High Street Giant Crumbles

I'm sure you are all aware of the collapse of the UK high street store Woolworths. This means the loss of jobs for many people in the retail and logistic sectors, and really couldn't have come at a worse time for employees.

"Woolies" main core business over the last few years is CD and DVD sales, they now find that they just can't compete with online retailers and music download websites.

While I feel sympathy for the employees I have absolutely no sympathy for the store. Woolworths only went after the sale of populous chart music, compilations, and blockbuster movies and DVDs. They had such huge buying power that they were able to sell these at a vastly reduced price. This systematically put high street small independent record stores out of business.

The small stores that carried a large range of back catalogue material, had knowledgeable, intelligent staff who had a real interest in music and could order material they didn't stock have now vanished.

Woolworths changed the retail experience of music buyers forever, no longer are teenagers able to do what I did when I "were" a lad, stand in a tiny shop for hours on end trawling through weird and exciting records.

I'll not be sheding a tear over the loss of the big W.

What the Dickens

Well the time changed this weekend so of course its time for BBC to start a Dickens adaption on BBC 1, sunday evenings. This years offering was Little Dorrit.

It's begs the question, could the "credit crisis" be eased with use of debtors prison???????

Those who can't...

What the hell is going on in Movilla High School in Newtownards this past few weeks. Now two weeks, thats 10 days of education have been missed because of an alleged assault on a teacher from a pupil.

You'll probably expect me to be on the teachers side, but on this one, sorry guys, NO WAY. What the hell, if you get a job as a nightclub doorman you know you're gonna get the odd smack in the face, if you work in a bank or a shop you'll receive intimidation from customers and the chance of a robbery.

When people take on a job like teaching they HAVE to accept that occasionally when dealing with young people, some trouble will occur, they have to accept this as part of the job and work out their own ways of dealing with it in a constructive manner instead of running out the school gates and risking the future of the entire school.

Sack them, thats what i say!

New Blog Launched

Ok, its been an absolute age since i made a blog entry but Len, my co-host on the podcast has started a little blog of his very own. Its just about all things weird, conspiracies, news items, loads of gubbins like that. Check It Major Tom