Category Archives: Business

JackBoots Tactics

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Fles

Alliance Boots, the Switzerland-based parent company of one-time British institution Boots the Chemist, has expressed fears that the Monaco-dwelling billionaire Boots boss Stefano Pessina was quoted “out of context” when he quite unequivocally stated that it would be a “catastrophe” … Continue reading →

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How Amazon Helps to Make Society a Better Place

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Fles

Amazon notoriously avoids paying corporation tax in the UK (despite doing £millions of business here), treats its warehouse employees dreadfully, intentionally drives small competitors out of business and never seems to advertise in what the web fondly refers to as … Continue reading →

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Benefit Tourism

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Fles

A lot of people skirt around the subject of benefit tourism, apparently for fear of offending those from other nations who come over here and set themselves up purely in order to get a free ride on the back of … Continue reading →

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Tickety Boo?

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Fles

As the RMT gears up for industrial action, Boris Johnson speaks of modernising and improving London Underground, stating that “fewer than 3% of tube journeys start at a ticket office” as justification for their closure. That is undoubtedly true, of … Continue reading →

Posted in Austerity, Business, Employment, Politics, Public Service | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Railfare Rises & Bailout Blues

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Fles

Since the rail minister, Simon Burns, is claiming that the latest round of wallet-haemorrhagingly steep fare increases are necessary to fund investment in rail, it is outrageous that, in scant-reported news, Railcare is being allowed to go under. Wolverton – … Continue reading →

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Hummin’ Trafficking

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Fles

I was most surprised to learn recently that 50,000 commercially reared bumblebees are imported into the UK annually. Bees are, by their very nature, socialist creatures who work together for the common good. To see these tiny beings exploited by … Continue reading →

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Fair-Trade Coffee?

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Fles

So Starbucks UK managing director Kris Engskov was surprised that feelings about tax avoidance ran so high, was he? One might have expected that somebody in charge of an operation which has such a major high street presence would have … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Politics, Tax-Avoidance | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Why You Ought to Boycott Amazon, Google & Starbucks

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Fles

One hears a lot of twaddle about tax-dodging companies actually being alright because they are at least providing jobs. Oh, how privileged we are, that we get to feed on the crumbs dropped from the top table. This is, of … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Child Labour, Exploitation, Internet, Politics, Tax-Avoidance | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Starvation Speculation

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Fles

These are a few snippets taken from the news in recent weeks: • Oxfam has produced a report, ‘Extreme Weather, Extreme Prices’, which models the impact of droughts, floods and heat waves and which indicates that staple crops might undergo … Continue reading →

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Corporate Friendship – or As You ‘Like’ It

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Fles

So I got an email the other day from a company which I have used in the past, apparently celebrating the launch of their new app[lication]. Woo, yeah – break out the champagne! It also invited me to become a … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Marketing | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments