Solar powered down lights

[ban-all-sheds]

Looked at overall they have done significant damage, in the same way that supermarkets have done damage to our food buying and eating habits.

They have destroyed the traditional retailers who genuinely knew about the products they sold, and knew what was rubbish and what was not (cf how easy is it these days to find proper butchers, proper bakers, proper greengrocers, proper fishmongers, who understand their products, who care about their products, who can give you trusted advice about their products?)

In the same way that supermarkets now scour the world for the cheapest food they can find and to **** with the welfare of the farmers etc, and to **** with the environmental damage caused by flying in asparagus from Peru, and to **** with the well-being of their customers to whom they gleefully sell the monstrous fat- sugar- and salt-laden highly profitable sh*te churned out by the "food" scientists in multinational "food" companies, the DIY sheds have flooded this country with poor quality and in many cases dangerous tat, and have fostered the belief that all you have to do is buy it and take it home and you too can be a builder/plumber/electrician/whatever.

Well - guess what, you can't.

Just like buying a ready meal, even the posh ones which come disassembled, won't make you a Ferran Adrià, or a René Redzepi or a Paul Bocuse, buying a solar-powered lighting kit from B&Q won't make you a lighting designer.

 

[JohnW2]

Looked at overall they have done significant damage, in the same way that supermarkets have done damage to our food buying and eating habits.

I don't disagree with any of your points but, as you go on to acknowledge, it's an almost universal 'across-the-board' sociological phenomenon which applies to a vast majority of the retail sector, much of the wholesale sector (much of which is now 'shed-like') and, indeed, even a high proportion of service industries.

Ultimately, consumers/societies are obviously to blame. It is they who have increasing demanded products (or services) so cheap that their quality is often doubtful and knowledgable staff unaffordable. I would imagine that the process which has taken place is largely irreversible.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

So why is it still so easy to find decent bakers et al in many other parts of Europe?

And was it consumers demanding it? Can you find any examples of people petitioning supermarkets to sell the things they do, or was it all their idea?

 

[fmck]

Its like a big flippen black cloud came over. Its no perfect but a couple of weeks in somewhere like Tanzania hits home how lucky we all are.

 

[JohnW2]

So why is it still so easy to find decent bakers et al in many other parts of Europe?

Different cultures, different people, hence different sociological behaviour, I imagine. I'm no authority on other countries/cultures, so I don't even know to what extent what you say is true, rather than a somewhat romatic view of an outsider.

And was it consumers demanding it? Can you find any examples of people petitioning supermarkets to sell the things they do, or was it all their idea?

As you know, it was far more subtle and insidious than that. Once people developed the mobility which removed the restriction to a very small set of little shops within walking distance, the whole thing became competition-based. If one retailer started selling slightly cheaper products (and poorer service), others had to follow in order to retain their market share, and the whole thing then gradually spiralled downwards.

Don't forget, that there are still a few places that sell only very high quality products at much higher prices than what is available from the large-scale operations but that, in general, they have a minute proportion of the market - by virtue of the customers exercising choice. Even most of those who live in Knightsbridge will choose to buy their food in Tesco rather than Harrods.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'm no authority on other countries/cultures, so I don't even know to what extent what you say is true, rather than a somewhat romatic view of an outsider.

I'm hardly the next Alan Whicker, but when I travel in Europe I note that decent bakers etc are commonplace.

I also note that the quality of foods in supermarkets, even small inner city ones, is much better than in the ones over here.

 

[JohnW2]

I'm no authority on other countries/cultures, so I don't even know to what extent what you say is true, rather than a somewhat romatic view of an outsider.

I'm hardly the next Alan Whicker, but when I travel in Europe I note that decent bakers etc are commonplace.

Probably, but they're not actually as uncommon over here as some people think, either. The reason I mentioned the 'romantic view'is that there do seem to be a lot of myths afoot - like the one that 'all restaurants in France serve good food'. Some of the worst restaurant meals I've had have been in France!

I also note that the quality of foods in supermarkets, even small inner city ones, is much better than in the ones over here.

So you don't think that the problem is with supermarkets, per se, just with UK manifestations thereof? Do you also feel that the 'sheds' in continental Europe also better than ours?

Kind Regards, John.