniment:

                                       
I won't spend any time attempting to present some form of analysis of the picture, how it's structured or what it says about Gideon's PR people. I'll just settle for stating the obvious; it's clearly faked as no one can actually write with a suitcase on their desk. He's also holding his pen next to a typed section - with no sign of wet ink in sight - but I'm going to leave the analysis to the experts/ obsessives/ people who have nothing better to do than write sprawling blog entries about politicians vague attempts to engage with the public.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of the decision taken by Gideon's team to introduce him to Twitter, or what effect they think it'll have on his non-existent popularity. If anything it'll just give people an easy avenue through which they can vent their fury at the 'verified' account of one of the many incompetent people charged with the job of running the country.

Not that Gideon's team would ever let him actually look at the replies for fear of him feeling bullied and wondering 'why the peasants don't like what I'm doing'.

So as to not disregard all analysis, I should point out that what I can skim from the phrasing of this introduction, notably the reference to 'work hard and get on' aside from opening up possibilities for cheap innuendo, is that it's a phrase which will please the right-wing press as it'll mean they can say 'OSBOURNE ATTACKS BENEFIT SCROUNGERS IN BUDGET'. This is somewhat ironic given the stereotypical demographic of such newspapers.

I am also glad that he is hoping to present a budget which will 'tackle the economy's problems' as if there was another option; 'a budget which won't really help anyone except those who are too rich to care, like me'.  It is after all, the job of the Government to make sure that things don't go all Greek over here. Or Spanish, Portuguese, Icelandic...

Ultimately though, I do rather wish that politicians would spend less time attempting to interact with people via social networks and spend more time getting on with the job which they are paid to do. A shocking and controversial opinion I know. If this latest foray into the 21st Century is being thought of as an attempt to 'digitalise' those in power and 'engage with the big web of chatter' that is the internet. Then I must once again ask you this; do you really think that anyone who doesn't already follow the news either online, television, radio or print will somehow be introduced to Gideon now that he's come down to their level? I doubt it.

I like to have some insight and analysis with my news, and I don't always like it to come straight from the horses mouth, as by the time it's reached it there have already been numerous meetings to finalise each and every syllable which he will then say to the press such that it needs an interpreter to actually work out what was 'not' being said. There's going to be hundreds of blogs about Gideon, Twitter and the Budget today.

Isn't the internet fun.

I'm no Economist, but I can't escape the feeling that if we just stopped fiddling, the world would sort itself out

                                

Money, money, money, no one really understands what to do with it

At the end of last week, the EU leaders agreed on a 'historic' budget for the next seven years of something like £900bn. The actual figure was calcuated in Euros, but when you're dealing with numbers of this size, currency and exchange rates are pretty irrelevant. We'd be better off just saying 'a lot of money' or 'more money that any of us could ever really conceive of in any tangible way. It was also apparently a 'Victory' for DC as he'd achieved a 'cut' in the overall budget, but Britain's contributions were going to continue to rise. Meaning that Nigel Farage had an excuse to get on tv again, something which none of us really want. 

On the subject of Mr Farage, I'd like to take this opportunity to quote a tweet, of which I cannot recall the author, but whoever they are this is their joke: 'Voting UKIP because you don't like Labour or the Tories is like saying "I don't like Coke or Pepsi so I'll drink piss"'. 

It's unlikely that any of us will actually feel any noticable effect of the new deal with Europe, not that that justifies an obfuscation of the matter, as it does remain important. The point which I'm trying to make here is that getting up and angry about the actual economics seems to be a waste of time, unless you're an economist who understands what the problems (or otherwise) are with the way the deal has been done and why such large sums of money are being passed around in cyberspace. 

It's a similar issue with many of the broad sweeping cuts and the headlines that accompany them. Take this story for example 'Inheritance tax freeze to fund social care cap of £75,000'. In principle, I understand what they're trying to achieve. Which is people not having to pay for care when they reach retirement age, I can also see that what Jeremy *unt is attempting to do is tax people who get a large inheritance in order to pay for those who don't have much left to give when they die as they've sold it all to pay for care. 

Actually, this is a relatively straightforward example of how the Government is trying to make things better, however, as you read down the article it soon becomes clear that things are going to cost £Xbn or £Ym making the entire plan seem grossly over-complicated. This is accompanied by the news that the UK Economy 'slipped back towards recession in the last quarter of 2013'. What does that actually mean though?! When growth is less than 0.5% the only people who seem to be getting concerned over the economics are economists. 

Despite the fate of both Jessops and HMV in the first month of January (the latter of which is downsizing but looks to be moving towards some kind of resolution) for many other business (including the small business for which I work) business has greatly improved in the first 6 weeks of the new year.  

Jessops: The latest casualty of Online Shopping

Edit: Since this blog was firs published, Jessops has closed down entirely. My thoughts go out to those now seeking employment.

Note: This blog is based on my personal experiences and no locations will be given. I realise that the possibility of losing your job is horrible and that going into administration is a very serious matter. This is just my own perspective.

                      

Location: A Jessops High street store

(Customer walks into store, looks at a selection of Canon cameras)
Shop Assistant: Hello sir, can I help you?
Customer: Yes, I'd like to look at a Canon 50mm f1.8 (about £90) lens please
Shop Assistant: Ok, I'll be right back.
(Shop assistant returns with a Nikon 50mm f1.2 (about £600, and the wrong make)
Customer: That's the wrong make, it won't fit my camera, and it's six times the price of the one which I had intended to purchase.
Shop Assistant: (with blank expression) Isn't it cross compatable? I'm sure they are, you're using a Canon and I'm sure that they fit Canon.

It was experiences like this, alongside pretty horrendous mark-ups, that put me off buying from my local Jessops. I do have friend's who've worked for Jessops and am aware that they would never do something as idiotic as the example above. The broader point though, is that Jessops' business plan seems to have been something akin to constantly balancing more and more empty cans without any support or ballast hoping that they wouldn't fall over.

The company has been in existence since 1935 and I know that it would be a travesty for it to disappear. I know that going into administration isn't the equal to liquidation but there will certainly be fewer Jessops on the high street. The problem with a store like Jessops is much like that which forced Comet out of business. Stores which thrive on selling expensive products, with only a limited amount of day to day items that people are likely to purchase, it's a difficult endeavour.

Whilst Supermarkets do sell expensive electronics, they also sell very cheap products. This is why they can become so successful, and continue to stay open. People will always need food. They will not always need cameras. I've brought 2 cameras in 2 years, both of them second hand and whilst I have brought accessories for them both, Jessops has more often than not been the most expensive (and least helpful) option.

I do have anecdotal accounts of Jessops shop assistants being directed to sell DSLRs when in fact what the customer needs is a compact. Or the example above of bringing out the completely wrong lens, putting me off ever going back into the store. As I said before, I'm not trying to tarnish them all with the same brush but these are genuine experiences. In a world where the High Street store carries less and less value from the perspective of the consumer, no one wants a bad reputation.

This isn't a fault with the individuals but rather with the companies training program. If someone who works for you can't tell the difference between Canon and Nikon, or more likely doesn't realise that their products are not cross-compatible, the fault lies with the person that gave the assistant the ok to go out and interact with the public. On this occasion, as with everytime such a thing has happened to me, I explained that that's not the case and that I would need a Canon fit. Not everyone is so polite.

It would seem that the overall business strategy of continuing to open more and more stores as the economic situation remains stagnate and people have less disposable income year on year is a deeply flawed one. In truth though, the Photography service business has taken a serious hit in the past decade since Jessops opened their 200th store in the shape of Digital Photography and cheap home printing. Photo sharing is now something done primarily online and people simply don't have the need to get photos developed and printed.

When was the last time you actually looked at a photo album? Let put one together using shop purchased prints from negatives. No, I can't remember either. It was probably sometime around 2003. The truth is that from a purely consumerist perspective we don't actually need shops like Jessops. We can get our photos developed via post, print our own photos on the machines in Boots, get all the advice we need from online blogs and reviews and easily return a camera to the online store we brought it from if we decide that it's the wrong one for us. It's sad but true.

Shopping is becoming increasingly dehumanised, which is great if you're neurotic, but some of us actually like to buy things from real people.

Happy New Year, By the way, you should've renewed your Season Ticket in December

  

                                    

The news that President Obama had avoided the 'fiscal cliff'' (no, me neither) cemented the fact that we were  guaranteed some gloomy financial news in Britain. Arriving right when expected, unlike many things in life, the annual blackmail of commuters was yet again hiked today. Rail fares across the country were raised by an average of 3.9%. I know that this may seem to be a relatively low number, and that for people who drive to work getting fuel at the best price constant gamble between convenience and the little red warning light inducing panic.

In reality though, fuel prices haven't actually risen much in the past 18 months. They've fluctuated heavily but if you were to take an average across the last year and half since I brought my old car, the biggest price change has been caused by driving between counties and vendors. Rail fares on the other hand have risen consistently year on year causing a real term rise of 50% over a ten year period. I don't know about anyone else, but I can't think of many examples of jobs where people's average salary has done the same.

It's not like cost of just existing has become any easier. And Gideon seems determined to make it still worse.

I know that I am extremely lucky to be in a job where my day to day travel comes under expenses (saving me about £100 a month) but I still feel justified in my animosity towards the rail companies given that I've been using trains on a regular basis for the past seven years. I've not noticed any real improvement in service, yes there have been some fancy new trains in the past 10 years but this doesn't make the quality of the service any better.

I am also conscious that rail companies have been spending money on stations attempting to catch more fare dodgers and thereby keep the costs down for those of us who actually pay for our train travel. However, the railway organisation is a mess, it is perfectly possible for track, station and train all to be owned and therefore maintained by three separate companies, dependent upon where you are travelling.

I'm not old enough to remember British Rail, but I do recall the complete cock-up of Railtrack and the subsequent cost to the taxpayer. Yes, things are probably better now than they were, and maybe they'll get better. It's not like we're exactly being filled with confidence though, the recent case of the West Coast Omnishambles   is sign enough that this government is just as incompetent as the last (and probably the next) when it comes to dealing with big businesses where the PM isn't personal friends with the Dark Overlord.

The national railway system is still subsidised by the Government, yet the rail companies continue to make a healthy profit. I'm not a trained economist, and I'm not claiming that I could do anything better. But I still can't help but feel like there has to be a better way to deal with the situation. Happy 2013 everyone, at least the rail fares won't rise for another year so that's something to celebrate!

Yay!