Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Found my ideal camera shop!

http://macs-cameras.blogspot.com/

[Rod Paradise]

Nice frontpage layout/juxtaposition/sub-editing

Click to see full-size image.

LOl - don't knwo why she just can't borrow her old one back. Currently docked in Edinburgh, still working and hosting dinners - Zara had her pre wedding dinner on it which the Queen attended. I think she would be happy to have it back for a few months - like putting on a pair of comfortable slippers.

Got a leak - currently somewhere between the normal, funnels up, attitude & the boat in the above pic.

Scots Nat barnacles FTW!

[RED-DOG]

David - thank you for the PM, & yes, I'd rather the photo-mentoring moved across to here, please, I feel I am hijacking Tom's admittedly otherwise insipid Journal.

I'll study that photo Blog later & reply accordingly.

Rememer you from DTD? Of course.

• Handsome,
• grey beard jobbie, [ ] late sixties?......

fyp

 

FWIW, I also remermber your terrific analogy. "DTD is to playing poker, what St Andrews is to playing golf".

As in, you will lose your balls if you're not careful

[tikay]

Nice frontpage layout/juxtaposition/sub-editing

Click to see full-size image.

LOl - don't knwo why she just can't borrow her old one back. Currently docked in Edinburgh, still working and hosting dinners - Zara had her pre wedding dinner on it which the Queen attended. I think she would be happy to have it back for a few months - like putting on a pair of comfortable slippers.

Got a leak - currently somewhere between the normal, funnels up, attitude & the boat in the above pic.

Scots Nat barnacles FTW!

Really? Up at Leith?

That's odd, it never moves!

It's a wonderful bit of ship, though.

[Rod Paradise]

Nice frontpage layout/juxtaposition/sub-editing

Click to see full-size image.

LOl - don't knwo why she just can't borrow her old one back. Currently docked in Edinburgh, still working and hosting dinners - Zara had her pre wedding dinner on it which the Queen attended. I think she would be happy to have it back for a few months - like putting on a pair of comfortable slippers.

Got a leak - currently somewhere between the normal, funnels up, attitude & the boat in the above pic.

Scots Nat barnacles FTW!

Really? Up at Leith?

That's odd, it never moves!

It's a wonderful bit of ship, though.

They say it's fixed now: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-16440827

In a dry dock for repainting, so probably checking for leaks as well. Should have been in Glasgow anyway - they know how to look after ships (and it was built there).

[david3103]

David - thank you for the PM, & yes, I'd rather the photo-mentoring moved across to here, please, I feel I am hijacking Tom's admittedly otherwise insipid Journal.

I'll study that photo Blog later & reply accordingly.

Rememer you from DTD? Of course.

• Handsome,
• grey beard jobbie, [ ] late sixties?......

fyp

 

FWIW, I also remermber your terrific analogy. "DTD is to playing poker, what St Andrews is to playing golf".

As in, you will lose your balls if you're not careful

True, also as in, if you get out of line you may well be severely punished

[rex008]

I cannot, off the top of my head, think of any successful busineses that I despise, but maybe there are a few. "Despise" is not a natural mindset to me, & the whole "I hate Tesco" thing completely whooshes me. Its probably best left there, the meeting of minds will never occur.

You frequently express a dislike for Virgin, IIRC. Be hard to deny that Branson has been a fairly successful businessman.

[Skippy]

Why all the love for Tesco?

Scumbag company. Hope they rot in Hades.

why?

I'd also like to know why to this. I have always been a big advocate of Tesco (lately they have not seemed as great) so intrigued why they could cause so much Camel hate.

"Tesco-Hate" is the modern thing, Dave. There's no rhyme or reason to it, apart from the fact they are so successful. Some spotty kid probably said it on 2+2, & hey presto, off you go, it must be true.

If you think that Tesco hate is purely a result of their success, you are off your rocker.

Here are some Tesco complaints (note that I'm not saying that I agree with all of these, and some of them are general supermarket hate of which Tesco carries the can because it is currently the largest):

• Is it really healthy for one store to control so much of the UK economy?
• Their near-monopoly buying power allows them to squeeze their suppliers until they bleed (and frequently expire), whilst when supplying food they can use their monopoly power to overcharge the customers. Supermarkets have a tremendously negative effects on the farming economy.
• Speaking of their effect on the food industry, they have a tremendous effect on the national diet. They generally use their power to push the products that make them the most profit, not which is best for you.
• They have a great effect on the type of food produced. My Grandparents, who were farmers are full of tales of how their still farming friends have to deal with the demands of supermarket purchasing departments staffed by university graduates who don't know a carrot from a cauliflower. Crops are bred for that which is most profitable for the supermarket, not those which are the best for the consumer, or best for the farmer.
• They own huge land banks that stifle retail competion, buying every bit of land that could even possibly become a supermarket.
• They open stores that kill off local stores thereby depriving the area of local owned and operated shops. Tesco can afford to give food away for free for 2 years, until their competiton folds, then surprise- their prices go up. Many places protest against new Tesco stores, fearing the effect they will have on their high street.
• Tesco using their large army of planning lawyers can still build out of town superstores, killing off city centres.

etc.

Isn't every example you just gave an example of their success?

A lot of the examples are only possible because of their success, yes. But that doesn't mean just because they are successful they have to do these things, they, or they can not.

[Skippy]

Fascinating stuff, & with your farming connections, I can see why you feel so strongly.

However, although we are never going to have a meeting of minds here, I have to say it seems, to me, illogical. You are really saying "I hate the most successful Supermarket chain", which is a different thing completely.

 

I don't hate Tescos at all. I am just trying to suggest that some people (that may not include me) don't like them for reasons other than being jealous of their success. 

You're entirely right that lots of people are saying "I hate Supermarkets", and that Sainsbury's, Morrisons etc. would do or are doing the same thing.

I too admire how Tescos run their business.

For instance:

2) The first of two sidebars.

This was by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, who has been on the case of Tesco for years becaue he believes passionately in organic farming, especially as to chicken production.

See....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1029878/Tesco-shareholders-finally-kill-TV-chefs-bid-make-eat-organic-chicken-kitchen-rival-tells-shut-up.html

So Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall doesn't like Tescos because he doesn't like the way they sell chickens not raised to his welfare standards. I assume his feelings would remain the same even if Tesco only had one corner shop- although he wouldn't protest about it so much as the "crime" would not be committed on such a scale. So you have provided your own example of someone who dislikes Tesco (or at least a bit of the way they conduct themselves) for reasons other than their success.

That people dislike Tesco for reasons other than their success, rightly or wrongly, is my entire point.

[Jon MW]

Fascinating stuff, & with your farming connections, I can see why you feel so strongly.

However, although we are never going to have a meeting of minds here, I have to say it seems, to me, illogical. You are really saying "I hate the most successful Supermarket chain", which is a different thing completely.

 

I don't hate Tescos at all. I am just trying to suggest that some people (that may not include me) don't like them for reasons other than being jealous of their success.  

You're entirely right that lots of people are saying "I hate Supermarkets", and that Sainsbury's, Morrisons etc. would do or are doing the same thing.

I too admire how Tescos run their business.

For instance:

2) The first of two sidebars.

This was by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, who has been on the case of Tesco for years becaue he believes passionately in organic farming, especially as to chicken production.

See....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1029878/Tesco-shareholders-finally-kill-TV-chefs-bid-make-eat-organic-chicken-kitchen-rival-tells-shut-up.html

So Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall doesn't like Tescos because he doesn't like the way they sell chickens not raised to his welfare standards. I assume his feelings would remain the same even if Tesco only had one corner shop- although he wouldn't protest about it so much as the "crime" would not be committed on such a scale. So you have provided your own example of someone who dislikes Tesco (or at least a bit of the way they conduct themselves) for reasons other than their success.

That people dislike Tesco for reasons other than their success, rightly or wrongly, is my entire point.

I know the farmers/suppliers dislike them - and they're the ones who have particularly good reason to.

I can see why the militant organic wing of agriculture have a problem with supermarkets in general.

But things like suggesting they use their monopoly powers to push up prices would be a lot more convincing if it wasn't quite so cheap to shop there.

I've still seen no evidence to suggest that this whole Tesco hatred thing is anything other than a fringe minority occurrence.

[nirvana]

I dislike supermarkets as the meat quality is poor.. or at least, not expensive enough for my taste

[Doobs]

Fascinating stuff, & with your farming connections, I can see why you feel so strongly.

However, although we are never going to have a meeting of minds here, I have to say it seems, to me, illogical. You are really saying "I hate the most successful Supermarket chain", which is a different thing completely.

 

I don't hate Tescos at all. I am just trying to suggest that some people (that may not include me) don't like them for reasons other than being jealous of their success. 

You're entirely right that lots of people are saying "I hate Supermarkets", and that Sainsbury's, Morrisons etc. would do or are doing the same thing.

I too admire how Tescos run their business.

For instance:

2) The first of two sidebars.

This was by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, who has been on the case of Tesco for years becaue he believes passionately in organic farming, especially as to chicken production.

See....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1029878/Tesco-shareholders-finally-kill-TV-chefs-bid-make-eat-organic-chicken-kitchen-rival-tells-shut-up.html

So Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall doesn't like Tescos because he doesn't like the way they sell chickens not raised to his welfare standards. I assume his feelings would remain the same even if Tesco only had one corner shop- although he wouldn't protest about it so much as the "crime" would not be committed on such a scale. So you have provided your own example of someone who dislikes Tesco (or at least a bit of the way they conduct themselves) for reasons other than their success.

That people dislike Tesco for reasons other than their success, rightly or wrongly, is my entire point.

If you look at pretty much every big decent value company you are going to find a reason to hate them.

You just have to be pretty blind to it.  Big completely ethical companies are going to be very thin on the ground.  You'd be sat on your cash a long time while waiting for one.  But ofc while you are doing that you are investing in a stinking filthy capitalist bank anyway.

Like aces playes better than Kq off, but sometimes you have to raise with KQ off. 

I tend to draw the line at tobacco stocks, you are restricting yourself horribly when your ethical stance on investing stretches as far down as Tesco.

[Geo the Sarge]

Fascinating stuff, & with your farming connections, I can see why you feel so strongly.

However, although we are never going to have a meeting of minds here, I have to say it seems, to me, illogical. You are really saying "I hate the most successful Supermarket chain", which is a different thing completely.

 

I don't hate Tescos at all. I am just trying to suggest that some people (that may not include me) don't like them for reasons other than being jealous of their success. 

You're entirely right that lots of people are saying "I hate Supermarkets", and that Sainsbury's, Morrisons etc. would do or are doing the same thing.

I too admire how Tescos run their business.

For instance:

2) The first of two sidebars.

This was by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, who has been on the case of Tesco for years becaue he believes passionately in organic farming, especially as to chicken production.

See....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1029878/Tesco-shareholders-finally-kill-TV-chefs-bid-make-eat-organic-chicken-kitchen-rival-tells-shut-up.html

So Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall doesn't like Tescos because he doesn't like the way they sell chickens not raised to his welfare standards. I assume his feelings would remain the same even if Tesco only had one corner shop- although he wouldn't protest about it so much as the "crime" would not be committed on such a scale. So you have provided your own example of someone who dislikes Tesco (or at least a bit of the way they conduct themselves) for reasons other than their success.

That people dislike Tesco for reasons other than their success, rightly or wrongly, is my entire point.

If you look at pretty much every big decent value company you are going to find a reason to hate them.

You just have to be pretty blind to it.  Big completely ethical companies are going to be very thin on the ground.  You'd be sat on your cash a long time while waiting for one.  But ofc while you are doing that you are investing in a stinking filthy capitalist bank anyway.

Like aces playes better than Kq off, but sometimes you have to raise with KQ off. 

I tend to draw the line at tobacco stocks, you are restricting yourself horribly when your ethical stance on investing stretches as far down as Tesco.

Out of interest, do you make contributions to a personal pension and if so do you know exactly where your money is invested within the market?

Geo

[Geo the Sarge]

The reason I asked the question previously is that there are a lot of people who invest in pensions who are unaware potentially wherein the markets their money is invested. Most have a pensions portfolio that will read something along the lines of invested in:

Cash - 20%
Property - 40%
Equities - 40%

They see the pension fund managers portfolio name as their investment, few actually look beyond that to see which company investments actually make up the end investment portfoilio.

Attached is a fund fact sheet for a leading pension providers "Equity" fund. To the bottom right is a list of the top ten investments within that portfolio

The client making contributions is more often than not blissfully unaware that, for example they are invested in a Tobacco company, a petroluem company or a medical company who may use animal testing.

I would assume if they were an eco lover, against animal testing and against the damage potentially being caused by petroluem companies they would be a wee bit miffed that their pension contributions are being invested in these companies.

In my experience very few clients have any idea where the end holdings are invested.

BTW, these fund fact sheets are readily available on all pension company websites

Click to see full-size image.

[Eck]

Pretty sure Doobs is an actuary Geo (unless I have him mistaken with someone else) so don't think he will need a lesson in pension funds.