Friday, January 19, 2007

Thought police

I am not sure who I distrust more Evil Tesco or the government. The evil giant who attracts one in every £8 spent by the British public (no not him, we dealt with Gordo yesterday) is stopping at nothing to take over the minds and hearts of Daily Hate Mail readers. The week started with Tesco wanting to build homes and ended with Tesco promising to save the world. I don't know what other Big Brother sponsor they are worried about, but George Orwell is certainly behind this one.

I know what you are thinking- does this mean Tesco houses will be painted blue and white, Sainsbury's Stelios orange, and Waitrose middle-class magnolia? And then there is M&S - will they be packaged to look great but lack taste? But should we not rejoice at this Orwellian answer to the housing crisis? Or is that just doublethink? And as this is starting to disturb, let’s find distraction in the 23nd edition of City Slicker's "Week's Action, Weekend Reaction."

1) Fed up with looking at your IKEA reproduction of The Scream but can't face the annual London Art Fair, again this year? React by heading to see artists from Saatchi's online Your Gallery on show at the Brick Lane Gallery's Lost & Found exhibition. Today to 30 Jan. 196 Brick Lane, E1. Free.

2) Excited that the opening kilometres of the Tour de France are coming to London from July 6th - 8th this year? React by celebrating with wine and cheese early and head to the Viva la France three-day event at Olympia. Hammersmith Road. £8 if book on-line, £12 on the day. Today to Sunday.

3) Refusing to give up on your ski trip despite reports that the Alps are melting? React by checking out Matalan's new cut-price line of skiwear. With jackets from £35 you can afford to hedge your bet. www.matalan.co.uk


20 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can I have a house from SPAR? When I was in Esso station the other night I heard Spar radio being blasted and then I realised there is somebody more powerful than Tesco. Unless there is Tesco radio?

5:56 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The 'evil Tesco' allegations will come to be seen for what they are - a reflection of the actions of
tens of thousands of suppliers in pursuit of a systematically mistaken goal - price reduction

Introduce a new goal - carbon reduction, and some appropriate incentives, and this system will self-optimise.

Consumers get the planet they deserve - for good or ill.

No more excuses.

5:59 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I dont know, is it that bad? I wish Walmart would do that for us here in the US!

6:01 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ABout the Tesco houses many companies are not in a position to do a great scheme like this - but for me the important part of this story is not the investment it is the mindset....Every little helps is their slogan and what a great way for their employees to "feel their brand mantra".

Great blog here City Slicker! Didn't know abuot the Tour coming to London Town.

6:03 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello City Slicker,
Now Tesco, being a pro-active, money making bunch of 'can do- will get there even if we have to kick arses' kinda guys have decided to build the houses for the work force thenmselves.

Some will say that this is paternalistic; the company will have strings attached to tenancies, the state should lay on this kinda thing and it's an erosion of human rights and an affront to Guardian readers everywhere.

The fact is though, that Secular Society is generally failing to provide moral guidance, or social welfare. I am not saying that Guardian readers themselves are getting pregnant at the age of 13, or drinking to the point of excess and lying in the gutters semi comatose every Saturday night, but now that fewer people believe in God, this sort of thing is getting more prevalent.

God bless!

6:11 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

OMG - that last comment is more scary than anything. Where do these people come from?

6:14 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Agreed no Christians on blog sites please :-)

Tesco’s actions please me, for several reasons.

I much prefer Tesco to the competition. Sainsbury’s, for example, annoy me on at least two fronts. Firstly, they play Jamie bloody Oliver; secondly, their aisles are far too narrow. Happily, as a result of their ‘aggressive’ strategy, Tesco will be opening a big, brand new store less than a mile away from me. In less than a fortnight. Result. I am 16.5 stone so you can see this pleases me.

6:23 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

But aren't we missing the market based point here? The planning process in this country is a farce. If Tesco blaze a trail through it, then there’s a chance that the rest of us plebes will be able to follow them.
It pisses off the social progressives of this world, like the NEF and IPPR then this pleases me greatly.

They’re a shining example that, despite the interference of government and regulation, business can actually succeed. And that pisses off the progressives even more.
So is there a limit to Tesco’s horizons? Let’s hope not. Especially if the limit is government, because that’s the thing that limits everything else…

6:25 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Iceland for me

6:55 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As regular readers of CS will know, I’m not ‘big’ on big stores, but we have to start somewhere, and these guys can make a big difference, fast, if they have a mind to.

7:03 pm  
Blogger Habibi said...

I don't like big companies (especially I dislike Starbucks -and today I read about the deal at the Forbidden City) but at least I like that Tesco cares about ecology. I have no idea about this house thing but, as a former real estate, and Spanish (do you get News over there about the Real Estate Corruption in Spain?) --Down with it!

7:10 pm  
Blogger Habibi said...

I don't like big companies (especially I dislike Starbucks -and today I read about the deal at the Forbidden City) but at least I like that Tesco cares about ecology. I have no idea about this house thing but, as a former real estate, and Spanish (do you get News over there about the Real Estate Corruption in Spain?) --Down with it!

7:11 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ohhh Habibi baby...yes Tesco is so caring about ecology that while they are putting carbon points on their chicken they are simultaneously promoting out of town stores that pollute as surbanites drive to get a pint of milk.

Where is the logic?

I do hope Spain is doing better than us.

7:19 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tesco to carbon label its products? Am I living in the real world?

7:45 pm  
Blogger Ms Melancholy said...

Oh, the sweet, sweet irony. Lady Porter - the Tesco heiress and former Tory leader of Westminster council- was famously found to have acted illegally by disposing of Westminster's public housing stock in the famous 'homes for votes' scandal in the 1980s. She showed scant regard for the homeless and those in need of social housing in a bid to increase the tory vote in marginal wards. I find it hard to believe that Tesco have any social conscience at all, and this is nothing more than a blatantly manipulative PR exercise. We should be bloody picketing them, not shopping there.

11:24 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

what is honkman talking about here? first he says we need to flip the economy so it's all about carbon reduction ... then later on he's all about sweeping the government away. you can't have both!

oh, and in between, he suggests that tesco's suppliers are trying to lower prices. i rather doubt it ... if anything, as a good business i think tesco will be pushing their prices down.

as a social progressive, i'm confused. can someone explain?

1:03 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Excuse me but does anybody think the average person has time to think about this stuff? As CS has mentioned here before these are 'Waitrose Worries' I am afraid.

8:33 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

since most of us shop in tesco at least some of the time, i imagine that what they do affects most of us ...

2:02 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The only way Tesco is going to make us act more eco freidnly is by lowering the prices on such goods not raising them!

4:09 pm  
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7:07 pm  

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