A deer hunter who took his photographs to a supermarket for processing was shocked to find himself reported to police.
Although the sport is legal, Tesco gave his details to officers who questioned him for several hours. […] Tesco has no ban on photographs of shooting and its privacy policy says: “We will never pass your personal data to anyone else”, but it contacted the police without telling Mr Williams.
“Belfast Child” |Glittering Prize: Simple Minds 81/92 | Simple Minds
from today’s Times
“Consumers do not, in the end, take kindly to an overweening monopoly, especially when it squeezes out competition and dictates its own terms. In towns that face the massive intrusion of new superstores, opposition is mounting.”
I wonder if there’s anything that can be done to stop their inexorable march …
Tescopoly seems to be down at the moment, but SchNews has an article on yesterday’s profit figures.
the always interesting George Monbiot has a piece in the Guardian today about the Office of Fair Trading and their approach to supermarkets.
After wriggling its way through every possible excuse for inaction, last week the Office of Fair Trading decided to launch an inquiry into the behaviour of the big grocery chains. It’s about time. But alongside it we need another one: into whether the OFT, like almost everything else in this country, has itself been taken over by the superstores. The problem the competition authorities are investigating – the dominance of companies like Tesco and Wal-Mart – is the result of 25 years of regulatory failure.
more here
good story from today’s Guardian:
It sounds crazy to question the future of Britain’s most powerful retailer when it accounts for more than one in every eight pounds spent by UK consumers, but the next six months could see significant efforts to clip its wings.
Next month, a report from an all-party group of MPs into the future of the high street is likely to recommend an end to below-cost pricing of key goods, and curbs to stop supermarkets in general, and Tesco in particular, buying more convenience stores. The recommendations will be closely watched by the Department of Trade and Industry, which appears sympathetic to the anti-Tesco bandwagon.
we can but hope …
from the Guardian:
With 250,000 staff, 1,800 stores and the turnover of a medium-sized country, Tesco now collects one in every eight retail pounds we spend. So how is it affecting the way we live? To find out, Lucy Mangan spent a month shopping for everything – from clothes to pet insurance – at the company’s stores or websites
worth a read …
from today’s Guardian
Tesco is quietly building a profile of you, along with every individual in the country – a map of personality, travel habits, shopping preferences and even how charitable and eco-friendly you are. A subsidiary of the supermarket chain has set up a database, called Crucible, that is collating detailed information on every household in the UK, whether they choose to shop at the retailer or not.
read the full article here.
I always wonder why people are so happy to have store cards …