My mum has just sent me an email saying that the price of cheese (my 
favourite food) has gone up by 10% in the last week.

Apparently ASDA was charging people about £5 for 1 Kg of cheese way back 
in spring, and now they're charging about £7 for the same thing.

ASDA also remarked that one of their suppliers is charging them £600 for 
1 tonne of cheese.

Now, it immediately strikes me that £600/tonne = 60p/Kg, but we're being 
charged £7/Kg. It doesn't say whether that £600 includes transporting 
the stuff, and I'm sure it doesn't include refrigerating it in the shop 
or any other overheads, but basically the price you pay is about 10x the 
price the shop pays. That's an impressive price difference...

Also, I was under the impression that *all* food prices have gone up. So 
my mum's comment that "you'd better start eating something else" seems a 
bit daft to me.

No doubt at some point somebody will blame all this on the credit 
crunch. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the 
"credit crunch" exists exactly because... everybody says it exists. If 
the world woke up tomorrow and everybody decided that the credit crunch 
was over and they were just going to act normal... there wouldn't be a 
problem any more.

If you think about it for a moment, it's quite amazing the power mankind 
how has to screw itself just by thinking about it. It only takes one 
news reporter to say "but don't panic-buy, there's plenty of fuel" and 
within hours every filling station in the land has been denuded of fuel. 
How powerful reverse psychology is! A crysis exists because somebody 
says so.

I think Mr Adams said it right, when he wrote "In summary, people are a 
problem."

In a more or less unrelated thread... Which is healthier? A cheese 
sandwich, or a packet of crisps?

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

Post a reply to this message

> Now, it immediately strikes me that £600/tonne = 60p/Kg, but we're being 
> charged £7/Kg.

Hmm, I very much doubt that 600 GBP per ton figure.  There's no way Asda 
could get away with a 10x markup, the other supermarkets would be charging 
62p/kg if they could buy it for 600 GBP/ton.  I suspect Asda are actually 
paying very close to what you pay for the cheese.

> In a more or less unrelated thread... Which is healthier? A cheese 
> sandwich, or a packet of crisps?

A low-fat cheese sandwich on brown bread isn't too bad, but I guess you can 
get some pretty healthy crisps nowadays too.  Look on the labels and work 
out how much you're eating of fat etc from each one.

Post a reply to this message

>> Now, it immediately strikes me that £600/tonne = 60p/Kg, but we're 
>> being charged £7/Kg.
> 
> Hmm, I very much doubt that 600 GBP per ton figure.  There's no way Asda 
> could get away with a 10x markup, the other supermarkets would be 
> charging 62p/kg if they could buy it for 600 GBP/ton.  I suspect Asda 
> are actually paying very close to what you pay for the cheese.

Except that ASDA has to store the cheese in their warehouse, move it 
onto the shelves at the appropriate time, keep it refrigerated all the 
while (those big open-front refrigerators must be *so* inefficient!), 
pay for all their staff's wages, the lighting, rent on the building, 
etc. That's a hell of a lot of overhead, which all of their competetors 
also have.

Plus, as I say, I have no idea whether this figure includes transport, 
which can't be cheap and is also unavoidable cost...

>> In a more or less unrelated thread... Which is healthier? A cheese 
>> sandwich, or a packet of crisps?
> 
> A low-fat cheese sandwich on brown bread isn't too bad, but I guess you 
> can get some pretty healthy crisps nowadays too.  Look on the labels and 
> work out how much you're eating of fat etc from each one.

This amuses me. Given that cheese *is* fat, the very concept of "low-fat 
cheese" seems incongruous to me. ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

Post a reply to this message

> Except that ASDA has to store the cheese in their warehouse, move it onto 
> the shelves at the appropriate time, keep it refrigerated all the while 
> (those big open-front refrigerators must be *so* inefficient!), pay for 
> all their staff's wages, the lighting, rent on the building, etc. That's a 
> hell of a lot of overhead, which all of their competetors also have.

Supermarkets also sell a hell of an amount of stuff each day.  Within the 
first few minutes of being open they probably have enough money to pay all 
their staff and rent the building for the day.  The rest goes towards 
actually buying the goods that they are then selling.  Supermarkets only 
make 3-4% profit, there is no way they could get away with a 10x markup on 
something basic like cheese.

Actually I just googled, and it turns out that the 600 GBP/ton figure you 
quote is actually the *increase* in cheese price.  It was also increased 
back in July by 300 GBP/ton.

> Plus, as I say, I have no idea whether this figure includes transport, 
> which can't be cheap and is also unavoidable cost...

How many kg of cheese can you fit on a truck?  How much does it cost to 
drive a truck across the country?  They manage to sell tins of beans for 19p 
so it can't be that much.

> This amuses me. Given that cheese *is* fat,

Even full-fat cheese is usually only 40-60% fat.  Low fat cheese is often 
around 20% fat.  Still a lot of fat when compared to other products.  IIRC 
you should aim to be eating around 100g of fat per day max.  Check the 
labels.

Post a reply to this message

scott wrote:
> Supermarkets also sell a hell of an amount of stuff each day.  Within 
> the first few minutes of being open they probably have enough money to 
> pay all their staff and rent the building for the day.

Really? As fast as that?

> The rest goes 
> towards actually buying the goods that they are then selling.  
> Supermarkets only make 3-4% profit, there is no way they could get away 
> with a 10x markup on something basic like cheese.

Well, it did seem odd to me.

> Actually I just googled, and it turns out that the 600 GBP/ton figure 
> you quote is actually the *increase* in cheese price.

Ah. That would be something completely different...

Any ideas what the *actual* price is then?

>> Plus, as I say, I have no idea whether this figure includes transport, 
>> which can't be cheap and is also unavoidable cost...
> 
> They manage to sell tins of beans for 19p so it can't be that much.

Mmm, that's true.

>> This amuses me. Given that cheese *is* fat,
> 
> Even full-fat cheese is usually only 40-60% fat.

Really? So what's the rest of it then?

> Low fat cheese is 
> often around 20% fat.  Still a lot of fat when compared to other 
> products.

I still remember buying a packet of Dairylee cheese and looking at the 
ingredients: "Cheese (22%)". Uh... so this "cheese" is only 22% cheese? 
WTF is the rest of it?!! o_O

(It turns out the rest is actually just margerine, which isn't so bad.)

> IIRC you should aim to be eating around 100g of fat per day 
> max.  Check the labels.

Probably.

Post a reply to this message

>> Supermarkets also sell a hell of an amount of stuff each day.  Within the 
>> first few minutes of being open they probably have enough money to pay 
>> all their staff and rent the building for the day.
>
> Really? As fast as that?

Tesco's turnover is 47.3 billion pounds and they employ 273028 people (from 
wikipedia).  Assume average salary of 7 pounds / hour and 24 hour opening, 
and it takes just 21 minutes of sales each day to pay the entire workforce.

> Any ideas what the *actual* price is then?

Funnily enough it doesn't seem to say on any article...  I found one that 
said it was 2000 per ton, but that was from a long time ago - maybe it's 
around 4000 now?

>> Even full-fat cheese is usually only 40-60% fat.
>
> Really? So what's the rest of it then?

Water?

Post a reply to this message

"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> a écrit dans le message de news: 
48ce3c25$1@news.povray.org...

>> Even full-fat cheese is usually only 40-60% fat.

>Really? So what's the rest of it then?

The dry matter content of milk is roughly 1/3 protein, 1/3 fat and 1/3 
sugars (+ some minerals). When making cheese, the sugars are mostly washed 
off in the whey, so what remains in the cheese is fat and protein, in 
variable proportion depending on the method.


G.

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:30:59 +0100, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did  
spake, saying:

> My mum has just sent me an email saying that the price of cheese (my  
> favourite food) has gone up by 10% in the last week.

 From what I recall profit-wise Tesco operates at about 4%, Sainsbury's at  
3%, Asda at 2%, and Lidl etc. at 1%. That's overall of course some  
products are higher than others.

> Also, I was under the impression that *all* food prices have gone up. So  
> my mum's comment that "you'd better start eating something else" seems a  
> bit daft to me.

While at the same time some supermarkets are advertising that they're  
lowering prices. Which as I believe I've mentioned elsewhere doesn't  
engender a feeling of warmth from me more so a query of why they couldn't  
do that when everything was 'cheaper'?

> No doubt at some point somebody will blame all this on the credit crunch.

Which is only tangentially true. It's the cost of fuel throughout the  
entire production chain from simply harvesting them through to transport  
and then onto storage costs. Then you have the fact that certain countries  
(such as China) have been increasing their demand for both fuel and  
certain food and demand begins to outstrip supply. In such times the  
response is to start growing more food except to do so normally requires  
seed money (if you'll pardon the pun) to buy the land etc. That would  
normally be provided by a bank who at the present time doesn't want to  
lend out any money.

> Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the "credit  
> crunch" exists exactly because... everybody says it exists. If the world  
> woke up tomorrow and everybody decided that the credit crunch was over  
> and they were just going to act normal... there wouldn't be a problem  
> any more.

Yes, kind of. To simplify things down it's about confidence or the lack  
thereof. Previously if banks got into a bit of a problem and couldn't get  
help elsewhere they could turn to the Bank of England as the lender of  
last resort, which is one of its main purposes. However since Northern  
Rock, turning to the BoE is now depicted as a sign of weakness amid cries  
of "the bank is failing" which rapidly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  
Mix in a greater degree of scrutiny since NR, FannieMae and FreddieMac and  
all the banks are cleaning house and ensuring they have enough liquid  
assets to cover their own arses because they can't trust anyone to provide  
them with loans.

> If you think about it for a moment, it's quite amazing the power mankind  
> how has to screw itself just by thinking about it. It only takes one  
> news reporter to say "but don't panic-buy, there's plenty of fuel" and  
> within hours every filling station in the land has been denuded of fuel.  
> How powerful reverse psychology is! A crysis exists because somebody  
> says so.

Yes the recent fuel-tanker drivers strike demonstrates that nicely -  
petrol stations across the country had enough fuel to last it out until  
everyone decided to top up their tanks "just in case" and then acted smug  
when the stations did start to run out.

> I think Mr Adams said it right, when he wrote "In summary, people are a  
> problem."
>
> In a more or less unrelated thread... Which is healthier? A cheese  
> sandwich, or a packet of crisps?

As scott implies, this is a piece of string - too many variables.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

Phil Cook wrote:

>  From what I recall profit-wise Tesco operates at about 4%, Sainsbury's 
> at 3%, Asda at 2%, and Lidl etc. at 1%. That's overall of course some 
> products are higher than others.

It would be interesting to know which items are their loss-leaders... ;-)

>> Also, I was under the impression that *all* food prices have gone up. 
> 
> While at the same time some supermarkets are advertising that they're 
> lowering prices. Which as I believe I've mentioned elsewhere doesn't 
> engender a feeling of warmth from me more so a query of why they 
> couldn't do that when everything was 'cheaper'?

I just find it interesting that shops of all kinds are *always* 
advertising that their prices are going down and down and down. So, 
like, why didn't you do this sooner? (And besides, as far as *I* can 
tell, the actual prices rise and fall more or less at random, and they 
only advertise the ones that have fallen. I'm surprised that's legal...)

> To simplify things down it's about confidence or the lack thereof.

Heh, and I thought that only *I* had serious issues due to lack of 
confidence. ;-)

> All the banks are cleaning house and 
> ensuring they have enough liquid assets to cover their own arses because 
> they can't trust anyone to provide them with loans.

I'm begining to wonder whether the banks' product is actually *money* or 
just *confidence*. :-P

> Yes the recent fuel-tanker drivers strike demonstrates that nicely - 
> petrol stations across the country had enough fuel to last it out until 
> everyone decided to top up their tanks "just in case" and then acted 
> smug when the stations did start to run out.

Does it worry anybody *else* here that when all the oil runs out in 10 
years' time, the nations of the world are basically going to have a 
global thermonuclear war over the rights to the last remaining few drops?

I mean, theoretically some alternative might be found. But let's face 
it, do you invest years in R&D? Or do you just bomb the hell out of the 
people who've got what you want? Gee, let me think...

I'm a little concerned that I'm likely to whitness the end of the world 
in my own lifetime. :-(

Post a reply to this message

> It would be interesting to know which items are their loss-leaders... ;-)

Usually very common items (bread etc), also usually placed at the back of 
the shop so that you have to be tempted by 31434 other items before you get 
there.

> I just find it interesting that shops of all kinds are *always* 
> advertising that their prices are going down and down and down.

Ermm yeh, it helps get people to go to that store rather than a competitor.

> So, like, why didn't you do this sooner? (And besides, as far as *I* can 
> tell, the actual prices rise and fall more or less at random, and they 
> only advertise the ones that have fallen. I'm surprised that's legal...)

Why? There's no law that says you have to advertise your entire product 
range or not at all.

> Does it worry anybody *else* here that when all the oil runs out in 10 
> years' time, the nations of the world are basically going to have a global 
> thermonuclear war over the rights to the last remaining few drops?

Long before oil actually runs out there are going to be cheaper 
alternatives.  Industries that are reliant on oil today will gradually shift 
as prices increase.

Post a reply to this message

"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message 
news:48ce70bb$1@news.povray.org...
>
> I mean, theoretically some alternative might be found. But let's face it, 
> do you invest years in R&D?

It's already happening.

Biofuels
Electicity-powered cars.
Solar energy
Wind power

Not mass-market yet, but things are happening. It's not driven so much by 
the fact that oil will run out (no one can actually give a date or an amount 
that's left), but the fact that fuel prices are higher now so there's some 
financial reason to research and develop cheaper alternatives.

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:
> My mum has just sent me an email saying that the price of cheese (my 
> favourite food) has gone up by 10% in the last week.
> 
Is it just me, but doesn't it seem odd that Andrew's mother emails him 
about the price of cheese? He lives with her for $DEITY's sake!
...or are they not talking?
;-)

John

-- 
"Eppur si muove" - Galileo Galilei

Post a reply to this message

>> I mean, theoretically some alternative might be found. But let's face 
>> it, do you invest years in R&D?
> 
> It's already happening.
> 
> Biofuels
> Electicity-powered cars.
> Solar energy
> Wind power

All of which, AFAIK, have been around for at least 30 years, and nobody 
has taken any notice whatsoever. And it rather worries me that once 
there is only a small pool of oil left on the entire planet, whole 
nations will wage war for the rights to have access to that pool. Rather 
that, say, actually CHANGE or anything.

> Not mass-market yet, but things are happening.

I've been hearing that electric cars are "just around the corner" since 
I was a very small child. ;-)

> It's not driven so much 
> by the fact that oil will run out but the fact that fuel prices are higher now so 
> there's some financial reason to research and develop cheaper alternatives.

Maybe.

Perhaps the human race will actually adapt to this change. I'm worried 
that we might be too stupid though...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

Post a reply to this message

"Orchid XP v8" <voi### [at] devnull> a écrit dans le message de 
news:48cea557@news.povray.org...

> All of which, AFAIK, have been around for at least 30 years, and nobody 
> has taken any notice whatsoever.

Actually, one of the reasons why the price of cheese went up is due to 
biofuels. A few countries (including the US) have been converting food maize 
and soybeans crops to biofuel maize for a few years now, due to attractive 
fuel prices: the US now uses more of its maize crop for biofuel than it 
sells abroad. Last year, with a few other factors, this cascaded into a 
world shortage of food/feed grains. The price of cereals doubled between May 
and September 2007, and drove up the price of feeds, and then of milk and 
cheese.

G

Post a reply to this message

Gilles Tran wrote:

> Actually, one of the reasons why the price of cheese went up is due to 
> biofuels. A few countries (including the US) have been converting food 
> maize and soybeans crops to biofuel maize for a few years now, due to 
> attractive fuel prices: the US now uses more of its maize crop for 
> biofuel than it sells abroad. Last year, with a few other factors, this 
> cascaded into a world shortage of food/feed grains. The price of cereals 
> doubled between May and September 2007, and drove up the price of feeds, 
> and then of milk and cheese.

...all of which leaves me wondering: How come Gilles knows so much about 
farming? ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

Post a reply to this message

Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> ....all of which leaves me wondering: How come Gilles knows so much 
> about farming? ;-)
> 
You've surely heard of the archetypical English farmer, Farmer Gil(l)es :-)

John

-- 
"Eppur si muove" - Galileo Galilei

Post a reply to this message

Am Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:18:56 +0200 schrieb scott:

> Long before oil actually runs out there are going to be cheaper
> alternatives.  Industries that are reliant on oil today will gradually
> shift as prices increase.

I worry more about the petrochemistry. Doesn't one need oil and gas for 
lots of polymers (i.e. plastic)? But probably you are right - it will 
just get more expensive and they will find other ways to synthesize the 
chemicals.

Post a reply to this message

"Orchid XP v8" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message 
news:48cea557@news.povray.org...
>>> I mean, theoretically some alternative might be found. But let's face 
>>> it, do you invest years in R&D?
>>
>> It's already happening.
>>
>> Biofuels
>> Electicity-powered cars.
>> Solar energy
>> Wind power
>
> All of which, AFAIK, have been around for at least 30 years, and nobody 
> has taken any notice whatsoever.

True, mainly because with the low price of oil they were all economically 
unfeasible. Not so with oil prices where they are now...

Post a reply to this message

Am Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:27:06 +0100 schrieb Invisible:

> 
> I'm begining to wonder whether the banks' product is actually *money* or
> just *confidence*. :-P
> 
I'm recommending "Making Money" by Terry Prattchet.

Post a reply to this message

> All of which, AFAIK, have been around for at least 30 years, and nobody 
> has taken any notice whatsoever.

Because oil has always been cheaper.  Once oil becomes more expensive that 
those other technologies, suddenly people are interested.  It will happen, 
*before* the oil runs out.

> And it rather worries me that once there is only a small pool of oil left 
> on the entire planet, whole nations will wage war for the rights to have 
> access to that pool.

Would probably use up more oil waging the war than you would get at the end! 
And by that time there will be cheaper alternatives in everyday use so 
nobody will care much about oil anymore.

Post a reply to this message

Doctor John wrote:

> Is it just me, but doesn't it seem odd that Andrew's mother emails him 
> about the price of cheese? He lives with her for $DEITY's sake!
> ...or are they not talking?
> ;-)

Nah, my mum is stressed as hell because she's about to get a £5k pay 
cut, and in a few months she'll be unemployed. Her bank balance hasn't 
been higher than £-1k in decades, and that's *with* an income. And let's 
face it, who the hell is going to hire an old fat women who's nearly 
retirement age?

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:18:56 +0100, scott <sco### [at] scottcom> did  
spake, saying:

>> It would be interesting to know which items are their loss-leaders...  
>> ;-)
>
> Usually very common items (bread etc), also usually placed at the back  
> of the shop so that you have to be tempted by 31434 other items before  
> you get there.

They also try and pick certain items they know that people compare between  
stores so their bread might be more expensive, but their milk is cheaper.  
Oh and shouldn't that be 31415 other items :-P

>> I just find it interesting that shops of all kinds are *always*  
>> advertising that their prices are going down and down and down.
>
> Ermm yeh, it helps get people to go to that store rather than a  
> competitor.

Tcch you'd think they were a business or something.

>> So, like, why didn't you do this sooner?

Because every supermarket used to be only really competing with roughly  
one other store - M&S vs. Waitrose; Tesco vs. Sainsbury's; Asda vs. Kwik  
Save. Now add in Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi etc. and combine it with people  
suddenly needing to think about which store they want to spend money in  
and it's a free-for-all.

> (And besides, as far as *I*
>> can tell, the actual prices rise and fall more or less at random, and  
>> they only advertise the ones that have fallen. I'm surprised that's  
>> legal...)
>
> Why? There's no law that says you have to advertise your entire product  
> range or not at all.

then you get those delightful adverts which show that X had 2,000 items  
cheaper, Y had 3,000, but our store has 5,000 cheaper. Doesn't say what  
exactly is cheaper, or even how they're comparing things.

>> Does it worry anybody *else* here that when all the oil runs out in 10  
>> years' time, the nations of the world are basically going to have a  
>> global thermonuclear war over the rights to the last remaining few  
>> drops?
>
> Long before oil actually runs out there are going to be cheaper  
> alternatives.  Industries that are reliant on oil today will gradually  
> shift as prices increase.

and as scott points out elsewhere the rising prices make alternatives more  
viable; and as Darren has pointed out a while ago the estimates were made  
using the then current extraction technique and there is in fact more  
availble that wasn't being touched because it would cost more to get at  
then to sell.

As Florian states the biggest worry is in the plastics industry, as soon  
as that began to dominate the materials industry the fact that we simply  
just burn the same stuff should have registered as a teensy bit off.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:47:56 +0100, Gilles Tran  
<gil### [at] gmailcom> did spake, saying:

> "Orchid XP v8" <voi### [at] devnull> a écrit dans le message de  
> news:48cea557@news.povray.org...
>
>> All of which, AFAIK, have been around for at least 30 years, and nobody  
>> has taken any notice whatsoever.
>
> Actually, one of the reasons why the price of cheese went up is due to  
> biofuels. A few countries (including the US) have been converting food  
> maize and soybeans crops to biofuel maize for a few years now, due to  
> attractive fuel prices: the US now uses more of its maize crop for  
> biofuel than it sells abroad. Last year, with a few other factors, this  
> cascaded into a world shortage of food/feed grains. The price of cereals  
> doubled between May and September 2007, and drove up the price of feeds,  
> and then of milk and cheese.

All of which you've got to see the funny side of. The eco-warriers demand  
biofuels, some governments set up favourable legislation and as a result  
rainforests are cleared to grow maize and food prices increase. At least  
they've admitted that the outcome wasn't perhaps the best and they made a  
mistake; I don't think any of the governments have done the same yet.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:09:02 +0100, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did  
spake, saying:

> Doctor John wrote:
>
>> Is it just me, but doesn't it seem odd that Andrew's mother emails him  
>> about the price of cheese? He lives with her for $DEITY's sake!
>> ...or are they not talking?
>> ;-)
>
> Nah, my mum is stressed as hell because she's about to get a £5k pay  
> cut, and in a few months she'll be unemployed. Her bank balance hasn't  
> been higher than £-1k in decades, and that's *with* an income. And let's  
> face it, who the hell is going to hire an old fat women who's nearly  
> retirement age?

Nursery schools? Supermarkets too seem to be getting older and older staff.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

>> And 
>> let's face it, who the hell is going to hire an old fat women who's 
>> nearly retirement age?
> 
> Nursery schools?

My God... Think of the children! o_O

> Supermarkets too seem to be getting older and older staff.

Heh. Or just Polish...

(Not that I wish to imply that there is anything *wrong* with being 
Polish - some of my favourite lists are - it just seems a little odd, 
that's all.)

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:29:48 +0100, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did  
spake, saying:

>>> And let's face it, who the hell is going to hire an old fat women  
>>> who's nearly retirement age?
>>  Nursery schools?
>
> My God... Think of the children! o_O

I thought you'd appreciate that.

>> Supermarkets too seem to be getting older and older staff.
>
> Heh. Or just Polish...
>
> (Not that I wish to imply that there is anything *wrong* with being  
> Polish - some of my favourite lists are - it just seems a little odd,  
> that's all.)

Minimal skilled work that requires little communication or experience. A  
quick launch point to earn some money while gaining cultural and  
linguistic knowledge.

As a pure observation I'm hearing a lot more Polish being spoken locally,  
then again we are home to the Honoury Polish Consul for the West Midlands

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

> As a pure observation I'm hearing a lot more Polish being spoken locally,

When I landed at Stansted the other week, I was greeted by most signs being 
in Polish - I thought I'd landed in the wrong country!

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:
> My mum has just sent me an email saying that the price of cheese (my 
> favourite food) has gone up by 10% in the last week.
> 
> Apparently ASDA was charging people about £5 for 1 Kg of cheese way back 
> in spring, and now they're charging about £7 for the same thing.
> 
> ASDA also remarked that one of their suppliers is charging them £600 for 
> 1 tonne of cheese.
> 
> Now, it immediately strikes me that £600/tonne = 60p/Kg, but we're being 
> charged £7/Kg. It doesn't say whether that £600 includes transporting 
> the stuff, and I'm sure it doesn't include refrigerating it in the shop 
> or any other overheads, but basically the price you pay is about 10x the 
> price the shop pays. That's an impressive price difference...

Mark-ups of one hundred to two hundred percent are quite common in 
retail sales.

> Also, I was under the impression that *all* food prices have gone up. So 
> my mum's comment that "you'd better start eating something else" seems a 
> bit daft to me.
> 
> No doubt at some point somebody will blame all this on the credit 
> crunch.

It's more likely caused by one of the suppliers in the market 
consistently pricing their product or service above market rates. 
Everyone has to pass on this increased cost.  At the moment the two 
players in the market who are most insulated from market forces are the 
petroleum exporters and the government.

Regulation is also constantly increasing, and affects just about 
everybody in the chain from cow to cheese counter at the store.

> If you think about it for a moment, it's quite amazing the power mankind 
> how has to screw itself just by thinking about it. It only takes one 
> news reporter to say "but don't panic-buy, there's plenty of fuel" and 
> within hours every filling station in the land has been denuded of fuel. 
> How powerful reverse psychology is! A crysis exists because somebody 
> says so.
> 
> I think Mr Adams said it right, when he wrote "In summary, people are a 
> problem."
> 
> In a more or less unrelated thread... Which is healthier? A cheese 
> sandwich, or a packet of crisps?

The cheese sandwich is far healthier.  It has more protein.

Regards,
John

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:10:53 +0100, scott <sco### [at] scottcom> did  
spake, saying:

>> As a pure observation I'm hearing a lot more Polish being spoken  
>> locally,
>
> When I landed at Stansted the other week, I was greeted by most signs  
> being in Polish - I thought I'd landed in the wrong country!

Fancy doing some trolling on the Express/Mail/Sun websites? :-P

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

>>>  Nursery schools?
>>
>> My God... Think of the children! o_O
> 
> I thought you'd appreciate that.

Actually, my mum really likes children. (The hair gets in your teeth 
though...)

In seriousness... before the two devorces and the near bankrupcy and the 
mental breakdown, my mum actually used to be a childminder. Go figure.

Post a reply to this message

On 16-Sep-08 10:29, Invisible wrote:
>>> And let's face it, who the hell is going to hire an old fat women 
>>> who's nearly retirement age?
>>
>> Nursery schools?
> 
> My God... Think of the children! o_O
> 
>> Supermarkets too seem to be getting older and older staff.
> 
> Heh. Or just Polish...
> 
> (Not that I wish to imply that there is anything *wrong* with being 
> Polish - some of my favourite lists are 
reversed, I assume.
> - it just seems a little odd, 
> that's all.)

Post a reply to this message

andrel wrote:

>> (Not that I wish to imply that there is anything *wrong* with being 
>> Polish - some of my favourite lists are 
> reversed, I assume.

...my humour is *not* completely lost here! :-D

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

Post a reply to this message

On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:13:04 +0100, Doctor John <joh### [at] homecom> wrote:

>Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> ....all of which leaves me wondering: How come Gilles knows so much 
>> about farming? ;-)
>> 
>You've surely heard of the archetypical English farmer, Farmer Gil(l)es :-)
>

Groan!
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message