How The Mighty Fall

As the UK Prime Minister says the country is out of the recession. Within a week of photographic giants Jessops going into administration and closing its shops after 90 years. Big music giant HMV today have also called in the administrators.
HMV has retail stores worldwide and has been seen as the main retailer for music and video - until now that is.

So what the hell happened? Is the recession to blame along with the Government for not doing enough to save businesses from failing? Or is technology bringing down retail giants to their knees?

Personally, I think both have had a part to play. The Government hiked VAT up from 17.5% to 20% raising prices and increasing the cost to run a business. This rise in VAT was frowned upon by many, but the Government stood their ground and raised it to 20%.
Recently, the Government announced plans to raise VAT further to 25%, which could mean more well-known businesses could end up knocking on the administrators door, putting more people out of work. It would also mean less money in the customer's pocket as fuel would become more expensive amongst other household bills.
However, this has yet to be given the green light as the announcement has angered many MP's and members of the E.U. have actually spoke up telling the Government to lower VAT and not raise it to help move the economy. But as per usual, this plea has fallen onto deaf ears and the Government continue on to put us back into the recession.

In saying all that with the growth of technology, faster broadband and cheaper online retailers - is there really any shock value to the news of HMV going under? Not really, no.
I personally found HMV to be expensive on a lot of its goods. For example, last year I bought the Alien Blu-ray box set for £18 in Tesco. It was also the same price in other high street and online retailers who sold it for around the same price. However in HMV, you could buy the same box set for £40. That's a big difference, but in their defence, HMV have had decent sales on such as 5 Blu-Ray discs for £30 and the more recent blue-cross sale knocking 25% of its displayed price.
Unfortunately, these sales haven't helped the company from going under because the online market is under cutting their competition with ease.

What high street retailers should be doing is taking on these cheap online retailers head on and match their prices. At present, customers would be willing to wait three days for a item which they bought a hell of lot cheaper than what they could in a high street store. If a high street retailer matched or under cut its online competition they could see a rise in profits as people would most probably opt to make their purchases in store rather than waiting those three days.

However, with faster broadband speeds now available in the UK, a lot of people are preferring to download their music, games and films rather than buy a hard copy. Why? Space saving is one reason with no CD or DVD cases cluttering up room space. As for other reasons, well, shopping from home is the big thing now. People would rather buy online in the comfort of their own homes, plus you can shop with non UK online retailers being able to buy a product not available in the UK.

Overall then, are we really surprised to see well-known high street retailers disappear? I think not.

In the Press.

© Reuters

Well let's start with the sad news of singer and actress Whitney Houston.
A great musical talent who like Michael Jackson, has now left a great void in the music industry with her untimely death.

At the time of publishing, there is (as usual) rumours and speculation to how she died. But the truth behind her death won't be known for a while, so instead of pondering on what's happened, just remember how she lived.


Snow Joke!

Europe is freezing its ass off as temperatures plummet to -30C. 

Countries such as Rome, South of France and Spain who all should enjoying Spring like weather right now are being hit with snow storms causing huge problems. 

However, for once the UK has escaped the big freeze with the country having its first major snowfall this winter last week as temperatures dipped to around -18C. But this was short lived as temperatures have since risen back into double figures for some parts.

UK Petrol Price Update.

Well nothing much has really happened. 

The British government have done sweet fanny adams into getting prices down as they refuse to do anything help. 

In the UK, petrol is taxed twice (yes twice!) basically because our government is... well, greedy!

If the government removed one of these taxes, that would bring fuel costs right down in line with most of Europe and the U.S., but they won't. Why? Because it would leave a big hole in their pockets that's why. 

It makes me laugh when the government keep borrowing to help with the recession and the country's debt. However, we as people get advisers telling us that obtaining another loan to pay off a loan is wrong and will only get you into more debt. So what the hell are the government doing then?

Why don't the government just make sufficient cuts not just to public services, but to things that will make a difference and help get the economy moving again such as VAT.

They sit there in Parliament with their smug looks, thinking they're all doing us a favour when the truth is - you're making matters worse! 

If they cut taxes, petrol prices and more, they would see the economy begin to move as people will have the money to spend again.

But this is only a pipe dream as the British government seriously don't care about the UK people, just themselves and their pockets.

Do You Blame Them?

Picture: Craig Greenhill

I heard on the radio that Guns n'Roses walked off stage at a gig in Dublin after fans pelted the group with bottles for being late.


Yeah okay, the group were late on stage but can you seriously blame them for walking off after the actions of their 'so-called' fans?
I seriously can't and if I was in their shoes, I'd do exactly the same. 


So what if they were late! At least you still got to see them perform. I'd be more pissed off if they didn't show up at all, then fair enough you'd have a good excuse to kick off big time as your money and time had been wasted.  


As for the gig being cut short, then to be honest the only one's to blame for that are the fans.
Hope your happy with yourselves and good luck in getting a refund as its your fault not the band's or promoters the gig was cut short. Why the hell should you be entitled to your money back? The band should keep it as compensation for having their time wasted.