Save the forests, sell the forests

Posted: February 17, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Belfast, Business, Do something Now is good, Government, Interesting, politics, Scouting, Scouts | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

Last year, David Cameron’s coalition Government announced controversial plans to sell the nations forests and free up some cash for our failing country.  It was wrong.  It was wrong because there was no immediate plans as to who would buy them or what would be done with them.

Today, David Cameron’s Government U-turned this plan. Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman told MPs the Government had “got this one wrong”, as she announced the current consultation was being halted.

Speaking on this, Labour’s leader Ed Miliband MP said

“Virtually every person in the country could see selling off our forests was a foolish and short-sighted policy but they went ahead regardless. Now they are panicked into a retreat hours after Mr Cameron said they would carry on with their consultation.”

Ed Miliband is also wrong.

Selling off the nations forests can only be a good thing……… if done right.

Let look at the facts for a second,

Government owned forests, both public and private are a burden on the public purse and what do they actually provide us?  A nice place to take our kids and dogs when the sun is shinning and a habitat for wildlife to flourish.

OK, so the later of my point is worth keeping them for but who says for the later to happen, they have to be state owned?  When people talk about selling off the forests, they automatically think of hungry fat cats swopping in and building concrete jungles but it doesn’t have to be that way.

With the correct model, more forests could be open to the public, enjoyed by all and be …….. er profitable?  Sure, lets think about it, even in public forests, most of the woodland is actually shut to the public due to our fancy pants health and safety laws, it just would not be safe for the average punter to be rambling about it.

Let’s get a forest and use all of it for the good of society.  What am I talking about here? well how a forest that contains

1.  Land for public’s and rambling (ok we have that already, i’ll move on)

2. Houses that are eco-friendly and built from the timber actually grown in the forest, that would be a nice place to live

3. Eco-office’s, again built from the timber in the forest and powered from power generated from woodchippings from the forest, what a great place to live

4. Let farmers use the land to….. er farm

5. What about a school in a forest?  I’d love to send my Daughters there, what a great place to learn

6. A hotel ! built again eco-friendly.  What a super place to holiday

6. An adventure centre, Scout den, watersports centre, farm shops, cafe’s on the river, research centres, theaters you name it.

I’m talking about a sustainible, profitible venture that doesn’t cost the Governement (utimately us) a penny.  It can be done, with the right guidlines and objectives in place it should be done.

A forest for all…….. lets do it!

When Politions try and fail …… to understand social media

Posted: April 12, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Business, Government, Interesting, Internet, politics, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Wi-Fi | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Proof read anyone ?

Really, if you don’t get it just stay the hell away from it !

Is this the end for Royal Mail ?

Posted: October 29, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Business, Do something Now is good, Government, Interesting, Internet, Northern Ireland, politics, Social Networking, Telecoms | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

simoncowlousyonroyalmailRoyal Mail has undergone a fair amount of changes since its governmental birth in 1516.  One of the biggest was in 1635 when it became available to the public, for the first time a person – any person could write a letter and send it to someone at the other end of the country without actually taking there themselves.

To say things are different now though is a massive understatement, even in the last 20 years peer to peer communications have changed so much from what we once thought possible.  Email is nearly a things of the past for goodness sake but that a different article for a different day!.

Things have changed and things keep changing but one thing that will never change is that when people rely on something and it is taken away, people will find another way to move forward.  Once shifted it is hard to get them back.

For those of you that do not know the story of Richard Bransons first main break in life – here is a snap shot.  Branson ran a small student magazine whilst at college, sadly or maybe for the best for him it didn’t really make any money so to try and keep his head above water he began to sell records through the magazine by mail order until one day orders stopped coming in, why ?  Well there was a postal strike of course !  Stuck with a stack of records and no means of getting orders Branson opened his first store and Virgin Megastore was born.

So why am I talking about this now ?  Well yet again we are faced with a postal strike and yet again people are finding ways of carrying on without the need for our famous posties.

Never before has the postal service had so much competition.  Send a letter? why I’ll email you.  Post a contract? I’ll just have a bike collect it and have it to you within the hour !  Send a package ? I can fedex it to Liverpool overnight for half the price of Parcelforce.

The main thing right now that is getting held up in the post is cheques, unlike people, small business still heavily relies on cheques to settle payments as credit card facilities cost a fortune however with threats that cheques will be removed from the banking system by 2016 its time to look for another way.  Today for the first time (and I know its been around for years) I did an online transfer to settle my accountants bill, straight from my account to his in a matter of minutes.  Result.

Whats the next big use of the postal service ?  You guessed it, Christmas cards………….. could this be the year people jack the cards in and go the e-card route ?  who knows, are you going to risk that person not getting a Christmas message at all ?  No you will probably pick up the phone which lets be honest is better than a card anyway.

Is this the end for Royal Mail ?  Well no, we will always need some form of postal service but in terms of how it exists today…….. Yes the business is dead – time to get back to work, re group, re write the business plan and create a new age postal service we can all be proud off but before its to late and before there is nothing to strike over.

It’s just a thought

Russell

Sweet home Lagan Valley – Javagate the song

Posted: April 6, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Do something Now is good, Parodies, politics | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

A short hash on the classic Sweet home Alabama to cheer up a few annoyed people this day – a parody about Javagate if you will !!

Jeep wheels keep on turning

Carry me home to where I live

Singing songs about the Valley

I miss old Lisburn once again

And I think its a sin, yes

Well I heard a Lisburn MP speak about it

Well, I heard bean and gone got shut down

Well, I hope that MP will remember

A Lisburn man don’t need him around anyhow

Sweet home Lagan Valley

Where the Coffee samples are free

Sweet Home Lagan Valley

Girl, I’m coming home to you

In Lisburn town they love the governor

Now we all did what we could do

Now Javagate does not bother me

Does your conscience bother you?

Tell the truth

Sweet home Lagan Valley

Where the Coffee samples are free

Sweet Home Lagan Valley

Girl, I’m coming home to you

Here I come Lisburn City

Now Bean and Gone has got the twitters

And they’ve been known have a follower  or two

Boy those coffee’s tastes so great

They pick me up when I’m feeling blue

Now how about you?

Sweet home Lagan Valley

Where the Coffee samples are free

Sweet Home Lagan Valley

Girl, I’m coming home to you

Oh sweet home baby

Where the coffee samples are free,

And the governor’s could be true,

Sweet Home Lagan Valley

Lordy Lord, I’m coming home to you Yea, yea the people’s got the answer

Lisburn farmers market farce

Posted: April 4, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Belfast, Business, Do something Now is good, events, Free Range, Government, Interesting, politics, Retail | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Those of you that have been following @beanandgone on twitter today will know what this is all about.  Those of you that do no follow them or have never heard of Bean and Gone…… allow me to tell you.

Andrew Gribben formerly of Creativ Coffee has gone back into the Coffee business but this time is roasting his own beans, eventually he hopes to have his own micro factory – expertly crafting the finest beans and selling them to coffee lovers across the world by means of the interweb and (hopefully) locally in his purpose built coffee store where you will be able to watch the beans being roasted that you are enjoying and be part of the roasting process.

He also plans to turn the coffee world upside down by being one of the first companies in the UK and Ireland to offer a ‘managed coffee service’ to retailers, letting him take care of the coffee beans, machines and staff training and letting the retailers get on with whatever they are retailing.

Today Bean and Gone were at the Farmers Market in Lisburn for the second time, and for the second time they were not actually allowed to sell coffee (a coffee company not allowed to sell coffee, that’s crazy) but they were allowed to give ‘free samples’ of the coffee and do what they set out to do in the first place…. Sell coffee beans and gauge customer reaction to the blend.

Great ! well no, there was in fact another Coffee supplier (Javaman) on site, but like last month they were allowed to co exist with one selling beans and the other coffee ……. Until Mr JavaMan (I think thats his real name) made a complaint that people where taking the free coffee sample and not actually buying any of his coffee ……. boo hoo.

Lisburn city council, ever being diplomatic and supporting free trade and all that, decided that rather than allow the market to trade like markets are supposed to, they would tell Bean and Gone to stop at once with this free samples carry on and concentrate on selling beans …………..

OK there are a number of things wrong with this

1.   All the other stalls are allowed to give free samples

2.  Without a sample, you could sell any old crap

3. What the F£$%

The council continued with

There are not enough customers to justify two people doing the same thing

1. The council should do more to advertise the event

2. If there is only one person allowed to do one thing, then that person has the monopoly, surely this is not in line with European free trade blah blah blah

3. Fact :- If you have a monopoly then you can charge whatever you want !!!!, hardy good for you and me – the consumer

4. Fact :- Quality is never as good if you don’t have a direct competitor.

I have spoken to a number of people today who have agreed that this dictatorship from Lisburn Council is totally unacceptable and something should be done about it.  I was at the first farmers market and the 2nd and it’s been the same traders each time, therefore there is no choice and there is no variety, quite frankly I don’t think i’ll go back – why would I?, I have seen all it has to offer !

St Georges market is Belfast is a fantastic market where you can simply come in, pitch, pay and trade – if the guy next to you is selling the same thing then you had better hope your product is better and better value for money – other wise you are going to be wasting your time – this is surely what markets are all about ! You pay you money and you take your chance, it is true grass roots entrepreneurial ship and retailing at its very best.

The national market traders body says :

Markets can be the quickest way to get started, and although it is not the easiest way to make a living it can be lucrative and rewarding.

In the end, your success will depend to a large extent on your own judgement and initiative.

They also say

Markets are a great asset to any town or city.

A huge range of products, a bustling atmosphere and traders who are experts in what they sell –
what more could you want?

Lisburn ! It’s time to sort this out and get in line with the other markets around Europe – open the market up to many traders and then you will see the people coming and more importantly quality stalls with quality products.

I know many followers of Bean and Gone have taked the time today to write to local government – lets hope something is sorted for the next one !

Russell

Retail Trouble in 2009 – the retailers that will face problems in 2009

Posted: January 26, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: 21 Days, Belfast, Business, Government, Interesting, Northern Ireland, politics, Retail, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I know I promised this post on 1st Jan, what can I say, its been a busy year so far !

Retail in 2009 is going to be one of the worst years in the history of retail.  We have already seen the failure of big household brands like Zavvi, Woolworths, Whitards, Adams, Viyella, Waterford, Wedgewood and The Officers club.

I predict that the following companies will fall on hard time in 2009.

Arcadia Group – BHS, Topshop, Topman, D Perkins and Burtons.  BHS has seen poor trading figures for 3 Decembers in a row now.  Topshop, Topman, D Perkins and Burtons all sell what I consider to be ‘higher end’ clothes which people have almost stopped purchasing on a regular basis, opting for cheaper stores like primark and saving stores like Burton etc for that few and far between special occassion.

JJB Sports – Another company that has seen its fair share of problems over the years, with more people either buying online or holding off on new sports equipment, JJB could see further major problems in 2009.  JJB has recently announced that in 2008 they made a loss of 10 Million – the writing is on the wall I fear !

The fashion chains Principles, Oasis, Karen Millen and Warehouse – all owned by Mosaic – have had an emergency restructuring team sent in from Deloitte. The stores employ about 5,000 staff whose jobs will be at risk unless a new lender is found to refinance the business.

Golf Retailers – These are usually independently ran, with a down turn in people spending money – I feel that existing golfers will ‘make do’ with their current clubs and new people to the sport, might not bother at all !

River Island, Again a high end retailer with people dropping down a budget rung, people may find River Islands pricing just abit to steep !

Marks and Spencer – Will have to fight hard to hold on to their current status this year with hostile take overs a huge possibility ! Click here for more on this.

Phones 4u – Sold in 2007 by John Caldwell for over £700 million to a group of hungry investors let by management – The American power house that turned Eircom upside down will be wondering if, when and how they are going to see a return, they have already removed around £4Million worth of management – more to come I fear !

Next, is another british institution but its another woolworths in the making – since 2005 it has struggled to keep its head above water with profit warning left and right.  I don’t think this is a brand that will disappear but 2009 will definatly be a struggle with well paid staff, falling sales and high rent !

Thomas Cook – Package holidays are the last thing on people’s mind this year, with the bulk of job losses in England and the bulk of thomas cooks business in England – It all adds up to an unhealthy recipe !

But ….. Its not all doom and gloom, amounst the fear and loathing some retailer’s will actually do fantastically this year !

Primark – have just annouched fantastic trading figures, as have Lidl and Adli, these cheaper brands with just as much quality are all part of what money experts are promoting ! Drop down a budget level ! Very little people sell clothes as good as primark as cheaply as primark so it appears that being on the bottom rung of the ‘retail chain’ is definatly the best place to be !

Obama is the new US President !!

Posted: November 5, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Do something Now is good, Government, Interesting, politics | Leave a comment

America and the worlds governments have put their faith in Obama, let us hope and pray that the next 4 years be alot better than the past 8, something tells me things are going to be a lot better !!!

Irish government play a bold yet smart move to boost investment into Ireland

Posted: October 2, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Government, Interesting, politics | Leave a comment

The world is in a financial meltdown and Governments are doing all they can to cool the markets.

In a bold move this week the Irish Government have said they will back up all cash deposits for one year within the Irish banking system, this has really pissed off other Governments !

The truth is, this is simply an imaginary promise, there are only six main banks in Ireland, the rest are UK or foreign owed. I am pretty sure that they have had a good look at the balance sheets of both companies before committing on such a promise, I am therefor assuming that there is virtually no risk involved with this backing.

So why do, Well its a move that will get millions of € pouring into the country, if for example you are a wealthy person living in the UK, The British Government can only back your money up to £50,000. A big drop if you are worth £millions I’d say.

Gordon Brown has said he has no need to match the Irish promise as they are doing all they can to cool the markets, the fact remains that the UKs banks are in such a mess that they could not possably match this promise. Of course the boys in the square mile are not happy! but then again who cares !

Only time will tell where this mess will leave us, but for now if you have got serious cash, get it into Ireland asap. For me, I don’t have this problem but it would be a nice one to have !