stepho

High numbers, but that high considering it is Chrismas after all?Liked the following: Wasn't mild weather blamed for the last fall In figures? maybe I'm being more cynical these days and this good news guff coming out at the moment really is good news...

Just think of all those NSA back doors and holes left wide open in the vast majority of the worlds systems and network infrastructure just waiting to be exploited....

Will be interesting to see the figures. Bear in mind that we've seen declines in figures recently so any upturn should be taken with a pinch of salt and a longer term bigger picture look taken. I'm of the opinion there is not much money around, but Christmas sales will be strong as people look to treat themselves which masks deeper issues - people on 'lockdown' cutting back during the rest of the year. Much like in a recession when we see a rise in sales of luxury ready meals etc as people cut back on going out. The meagre rise in wages aren't funding this, PPI money has been and gone so it can only be consumer confidence supporting spending on credit.

I agree, the only reason to go to Tesco (and other supermarkets) was the increase in choice, with Tesco hoping you do the bulk of the shopping there too. If they reduce product lines that could remove the need to go to Tesco entirely - and even then they still have a load of retail space tied to expensive leases to fill. Poor quality/value and treating the customers as idiots by playing games with prices got them here, they don't appear to have started to tackle this yet. I still can't see how this will play out for them as things stand without further drastic changes.

Selling what though? Stores big enough already have a cafe, dry cleaners, cobbler/key cutter, mobile store and pharmacy - they also sell electrical items, clothes and home wares etc.. Can't think of anything else that would be suitable or not compete. Even by not selling those and allowing others in, it's not looking like a successful model. Perhaps an in store foxtons concession?

Looked for a list of brands to avoid and realised I cannot remember the last time I purchased anything they make, looking at that brand list you can see they're in trouble. As said, looks to be a zombie company that's going to be based on leveraging debt and riding the shareprice off the back of constant restructures.

Yep a shit as the TVs were, there couldn't have been much margin, that combined with the low volume sold (necessary to cause the panic buying) probably won't even register anything significant in sales in comparison to what they normally do and sell. Plus any sane person wanting to do a bit of grocery shopping would probably have swerved places like Tesco on Friday too.

They're fighting each other to lend out free money with no risk. The more they pile on the more money they make. If things start to go tits up then they'll have to be another bail out or government intervention as the entire house of cards will fall down without it, the banks know the government won't let this happen and will have to step in.

I've never heard such rubbish, inflation down to computer games? The amount of increase in these combined with how small their importance and weighting should be in the 'basket' should have very little affect.

Probably won't be until way after that either. Things look like they are starting to fall apart, can't see a rise in the next few years.

Would love to know what their exact position is on those leases. Signed during the period of 'no bust', I wonder if the arrogance of Tesco meant these leases could now mean the death of the company, with extremely unfavourable terms should they want to break them as they were able to foresee the current market.

Current incentives are keeping things moving nicely already and should see us through to the election. The new rules on pensions soon will prop up spending for a while to come, but this could be a great follow up. All those pensioners with tens of thousands sat in the bank ripe for spending on a new car or holiday would make the economy stats look great, and allow the government to kick the can down the road a bit longer....

If they manage to get a large chunk paying monthly, suddenly that £50 car tax increase doesn't look so big when it's broken down into a monthly amount....

Maybe they don't think Milliband will take us into the next war, wherever they want that to be....

I agree, this 'campaign' stirred up by the media seems sinister. I'm never voting Labour, ever - yet I can see there is something else at play here.

With prostitution now contributing to GDP it is down to visionaries like this guy that we're not back in recession. #WealthCreator

As mentioned in this post and the BBC thread on this forum... 'Positively North Korean' sums it up perfectly.

As the guy reviewing the papers suggested the other night, The Express print this shit as it sells papers to their stupid readers, anyone wanting real news would choose another paper that ultimately does it far better than the Express ever could.

This isn't meant to be happening yet. Although that along with the markets wobbling could force the government into throwing out more money, reiterating low interest rates for the short term or even lowering them or coming up with some other magical scheme. Maybe it's just what Osborne needs to start stoking the fire again.

Breaking: U.K. retail sales fell more than economists forecast in December as cold weather kept shoppers away from the high street in the latest round of retail figures announced by the ONS this morning.

Might be a good investment come the chancellor's pre election autumn statement. Expecting some panic policy in that to keep things stumbling along until the election. Would take a brave person to do so though....

That or they realise many of their customers are skint and need them to use their credit card to get them through until payday.

It'll only make Britain more expensive. Rising wages in a way like this will only deter investment and job creation in any industry that can compete globally. Reducing housing, energy and other costs will put more money in people's pockets and allow us to compete better on a global scale, although that will never happen...

It's always felt like Chinese state Tv for the British market with a smile. With the growing abundance of other news sources and statistics and fact pretty much to hand - it's scarily obvious how scripted and 'on message' a lot of it is. Even when 'investigating' or providing a critical eye to appear impartial, the objectivity is almost always sandwiched between the conclusion that it's not a problem, that's they way it should be or that you shouldn't be worried.

It is, fair chunk of the available housing at any one time though....