Comment & opinion – Page 561
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Comment & Opinion
Personal coach steve crabb British employees have a better deal than their American counterparts
I've just returned from a holiday in Italy, where they really do understand the concept of work-life balance. The average Italian gets 7.9 weeks off each year, including bank holidays and other statutory leave, compared with 6.6 weeks in the UK....
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Comment & Opinion
The crucial role of skills in business success
Your leader discussing business failures, the Hot Topic warning of the impact of wage increases and comments from Duncan Swift, head of food and agri-business at Grant Thornton (The Grocer, 19 August) could well lead readers to believe that our...
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Comment & Opinion
Jason Coyle Inflexible category structures make it hard for innovative products to get on shelves, says a director of stuffing supplier Mr Crumb
At conferences across the land, chief executives of multiple retailers regularly bemoan the lack of new innovative products. But is it just this need to innovate that blocks a small supplier's efforts to actually get on shelf, or are there other...
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Comment & Opinion
ANDREW LOFTus
Just over a year ago, Weeton's in Harrogate opened its doors for the first time. Although entirely urban in location and appearance, British food is at the heart of our philosophy. Early results are encouraging and British food certainly looks...
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Comment & Opinion
Local food retailing shows food miles do count
SIR; We at the National Farmers' Retail and Markets Association feel that we must take issue with the message conveyed in Richard Clarke's story about a recent British Market Research Bureau consumer survey, headlined '61% not bothered about...
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Comment & Opinion
What happened to the best policy?
I'm sure that I wasn't the only person to be distinctly unimpressed when Cadbury CEO Todd Stitzer offered what passed for an apology for the recent outbreak of the potentially deadly pathogen, salmonella montevideo. The Health Protection Agency...
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Comment & Opinion
Conning people into doing things doesn't work for long
What is the difference between motivation and manipulation? Generally speaking, if you've been motivated you normally feel satisfied afterwards, while if you've been manipulated you may feel conned. For instance, you may consider saving up...
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Comment & Opinion
I too eat frozen food... there, I've said it as well
SIR; If I might be permitted to reply to Siân Harrington's revelation that she eats frozen food, I must aver that I too buy, eat and enjoy frozen food. But I would like to put Siân's mind...
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Comment & Opinion
Wrong message about cereals
Sir; By implying that many breakfast cereals are unhealthy and damaging to children's health, it is disappointing that a respected consumer organisation such as Which? is giving consumers and parents an unbalanced view
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Comment & Opinion
This week's hot topic by Julian Hunt
It's somewhat ironic that as I prepare to leave journalism, the hottest topic of the moment is the one that I was covering at the start of my career. Way back in 1990, when I was a cub reporter on Packaging Week, waste was the issue that was...
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Comment & Opinion
All can help to ensure the future of British farming
It was a bold step for the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) to ask the head of a supermarket chain to be its president. True, Lord Sieff and Alastair Grant had held this post before me - but not at a time when there was so much...
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Comment & Opinion
Health still needs a sensible policy
I want to believe the food industry realises a proper health policy means more than just food safety, I really do. Last week, Prince Charles' International Business Leaders Forum and HBOS's Insight Investment announced a draft set of guidelines...
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Comment & Opinion
Personal coach philip hesketh On how understanding relationship circles can reap benefits at work
Allegedly, 'The Apprentice' supremo Alan Sugar once signed a Christmas card 'Best wishes from Alan Sugar'. Nothing wrong in that - if it hadn't been to his wife. Obviously, he's a busy man and had simply got mixed up. But if you thought Mrs...
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Comment & Opinion
Rights on late payment
SIR; There is a growing trend for large retailers to pass the cost of difficult trading periods or expansion on to their suppliers. There is no protection for companies who live in fear of large customers taking away their trade should they...
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Comment & Opinion
Dutch market a key outlet for private label suppliers
In mainland Europe the British are seen as the leading innovators in the private label market. British food and drink manufacturers are admired for their development, while the private label model cultivated by the retailers is one coveted by...
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Comment & Opinion
Second opinion
Mutual respect is the way forward This week the annual Royal Agricultural Show at Stoneleigh has been highlighting the challenges faced by British farmers and lamenting declining volumes in the agricultural sector. Last week, The...
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Comment & Opinion
Personal coach AlI campbell On finding time to do more things we like by getting other things done
By focusing extra attention on what we are doing and accomplishing with our time, we can both achieve more and find time 'to do' more of what we love. I first explored the idea of 'done' lists when working with American life coach Michael...
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Comment & Opinion
Mr Blair, you can trust your partner to get the job done
Take this ideal: 'A nation of well-informed consumers able to make the appropriate choices for their dietary needs and those of their families, from a wide range of affordable, available, safe, wholesome food'. That seems to me an...
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Comment & Opinion
Second opinion
We must produce whatever we can These are funny times: nationalism in football; retailers praying for English World Cup success; nations glued to TVs worldwide, munching snacks, slurping drinks, watching superfit young men (many...
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Comment & Opinion
Next step is to test labelling schemes to see what works
Food manufacturers and retailers have always prospered by giving customers what they want - and signpost labelling provides an opportunity to do just that. Shoppers want healthier food and they want to be able to find it quickly and easily -...