We Love Ainsley Harriott

We Love Ainsley Harriott, even when he gives his backing to a well planned packaging idea for Tesco's Finest sausages.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is here, then it's gone. Let's not forget what Christmas stands for - giving and recieving of gifts, having a good time with friends and family and having a couple of well-earned days off work. Spare a thought though, for the poor retailers and their staff who have to work really hard in the run up. Well Done - and thanks.
But hey, it's suddenly all over a time to think of warmer days ahead, and summer. Holidays - I'm going to Butlins this year.

Can't wait for Easter - eggs and chocolates and another 2 days off work.
Merry Christmas

All good things must come to an end.

They say that all good things must come to an end. That's very true. For a short time a new idea comes along and it's great. But then the idea gets exploited. Commercial organisations get on board and spoil the freshness and originality of the idea.
For example, we had Car Boot Sales. Ordinary people bought and sold everyday items that they didn't want, and others were grateful to buy their unwanted items. They even ventured out at the crack of dawn on cold mornings to get their slice of the action. Then later came the tradesmen, the small businesses, then the large businesses - prices went up and the ordinary man was booted out.
Then the Internet was born. Millions of people grabbed the new technology and created websites, even small businesses, even huge dot-com corporations were born out of small beginnings. The Net became the home of creative new ideas, new services and information never before available to the masses (without going to the public library).
A lot of filth came along too - but there were always going to be consumers for it. So legislation quickly followed to prevent the Internet from being bombarded with porn, hate and abuse. So how as the Internet progressed. Domination by MSN and Google. Small online businesses are starting to struggle. Enterprising individuals got into Affiliate Marketing and build up sustainable businesses and retail minnows found another outlet to sell through. Now we are seeing that huge investment is making the Internet the domain of the corporate giants. Google assisted many people, but now is killing them off just as easily as they helped them grow. Google now charge heavily for web businesses to advertise (through PayPerClick programs like AdWords). They are now excluding "affiliate" sites from their organic search and closing in to nail the coffin lid closed with "Froogle".
The latest one to make me weep is eBay. It was great - an online auction site. The ordinary man had a new venture. Many people bought or sold on eBay. But look out, what's going on now. Big business is killing it off by limiting the opportunities for Mr Average to buy or sell. Every day the number of "Buy It Now" labels sit next to relatively expensive items (more that you'd pay for by shopping directly). "Buy It Now" is not an auction principle - it's SELLING an item. I hope Mr eBay gets to read this and brings back the basic thrill of eBay that made it so exciting, before it dies in it's own success.