Greedy High St retailers don’t merit our help
Don’t fall for the pleas to help poor, struggling high Street retailers. i had a 30-year career in fashion and food retail and believe the big-name stores have done their best to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
they have driven down the range of goods for sale and staffing levels to please shareholders.
i have seen a relentless shift in management focus from honest trading and outstanding service to a selfish, bonus-obsessed drive to the bottom.
Staff are under-trained, with the few who are left on the shop floor knowing virtually nothing about the products they are selling.
‘if it isn’t there, we haven’t got it’ is the mantra. this is often true, as the item you are looking for is languishing in a shed waiting for someone to click for it online.
When shopping on the internet, you can find out in seconds whether an item is available in your size, the colour you want and at the right price.
i say no to public subsidies for high Street stores that have been greedy, failed to see the future and have only themselves to blame.
STEVE FORSHaW, Kettering, northants. Don’t blame the internet for the demise of shops. My sister took her daughter to Leeds city centre and paid a fortune to park in order to buy a DVD in hMV.
if she had picked it up in Sainsbury’s while doing the family grocery shop, it would have been £2 cheaper.
the supermarkets should acknowledge their guilt for the loss of small shops that are unable to compete with their margins.
our village newsagent closed after a tesco express opened and took the newspaper and magazine trade. the local butcher and greengrocer soon followed.
W. VERiTy, address supplied.
Fleeing responsibility
We are told the people trying to reach our shores in small craft are fleeing war and persecution.
What does it say about these fit young men that they are prepared to abandon their wives and mothers, the old and children to carry on living in such conditions, which they found so intolerable that they had to leave? Mrs JOSE H. O’WaRE,
Methwold, norfolk.
Sergeant snowflake
iS it any wonder army recruitment is down? the latest ideas from marketing gurus are rubbish: ‘Snowflakes, your army needs you and your compassion.’
recruiting offices have been replaced by form- filling and computer assessment.
recruits want to meet someone in uniform who will encourage them, not an algorithm.
‘Born in Bolton, made in the royal navy’ and ‘Be the best’ were inspired adverts.
Kitchener must be turning in his watery grave. ian gREEn, Malvern, Worcs. hoW is the army going to discharge its safe - space responsibilities to snowflake rescruits in a war? Do we want that from our future troops? PETER LOngLEy, Chinnor, Oxon. there are lots of unemployed 18 to 25- year- olds who would benefit greatly from two years of national service. K. JaCQUES, Stafford. thiS one was missing from the new army recruitment posters: ‘Knife carriers, your army needs you and your sharpness.’ ERiC WaTERS, Lancing, W. Sussex. When you apply to join the more cuddly army, don’t forget you will still be trained to kill people. aLan SHaRPE, Melton Mowbray, Leics.
Made to last
oh, the irony! Val Marks’s hoover has stood by her 43 years longer than her husband (Mail).
We live in a culture where products are made cheaply, often with built-in obsolescence, and we expect to replace them after just a few years, with all the energy consumption and waste that goes with this approach.
however, we then agonise about polluting the planet.
one of the best things we could do if we are serious about saving our planet is to return to the ethos where things were made to last and used until worn out, like Mrs Marks’s hoover.
aDEyEMi BanJO, London SE15.
Gullible ghostbusters
i QUeStion the trend of ghost hunts in purportedly haunted locations (Mail): is it harmless or ethically wrong? there has been a huge increase in interest in the paranormal due to tV shows that are edited to achieve an hour of watchable, exciting content.
My husband and i are trained mediums who have an understanding and knowledge of the spiritual world, which we use to help people affected by paranormal activity.
this isn’t entertaining — in fact, it is often terrifying for the families affected.
We have often found spiritual problems are made worse by inexperienced or unscrupulous ‘Ghostbusters’ who claim they can investigate, but are only in it to make money.
the universe contains many energies we do not fully understand, but they are not there to amuse or entertain us.
SUE CHURCHiLL, Borehamwood, Herts.
British is best
LeaVinG the eU could be the greatest opportunity for British business. there are lots of homeproduced goods if you take the trouble to look.
in my supermarket, i saw two types of purple sprouting broccoli on sale: a 200g pack from Portugal for well over £2 and a 250g pack from alcester, which is five miles away, for £1.39.
Bigger pack, less money and fewer miles!
it’s time to revive the Buy British campaign.
PHiL BOOCOCK, Pershore, Worcs.
Justice must prevail
thanK goodness for the Daily Mail and its campaign to get justice for the family of Charlotte Brown, who was killed by her date Jack Shepherd while he was showing off in his ageing speedboat on the thames.
i set a great store by the justice system, but this case makes me question this.
the police failed to confiscate Shepherd’s passport and he has gone on the run. he is mocking the law by mounting an appeal against his conviction and is using taxpayers’ money to fund his lawyers through legal aid.
it beggars belief that this farce is allowed to continue. i pray he is brought to justice. i’m putting my faith in the public with the £25,000 reward the Daily Mail is offering. Justice must prevail. JOy WOOD, Cleethorpes, Lincs. the judicial system is a joke. the only satisfaction would be that Shepherd’s six-year sentence is increased on appeal with time added for going on the run. JEn HUDSOn, Bedale, n. yorks.