BBC 404's the bad news..

Spotteda link on the BBC news web site this morning..
It said

Hundreds more UK shops close

www.bbc.co.uk...


No surprise there seeing as several have just gone or are in the process of being 'rescued'..
So, out of curiosity to find out more and who is next, I did that clicky thing..you know, where you click the link to read more..

Then, Suddenly.. shock horror

404'd



How odd, I thought to myself.. I've never seen a 404 on the BBC before.. new experience for me..
So I decided to go check the rest of the web to see if anyone else was reporting on it or if it was just a mistake by the BBC..

And lo and behold.. what did I find on the Scotsman..

Shops closing at record rate as half of stores plan to axe more workers.



By PETER RANSCOMBE
Published on Thursday 24 January 2013 00:00

BRITAIN’S shops are shutting at a record rate and the collapse of Blockbuster, HMV and Jessops will make the situation even worse in the coming months, according to data published today.

The number of stores in the UK fell by 3.6 per cent year-on-year between October and December, the biggest drop since the British Retail Consortium (BRC) began issuing its retail employment monitor in 2008.

In December alone, 573 shops shut their doors for the final time, with experts warning the figure could rise further.

Helen Dickinson, director-general at the BRC, said: “We’re by no means out of the woods yet – given the administrations of recent weeks, the next quarter’s figures are likely to make difficult reading.”

Christina Tolvas-Vincent, head of retail employment at law firm Bond Pearce, which helped compile the figures, agreed. She said: “After a lacklustre Christmas, the New Year has started badly for retailers; well publicised failures such as HMV, Jessops and Blockbuster have yet again placed the spotlight on the struggling high street.

“This will have an even greater impact on store numbers that are already falling at the fastest rate for over four years.”

The BRC survey revealed that the number of workers in the retail sector increased by 0.6 per cent year-on-year during the final quarter of 2012, although all of the growth came from part-time posts.

www.scotsman.com...

The story is also being linked on other sites should anyone care to do a search of their own.. but most of them link to the BBC page..which, for me.. is 404'd


It's interesting to note that most of the jobs taken up are part time.. usually this means around about 16 hours a week or so.. Working tax credits were given to you if you worked those kinds of hours, but several months ago the hourly rate for WTC was raised to 24 hours a week.

I think we may end up fighting for jobs..then fighting for food if this trend is showing what I think it is showing.

Interestingly, retail crime has risen..

The overall cost of retail crime in the UK has soared by 15.6% in a year to £1.6bn as the sector is targeted by serious, organised criminals.

But the The British Retail Consortium's Retail Crime Survey 2012 pdf, reports that the proportion of shoplifting incidents reported to police has fallen to one in eight, suggesting that officially reported crime could be the tip of the iceberg.

www.guardian.co.uk...

Are we already fighting over food and goods?
Are the organised criminal gangs the government?
Is this news being kept relatively quiet in order to stop a panick and hope that the people can be won over by other news about leaving/staying within the EU?
Which reminds me of a bit of 'lip-syncing' that whent on in the PM's question time..
Bottom left corner at 3 mins 5 secs...guy in the red tie lip syncs milliband..
www.bbc.co.uk...

We're in a theatre watching a cleverly written play..

Recent news of Chinas progressive upward swing has done very little for consumer confidence IMO as nobody really likes buying anything that says "made in China" on the bottom. It's like trying to put a fire out with petrol..

Just checked to see the BBC business section still had the link for the report, which it does, and is still 404'd for me. but new news has just been put up there.

Germany's second-biggest lender Commerzbank is planning to cut as many as 6,000 jobs, or more than 10% of its workforce.

The bank said it wants to cut between 4,000 and 6,000 full-time employees by 2016. Commerzbank currently employs 56,000 staff, of which 49,000 are full-time.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Are we on a railroad ride that is going off the tracks real soon???

There does seem to be a trend here.. full time jobs are going. part time jobs rising, yet the UK government (I don't know about others) has the cheek to call part time work as full time when it comes to unemployment levels.

Something is wrong..very wrong.. and the bubble must burst soon.

Is anyone else experiencing a 404 with the BBC report?

The BBC pretty much gave up being an unbiased reporter of the news a number of years ago.

These days it is a agenda driven as any privately owned news network.

reply to post by ollncasino


Unless you're Scottish.. and run a news paper/site... like the Scotsman linked above..

Gotta love that bit.. they must have jumped on that story before the BBC had the chance to even think about 404'ing a page..

I'm glad they grabbed it though.

The link is still there, but as you said, 404'ed, will continue searching

It's the same everywhere, the house of cards is collapsing and the media are trying to walk the tightrope of informing without creating panic should the true state of things be known.

Big bad news is hidden behind small good news and the magicians distract the proles with sport and celebrity 'culture'.

Heat the water to boiling point, nice and gently.

Don't be silly....haven't you all heard...

THE UK IS RECOVERING

Pfffft!!!

Well as much as our economy is gubbed, and this will certainly not help it by any means, i'm not convinced this is directly related to the state of our economy all the same.

Pretty much for the last 10-15 years, most people who knew what an internet was could basicaly foresee the total demise of the highstreet, it was going to happen, the state of our economy has just helped phase this style of commerce out. The economy may have been booming, this would still eventualy have happened. These retailers made the choice not to adapt to the new economic model the internet has enforced and chose not to evolve with it. Thats up to them. Sucks for the people loosing there jobs, thats never good, but imagine what its going to be like when we start loosing menial jobs to robots. WHICH WILL HAPPEN. Things will be a damn sight worse.

This has just been tweeted from the local paper near me..

MORE than 1,200 people in Plymouth have stopped claiming Jobseeker's Allowance since last year's peak.

The average gross weekly wage in the city was £479.40 for full-time workers. There was a big difference between the sexes, with men on £529.40 and women on £430.10.

Hourly-paid workers earned £12.55 an hour (£13.60 for men and £11.64 for women).

Sorry... how much??
Most of the jobs I've seen barely go above the minimum wage.. which section of society are they comparing these numbers to?
Halve their estimate and your more or less along the right lines IMO

But one councilor does go on to say.. and makes two very good final points..

Plymouth City Council Leader Tudor Evans said: "While it would give me great pleasure to say that these figures are a result of the new initiatives we have put in place since last May, since when we launched exciting initiatives such as our Plan for Jobs and the 1000 Club to help young people find work and support businesses, the impact of these won't have shown through yet.

"We have to be very cautious with these figures as not only are there seasonal variations, they only measure the number of people who are unemployed and claiming JSA, not the number of people who are unemployed. There's no question that the current economic course set by the Government is very damaging to the local economy.

www.thisisplymouth.co.uk...
Can you say "stuffed"?

There are also conflicting reports about the rate of crime. From the snippit in the OP it estimates that large amounts of retail crime are going on unreported and/or not being dealt with in various ways, yet here it seems it's the fault of the police... Privatisation anyone?

A study of crime trends in England and Wales suggests the fall in offences recorded by police may have been exaggerated.

The Office for National Statistics said the "rate of reduction" in recorded crime "may overstate" the decrease.

It found police-recorded offences fell by 33%, compared with 17% by data.

The ONS also published crime figures for the 12 months to the end of September 2012, which showed continued falls in virtually every category.

The BBC's home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said police recorded 7% fewer crimes than the year before, while the Crime Survey of England and Wales indicated there had been a "statistically significant" fall of 8%.

www.bbc.co.uk...

When the big food stores start shutting down, the UK will have reached rock bottom, not even god will be able to help. good luck Britain.

All I can say, is that people need to wake up and start stocking up on food and learn to grow a small garden. Neighbors need to return to being neighborly and share areas where families can grow foods together.

I have a friend here who has owned her own business says she makes less than $2 and hour. I suspect her business will be closing down in the next few months and she is very upset. It is a growing trend unfortunately!!

Originally posted by Extralien
This has just been tweeted from the local paper near me..

MORE than 1,200 people in Plymouth have stopped claiming Jobseeker's Allowance since last year's peak.

The average gross weekly wage in the city was £479.40 for full-time workers. There was a big difference between the sexes, with men on £529.40 and women on £430.10.

Hourly-paid workers earned £12.55 an hour (£13.60 for men and £11.64 for women).

Sorry... how much??
Most of the jobs I've seen barely go above the minimum wage.. which section of society are they comparing these numbers to?
Halve their estimate and your more or less along the right lines IMO

But one councilor does go on to say.. and makes two very good final points..

Plymouth City Council Leader Tudor Evans said: "While it would give me great pleasure to say that these figures are a result of the new initiatives we have put in place since last May, since when we launched exciting initiatives such as our Plan for Jobs and the 1000 Club to help young people find work and support businesses, the impact of these won't have shown through yet.

"We have to be very cautious with these figures as not only are there seasonal variations, they only measure the number of people who are unemployed and claiming JSA, not the number of people who are unemployed. There's no question that the current economic course set by the Government is very damaging to the local economy.

www.thisisplymouth.co.uk...
Can you say "stuffed"?

There are also conflicting reports about the rate of crime. From the snippit in the OP it estimates that large amounts of retail crime are going on unreported and/or not being dealt with in various ways, yet here it seems it's the fault of the police... Privatisation anyone?

A study of crime trends in England and Wales suggests the fall in offences recorded by police may have been exaggerated.

The Office for National Statistics said the "rate of reduction" in recorded crime "may overstate" the decrease.

It found police-recorded offences fell by 33%, compared with 17% by data.

The ONS also published crime figures for the 12 months to the end of September 2012, which showed continued falls in virtually every category.

The BBC's home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said police recorded 7% fewer crimes than the year before, while the Crime Survey of England and Wales indicated there had been a "statistically significant" fall of 8%.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Im from plymouth, and if anyone in my company got paid that much per hour as a part timer, they would be being paid more than ANYONE else, including the directors.

I have no idea where they got those figures from, but it total bull poop.

reply to post by pikestaff


The big food suppliers will never go down. In the good times they sell their 'best of' ranges and in the bad times they stock more 'value' ranges. On top of that unlike HMV et al they have kept up with the times - ordering online with delivery by a store driver.

I was so excited with the advent of the net for small retail businesses - they no longer had to rely on passing local trade - their shop window was now on the world. I have seen quite a few do very well e.g. a local jewellery designer....her shop is hardly ever open because she's too busy in the back producing for all of her internet orders.

Have been checking up again and all I can find is loads of links that lead to the BBC news..which is 404'd..

Apart from the Scotsman (congrats guys..great catch) I'm finding nothing more on this.

I think it may be one of the truest posts they've ever made.
There was a sandwhich/snack shop up along a set of localshops that I used frequently.. that died just a few days back.

I think I can safely say, that there are almost as many open shops as there are closed ones...

Spain has just reported that 55% of its young are unemployed..

Spain's unemployment rate has hit a modern day record, with joblessness among young people topping 55%.
Official data showed that the jobless rate in the last three months of 2012 rose 1% to 26%, or 5.97 million people.

The figure, the highest since the mid-1970s, follows Spain's prolonged recession and deep spending cuts.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Then we have this too..

The IMF chief economist has told the BBC that Chancellor George Osborne should consider slowing down austerity measures in his March budget.

"We think this would be a good time to take stock," said Olivier Blanchard, speaking to Radio 4's Today programme.

He also said the global economy was "not out of the woods yet".

In October, Mr Blanchard claimed in an IMF report that austerity had hurt wealthy countries such as the UK far more than most analysts had expected.

His comments come the day after the IMF cut its 2013 forecast for UK economic growth to 1% from the 1.1% predicted in October, and will put pressure on the chancellor as he prepares to deliver a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos later on Thursday.

www.bbc.co.uk...

I think someone knows EXACTLY what's going on and wants it to happen.. All the shops and services owned by the big players.. all the police forces privatised..
Everyone working part time jobs in order to get people working, but the Gov. wont have to pay out working tax credits..
Then, we could go a little bit deeper with this with regards to immigration.. What made me think of that issue, well, with all the people in the EU coming to the UK to get work it leaves the UK in a position of 'no hope'...

So what happens about that in the news.. first we see the EU in/out debate going ahead..

Nick Clegg has said the UK risks "tying itself in knots" and neglecting more important issues by trying to renegotiate its EU membership.

The Lib Dem leader said it was "wholly implausible" to think the rules could be rewritten to "benefit us and disadvantage everybody else" .

He said the aims of David Cameron's proposed renegotiation were "vague" and uncertainty could hit growth and jobs.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Then...suddenly, out of nowhere, comes this little hiccup..

Immigration inspectors have discovered more UK Border Agency (UKBA) backlogs, totalling more than 16,000 cases.

The chief inspector of immigration said the latest backlogs, relating to requests to settle through marriage, were "unacceptable".

The backlogs included people waiting a decade to hear if their partner had permission to live in the UK.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Are we seeing a "close the EU doors..nobody coming in" and a "sort the other foreign people out so we can get to grips with removing the Europeans that are already here" type of affair?
something smells nasty on all fronts..
Is history repeating itself??
Why the delay with immigration?
Why the sudden urge to sort out EU membership?
Are TPTB trying to stop "foreigners" coming into the UK so that they can get to grips with the housing/employment situation..

There does seem to be a big circle of events colliding right now.. Cameron even goes on about "tax avoiders"

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said that countries must work together to clamp down on tax avoidance.

"Individuals and businesses must pay their fair share," he told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He said that "trade, tax and transparency" were the UK's economic priorities.

www.bbc.co.uk...

But the UK has more problems than can be seen on the surface.. the surface of every road to begin with..

Councils spent £90m repairing 1.7 million potholes across England and Wales last year, a survey suggests.

But it will still take more than a decade to clear the backlog, says the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) report.

Local authorities say that while repair costs have fallen, £10bn is still needed to bring roads up to standard.

www.bbc.co.uk...
And that's from last year..
With ths years insane weather you can bet these holes and roads are going to be a lot worse.

recent news..
Potholes costing drivers £1 billion

There is something going on alright and I want to say something really snarky about the LIC (liar in charge) and the direction he is taking this country but I think the linked blog article in the Spectator speaks for itself.

David Cameron tells porkies about Britain’s national debt
The Prime Minister, marking Orwell week with a bit of fiscal doublespeak


And then David Cameron has to go and spoil it all by telling porkies about what his government is doing to our national debt. The party election broadcast the Conservatives have just released is so astonishingly dishonest that it really would have disgraced Gordon Brown. In it, the Prime Minister tells an outright – how to put it? – untruth. He says:-

“So though this government has had to make some difficult decisions, we are making progress. We’re paying down Britain’s debts.”

David Cameron’s policy is to increase Britain’s debt by 60 per cent, more than any European country. To increase it more over five years than Labour did over 13 years. Just yesterday, we learned the national debt had hit £1,111 billion and it’s heading to £1,400 billion.

By no stretch of the English language can this be described as “paying down Britain’s debts.” What Cameron said is not an exaggeration. It’s a straight falsehood, and one that demeans his office. He has previously used different language, saying that he is “dealing with the debt”.

blogs.spectator.co.uk...

The whole world’s economy is in trouble. But a lot of us have known that for a long time.

What I find interesting is the article was made at all. There are system in place to prevent article like that from coming out. But if you know your way around you can get them out. So that means someone working at the BBC is still trying to show people the truth without the rose colored glasses.

From the horses mouth.. (note; lovely little link to see what is actually reported by this group rather then listening to the media mix it and mash it to suit themselves..or to even 404 it later )

Retail employment rose by 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared with a year earlier, driven entirely by part-time workers. In fourth quarter 2012, the number of outlets fell 3.6%, the fastest rate since the Monitor started in October 2008. In December, there were 573 fewer stores in our sample compared with last year. Half of retailers suggested that they would decrease staffing levels in the first quarter of 2013 compared with just a third at the same time last year.

www.brc.org.uk...

Also
This relates to the amount of shoppers in the shops over the December period.. Yet,I'm sure i read it was a record year for sales.. I guess that must be due to price fixing and hikes etc..

Footfall in December was 1.2% lower than a year ago, a poorer performance than the 0.4% rise the previous month.

www.brc.org.uk...

And I find it interesting how nearly all the reports on this site have been used in the BBC news website today..,
including..

The overall cost of retail crime has soared by 15.6 per cent in a year to £1.6 billion, but dramatically fewer incidents are being reported to police.

The £1.6 billion figure covers retail crime of all types and includes the value of goods stolen and damage done plus the money retailers spend on prevention

www.brc.org.uk...

Now let's not forget the overall global issue here.. This is not just about the UK,as we all know..

The number of jobless people around the world rose by 4 million in 2012 to 197 million and is expected to grow further, the UN labour agency warns.

In a report, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said the worst affected were youth: nearly 13% of the under 24s were unemployed.

It said global unemployment was projected to rise 5.1 million this year and by a further 3 million in 2014.

The trend reflected a downturn in economic growth, the document said.

This was particularly the case in developed countries.

www.bbc.co.uk...

With all the starving people in the world, the homeless, the less well off...surely there must be something that could be created by all the "rich-and-all-powerful" players out there, especially when you take into account the amount of food that is thrown away each year..
Can we not build some boats and ship stuff overseas..or reduce what we import so that those who need it get it..

All these jobless in the West with all the time in the world on their hands, yet nobody wants to do anything about Half of all food 'thrown away' claims report because there is no profit in it..

no wonder nobody wants to shop..

And let's not forget the horse burgers..

Horse meat containing cancer causing drug 'may have entered food chain' says Labour

www.telegraph.co.uk...

People have lost faith.. and I'm not surprised.

reply to post by Extralien

Which reminds me of a bit of 'lip-syncing' that whent on in the PM's question time..
Bottom left corner at 3 mins 5 secs...guy in the red tie lip syncs milliband..
www.bbc.co.uk...

We're in a theatre watching a cleverly written play..

Hmm. Cat is firmly out of the bag with this one. For me, it seals what I'd already suspected, demonstrating that the back and forth between the opposition & the government is quite clearly not the par-reactive debate it is made out to be. Obviously there were always pre-formed questions/ pre-emptive reactions, but this seems to suggest that every aspect of the performance is carefully stage managed.

What does this mean for the UK? Are we in a worse position than we are told? And why is it that despite promises of retrieving money from the rich, to benefit the poor from whom those rich have stolen; why is it that the actual state of affairs demonstrates that the poor are the ones from whom cash is being taken, yet again? Most pressingly relevant in the ethical transgressions, the scandalous disability welfare cuts - via the outrage which is ATOS, and also the general cuts to other social & welfare services. Such services not being the lifeline of the rich (they have their money as a temporary lifeline - though many of them are fiscally insecure, despite their ignorance of that fact) - they are repeatedly hit hardest, causing suffering for the poorest, the poor, the relatively poor & the lower middle classes - the only ones who would ever use them.

Who is easiest to steal from? The rich? Or, the poor & disenfranchised? The physically/mentally disabled should never be targeted for such cynical - and frankly inhumane - treatment, yet they are ALL being smashed to the kerb in the latest round of ATOS denials of benefit & the resultant appeals processes, which a majority cannot face without access to the sorts of welfare services that are being targeted for closure at PRECISELY the time when they are needed most.

If the people initiating and perpetuating these crimes against the weak & vulnerable aren't careful, the more capable masses will wake from slumber and make demands for equity & fair management of the country.

That's a situation that can be averted by a more ethical approach to balancing the books. Take from the rich, and secure the basic prospects (education, healthcare & work opportunities) of the poor & disadvantaged - stop taking from the poor & disadvantaged in order to satisfy the demands of those who already have more than enough.

Those who demand that current policies (of literal theft from the poor & disadvantaged) continue are in violation of the laws of conscience & good governance. This is a rapidly growing & mutating scandal, which no amount of spin will ultimately cover - and the elite need to realise that in order to take a step forward as a nation, they themselves must take a step back & support their fellow man (who is able to be their support, and who will be satisfied with simple status & opportunity, if they will stop oppressing him for selfish reasons..)

Relieve the vampires of their duties, and ensure that common decency, that our humanity, prevails. There are dangerous subversives mixed in with a bunch of selfish, ignorant fools, and sadly the majority involved in the administration of national powers seem unable or unwilling to stop either group from annihilating whatever is to be considered good & noble about British society - or, they are part of the problem, complicit with the taskmasters, and therefore should themselves be relieved of their duties. Endless inquiries are part of the charade. Simple changes are needed, not endless bureaucratic procedures which suit the purposes of the taskmasters.

In addition, we see continuing erosion of our military capability - even today there are suggestions from a retired (bought?) senior General that we downgrade our nuclear deterrent capability, the Trident program.

That is the LAST thing we need to do in the age of uncertainty we find ourselves in.

There is an agenda, and we are being strategically weakened in all sorts of ways - that referendum in 2017 might well end up supporting a full inclusion in the EU encampment, if for no other reason than military security, once our own forces have been crippled by the foolish public schoolboys with shadowy masters. The ones enforcing the policies that cause the weakening of the fabric of society may not even realise that they will be swept out of the way once their usefulness in preparing the soil is complete.



'Decency & Humanity' are principles we should strive to implement, and we can achieve such ONLY if good men DO SOMETHING in the face of the creeping malaise evidenced across our nation. It will ultimately become an oppressive tyranny if left unchecked.

For what it's worth, this linked bit of text is a must read..
I saw it the other day elsewhere and had to go find it againto add to this thread, mostly due to the 'lighter than the topic' feelingyou get from it.. Was hoping to do a thread on it myself but somebody beat me to it..

Anyway..
Suggestions to the UK Government for fixing the economy

For what its worth, both HMV and Blockbuster could have survived, even with the upswing of the internet after broadband, and in fact were perfectly placed. they already had contracts with the same suppliers who supply the equivalent Why havent they ? easy. Neither of them changed their business models. Blockbuster could have tried to either set up their own streaming service or bought one the fledglings, think Netflix or similar, like wise HMV could have also set up their own streaming service or download site, think along the lines of i-tunes etc.

Problem is they did exactly what all the major studios did, bury their heads in the sand and pretend it wasn't happening. Unlike the major studios who just keep threatening legal action against those who circumvent the 'law' and have that on their side. The other side being that most shopping centres are owned by multi national conglomerates, insurance companies etc, they just thought they could keep pushing rents up, as hey, all the big names will want to be in our shiny shopping mall. Dont forget, all those pension funds that are now linked into these mall types places, want a return on their investment.

Have to remember also that you have to have the right balance of tax, how fair that a company like John Lewis for example pays full UK corporation tax, yet Amazon pays a reduced rate, because of who complex tax has become and they can shift all their profit to an off shore entity. They should all pay tax against their UK receipts regardless, we have to

If we had avoided Keynesian economics like we should have in the first place, even more business would have had to close. And that's not a bad thing.

Sadly the big ones that really needed to shut down escaped, for now.

On the bright side, less shops means less need for factories, which means less pollution globally.
Have you seen China lately?

Why does everyone think having a job is more important than the quality of the air or water?
Just because you trash someone else's country doesn't make you safe, it's only a matter of time before the cesspit spills over to your backyard too.