Comment & opinion – Page 558
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Comment & Opinion
our man from drip Don Pumsey - 26th May 2007
Idon't know what the collective noun for BBC undercover journalists is but I'd imagine Messrs Leahy and King would have a few monosyllabic suggestions. Speaking as a purely impartial Minister of State, my main impression from the Whistleblower show...
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Comment & Opinion
our man from drip Don Pumsey - 19th May 2007
I don't know which is Sarah Brown's supermarket of choice, but when I received an email last week in the distinctive lumpen prose of El Gordo I thought I'd better sit up and take notice. He may not have a real job for much longer but there's still...
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Comment & Opinion
China beckons, but work out the puzzle carefully
There are many retail opportunities - but significant problems - in the rapidly expanding Chinese marketThis week the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that retail sales during the May Day holidays hit 320 billion yuan, or £21bn -...
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Comment & Opinion
Go on Gordon, surprise me...
A Gordon Brown-led government offers new possibilities for food policy but whether he will take the issues seriously remains to be seen Tony Blair's departure has been painfully slow and the arrival of a Gordon Brown-led government...
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Comment & Opinion
Opinion - "Not all their premium lines are perfect but multiples' own labels are now often better than brand rivals"
I'm sure you read Bob Farrand's comments about own-label in this mag a couple of weeks ago. The director of the Guild of Fine Food said top-of-the-range own-label lines were "average food in fancy packaging". Hats off to Bob for speaking out on...
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Comment & Opinion
It's a funny old thing, this healthy eating
It looks like our special friends across the Atlantic are gearing up to get rid of junk food from schools. But they don't do things by halves do they?Last week, activists wheeled out Hollywood comedy star Chevy Chase, who testified in...
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Comment & Opinion
our man from drip Don Pumsey - 12th May 2007
Dreamt last night I was in bed with the wife of a junior minister. A bit too damned realistic - I was halfway down the Victorian guttering of Pumsey Place when I realised it was true. The said lady was none other than the delightful Veronica Pumsey...
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Comment & Opinion
our man from drip Don Pumsey - 28th April 2007
I suppose it was The Grocer wot done it. Just as I was seated, scanning the stunning revelation by Crawley's finest that Peter Freeman's comatose Commission for the Long Grass was still desperately seeking Britain's last honest estate agent, ?the...
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Comment & Opinion
Single payment is not the answer to farmers in crisis
Cash-strapped farmers face an uphill battle to get fair prices for livestock and the EU subsidies they rely on are dwindlingA businessman won't last very long if he supplies something for a price that is below the cost of...
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Comment & Opinion
Bogof's week
Sir Robin Janvrin, the Queen's private secretary, likes to compare Marmite to the royal family, saying that the former has moved with the times "but the changes have been made gradually and with respect for tradition". I'd say Marmite was moving...
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Comment & Opinion
Finding a planning expert can't be that difficult, surely
News that the Competition Commission does not appear to have appointed any experts to advise it on the planning implications of its investigation (The Grocer, 14 April, p6) should surprise and disappoint in equal measure those who are expecting...
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Comment & Opinion
Letter of the week - Protect and celebrate our food
I have recently returned from a very enlightening trip to Barcelona Degusta. What really opened my eyes was not the good quality food on show, but the space dedicated to celebrating EU Protected Food Names (EUPFNs). It is this level of awareness and...
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Comment & Opinion
Ghostbusting - putting life back into our communities
The term 'ghost town Britain' has been used by the media to sum up the decline of the local community - particularly through the closure or loss of facilities such as post offices, pubs, shops, doctors' surgeries and bus services. But this...
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Comment & Opinion
Are major retailers stifling the creation of new brands?
I t is often claimed that the presence of powerful retailers acts as a deterrent to the development of new brands in the UK food and soft drinks market. Retailers used to stock a wide range of brands and pack sizes within a category, in...
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Comment & Opinion
Retailers should learn from the US
The announcement of a small tie-up between Daylesford Organic and Planet Organic might not be the biggest deal in the world but it has obvious benefits for both organisations and could point the way to more such links. From the end of...
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Comment & Opinion
Bogof's week
Self-important chief executives who seek newspaper profiles, the adulation of the gabfest and the unquestioning support of their colleagues should stay put (in plcs) says Lord Hollick, the not-at-all self-important ex-ceo of United Business...
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Comment & Opinion
You can make promises... the key is sticking to them
Study the works of any great writer and you'll discover a variety of styles and subjects, but one common thread links them all. It's the uncertainty of outcome and it's a technique used to devastating effect by every popular writer, from...
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Comment & Opinion
Retail micro-marketing: a cocktail for discrimination
The current Competition Com-mission inquiry into the grocery market is examining competition issues in three key areas. These are: retailers' behaviour towards suppliers, retail competition in local markets, and the planning regime and...
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Comment & Opinion
Expect another toothless result
A sentence leaps out from the Competition Commission's 'emerging thinking' on supermarkets: "We will wish to consider very carefully whether, taking account of likely future trends, the grocery market is sufficiently competitive to prevent any...