If there's one thing the private sector can learn from the public sector, it's how to cut waste. From IT systems at the NHS to investment in our peerless rail network, Government and its agencies have shown the way.
So it was a pleasure to hear the Local Government Association unleash its annual rant against the profligacy of food packaging imposed upon the hapless consumer. It seems that our fatcat supermarket and food industries are simply blind to the billions of pounds they spend each year on packaging. The implications of this are clear, so listen up. Since you have caught red-handed pissing your margin up a wall, it follows that you are not really interested in cost control, right? From there it is but a short leap to the conclusion that there's no actual desire to compete on price - otherwise you'd be eking out every last soupçon of cost to reinvest.
Ergo, competition is a sham - and you've all been found out! Enter Johnny Fingers stage left to close you all down and we'll have grocery distribution run by local government, just like in the war.
Actually, this morning's radio appearances by the LGA's Margaret Eaton only show that the one place where there truly is a surfeit of old bags is in local government. I dimly recall waking up for a few ghastly moments during some interdepartmental recycling love-in not long ago and noting with interest that it was in fact the councils who were in charge of recycling. Not the supermarkets. So if you can't recycle the 36 layers of toxic polyethylene and baby seal fat that surround any given cheese triangle then, well, isn't that because the local council hasn't been arsed to sort it yet?
On the other hand, it was refreshing to hear Asda spinmeister Paul Kelly leading the counter-charge. Apparently, he has incontrovertible statistics to disprove the LGA's incontrovertible statistics. At least you can rely on Asda to recycle the truth.
So it was a pleasure to hear the Local Government Association unleash its annual rant against the profligacy of food packaging imposed upon the hapless consumer. It seems that our fatcat supermarket and food industries are simply blind to the billions of pounds they spend each year on packaging. The implications of this are clear, so listen up. Since you have caught red-handed pissing your margin up a wall, it follows that you are not really interested in cost control, right? From there it is but a short leap to the conclusion that there's no actual desire to compete on price - otherwise you'd be eking out every last soupçon of cost to reinvest.
Ergo, competition is a sham - and you've all been found out! Enter Johnny Fingers stage left to close you all down and we'll have grocery distribution run by local government, just like in the war.
Actually, this morning's radio appearances by the LGA's Margaret Eaton only show that the one place where there truly is a surfeit of old bags is in local government. I dimly recall waking up for a few ghastly moments during some interdepartmental recycling love-in not long ago and noting with interest that it was in fact the councils who were in charge of recycling. Not the supermarkets. So if you can't recycle the 36 layers of toxic polyethylene and baby seal fat that surround any given cheese triangle then, well, isn't that because the local council hasn't been arsed to sort it yet?
On the other hand, it was refreshing to hear Asda spinmeister Paul Kelly leading the counter-charge. Apparently, he has incontrovertible statistics to disprove the LGA's incontrovertible statistics. At least you can rely on Asda to recycle the truth.
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