Understandably, we all concentrate on big ticket economic stories. But I think business correspondents are missing a big story - the incredibly worrying collapses of small and medium sized businesses. Yes, it's devastating for the 2,000 RBS employees who have been fired today, but these stories mask hundreds of smaller ones which will never make the national headlines. Take THIS very sad story from the Eastern Daily Press. It reveals the closure of a centuries old hotel in the North Norfolk market town of Fakenham. Fifteen people are to lose their jobs. Multiply that over the country and you have a big, and growing story, But the BBC and national papers aren't covering it. They ought to be,.
statistics are dehumanising. I agree with you on this one,Iain.
ReplyDeleteYesterday Barack Obama was on the trail - talking directly to small town people about this huge financial crisis - Obama was talking to REAL people about their very REAL suffering... about why this crisis happened, and about what he can do to help.
Gordon Brown OR David Cameron should be out there doing the same thing.
We're all human - but politicians sometimes forget.
A business like this that can't navigate through a period of negative growth is often not properly run. Insufficient reserves. Too much borrowing. Too high drawings. Too high % capacity projections.
ReplyDeleteOh and I forgot, they generally blame the banks or the government for their fate.
It is typically the bosses and the shareholders' greed that bring these things about. But rank and file workers often suffer the most.
Eaden Lilley, Saffron Walden, gone, after surviving for decades. A small town's family-owned, landmark store. 29 redundant.
ReplyDeleteI think you have touched a nerve there Iain , we still, as a country trade mostly internally (80 %) and work for small companies (70/80%).
ReplyDeleteThis England is habitually ignored and it is the part of our country which is most mysterious to those who have never had to get a job. Labour hardly know it is there .
Most of my clients are small too medium Contractors and many ( not all) are suffering . What irritates me more though is seeing the sacrifice and work people put in to stay afloat when the fat -arse bankers are lapping up tax payers money and even the staff want bonuses just for turning up. The Public sector get these people to fund their final salary pensions and everyone gets a hand out except the people who work the hardest .
I think Chris Paul has just described what Brown has done to the country
ReplyDelete"A business like this that can't navigate through a period of negative growth is often not properly run. Insufficient reserves. Too much borrowing. Too high drawings."
Yup thats waht you should not do assume a perpetual boom. Looks like Browny Towers will be closing any time now
I'm surprised you haven't picked up on the story from Wales at the moment Iain?
ReplyDeleteThe Welsh Assembly want control of the Welsh Language from Westminster. They are likely to get this. However, with those powers, they then want to impose a legal duty on all private enterprises in Wales to cater for the Welsh language, just like BT currently do with a few dedicated Welsh speakers in their call centres, and a few staff to correspond with customers in Welsh.
This move is supported by Labour, Plaid Cymru, and the Libera Democrats. Thankfully it's opposed by the Tories, but they are of such a minority in Wales that their opinion is worthless.
I'm incredulous. The majority of Wales does not speak Welsh. Welsh is a dying language used by a ever depreciating minority. Still, they want to make firms cater for it, and bear the increased costs that catering for it will bring.
This will increase the costs of doing business in Wales compared to England, Scotland or NI.
At a time of recession/depression aswell, with small and medium sized business's going to the wall in ever increasing numbers, Labour, Plaid and the Lib Dems want to increase their costs of doing business?
Utter utter brainless fools. Ideology defeats pragmatism yet again.
Correct Newmania - Brown has put Britain precisely into the situation that Mr Paul says is caused by incompetence on the part of the managers.
ReplyDeleteProdicus, I know that it is very sad about the people who worked at Eaden Lilley - but that department store was SO lame and SO old fashioned anyway. It would have gone under with or without a recession.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if M&S take over that building those employees will be given new jobs?
Jobs are not just going when companies are going to the wall. In a desperate attempt to stay afloat my employer is throwing out half the engineers, including myself, and forgetting about any future development - nothing that doesn't make money NOW!
ReplyDeleteThe Government are taking this very seriously, Ian. They intend to create a task force, "UK For Upcoming Control Kings". It is to be headed by Dolly Draper on a salary of £250,000 plus expenses. Work is expected to get underway in a years time, after the election is postponed indefinitely, due to the state of emergency. The state of emergency being 22 million unemployed.
ReplyDeleteCanvas: ,well - it wasn't all bad. It had a loyal customer base & sold stuff no-one else in the town did. Parish pump rumour: not M&S. Fenwicks.
ReplyDeleteWhat is disappointing about this is the silence from the Conservative front bench. Members of the Shadow Cabinet may well have spoken about the small business/self-employed sector but, if so, it has been sotto voce.
ReplyDeleteThe small business sector makes an outstanding contribution to the economy: (the following courtesy of the Federation of Small Businesses website)
* Small firms employ more than 58 per cent of the private sector workforce
* 13.5 million people work in small firms
* Small firms contribute more than 50 per cent of the UK turnover
* 64 per cent of commercial innovations come from small firms
But where are their champions? Where are their advocates?
If the Conservative Party is still the party of private enterprise it ought to be shouting the virtues of this group from the rooftops. It ought once again pay as much attention to the wealth creators of this country as to the wealth consumers of the bloated public sector.
From a purely political point of view those who own/run a small business, or who are self-employed, ought naturally to be 'one of us'. The Conservative Party should be doing much more to obtain their enthusiastic backing, and to convince them that the Tories are on their side.
Prodicus:"sold stuff no-one else in the town did"
ReplyDeleteThat's not hard to do! hahaha.
Anyway, thanks for that top tip... Fenwicks would be very cool... See it's not all bad !
:)
I don't know about this hotel but there are a lot of small and medium sized businesses that deserve to fail.
ReplyDeleteThere are businesses making and/or selling crap knick knacks, rubbish food, e-number flavoured sweets, trashy books and over-priced tat. There are badly decorated and furnished hotels and b&bs run by people who can't cook. There are corner shops run by insolent morons and shops selling things that no-one wants There are over-priced jerry builders who go round ruining people's houses.
These businesses shouldn't have been kept afloat thanks to undeserved bank overdrafts in the first place.
Re: Chris Paul.
ReplyDeleteSome businesses might well be poorly run or have too much borrowing. Recessions tend to gobble them up mercilessly.
What Iain is highlighting is the plight of completely viable small businesses, without debt and often with sufficient reserves, who are struggling to continue in a climate of falling demand.
Between 1/4 and 1/2 of the increase in unemployment in the next 2 years will come from small businesses and Iain is right that the newspapers and other media have tended to focus on the big companies's drastic workforce cuts.
The hotel is owned by a London based property developer who no doubt has plans for the site.
ReplyDeleteJohn @ 4:35 I feel I have to take issue with:
ReplyDelete'Thankfully it's opposed by the Tories, but they are of such a minority in Wales that their opinion is worthless.'
The Conservatives have overall control of the same number of Welsh Councils as Labour.
I also don't think any minority opinion is worthless. The Government (& Welsh, Scottish executives) is (are) elected by a minority of voters.
I like that Welsh is still spoken. What's the most cost effective way of making sure that continues? I dunno.
canvas @4:16 said:
'talking directly to small town people about this huge financial crisis'
'David Cameron should be out there doing the same thing.'
Canvas, did you miss any episodes of 'Cameron Direct'?
Also the Shadow Cabinet were recently all ordered to visit businesses. (Except Alan Duncan, who didn't have to on that occasion as it was an ongoing part of his then job anyway.)
On Iain's main point about Small/Medium sized Businesses, the UK Government isn't 'Do Nothing', it was 'Doing Harm' long before the Credit Crunch/Recession/Depression (© Gordon Brown 2009)/Serious global recession (© Ed Balls 2009).
The media have covered this story when it related to somebody famous, like AWT's restaurant chain, but otherwise, yes, it's virtually a silent tragedy that's unfolding. Banks are refusing to lend businesses the money they need to tide them over, a problem that Mr Brown can hardly pretend to have solved...
ReplyDelete@Conand
ReplyDeleteI meant that the Tories are so few in the Assembly that their objections don't have a cat in hell's chance of stopping this ludicrous proposal.
I too have no objection to the Welsh language btw, it's just that I strongly object to making Wales and uncompetitive place to do business to further that aim.
@ John
ReplyDelete"The majority of Wales does not speak Welsh. Welsh is a dying language used by a ever depreciating minority. Still, they want to make firms cater for it, and bear the increased costs that catering for it will bring."
Rather like the Quebec State Government did in Canada a few years back, when it passed a law that required all commercial companies to both employ and cater for bilingual French/English staff.
Result? - virtually all businesses of any size moved across the border into Ontario, where the law did not apply, causing a near catastrophic collapse of the local economy and pushing unemployment figures through the roof.
Then again, this was the same Canadian State that almost passed a law establishing its own currency and declaring 'Independence' from Canada in order to establish itself as an independent country.
Perhaps Wales will follow suit - I wonder what the Exchange Rate would be for the 'Welsh Groat'?...
'Michael' - who are you trying to fool?
ReplyDeleteThe Conservatives are constantly arguing that small businesses are not getting a good deal under Labour.
The Conservatives commissioned the Richards Report on small businesses
http://www.conservatives.com/pdf/document-richardreport-2008.pdf
I don't know if I live in a parallel universe or something, but everybody I know has a home crammed with stuff. Everybody I know throws away food, has far too many clothes and buys booze in cases. Etc.
ReplyDeleteI recently went to a restaurant in the centre of Leeds and it was packed - in fact we had to wait for a cancellation in a place that seated about two hundred. People next to us were drinking Champagne. The service was impeccable.
I regularly buy air tickets. The flights are always full.
I cannot believe people are still using credit cards, so it seems to indicate there is money about.
Whilst it is sad when service industries get into difficulty, it is my experience that the majority of small UK hotels and restaurants are dirty and worn out, the staff are offensive and they chuck overpriced pretentious food at you that looks like a Jackson Pollock painting, only it doesn't taste as nice.
There is going to be a reckoning. All those shite holes will close, now that people are being a tiny bit more careful with their money.
And I say, "good riddance".
@Faceless Bureaucrat
ReplyDeleteI did not know that! Thanks for the info! :)
There are a number of small hotels and restaurants with rooms doing a cracking trade in North Norfolk. What was stopping this one from doing well?
ReplyDeleteIf it had just had £100,000 refit, I suspect the London based property developers wanted too quick a return and so forced up prices beyond what the market would support.
The Penguin
Times are grim. I'm amazed how many of my friends have lost their jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe economy is going to have a heart attack, but then Labour know that.
The question is how do they intend to take advatnage of it ?
Hi Conand me old mucker: "Canvas, did you miss any episodes of 'Cameron Direct'?"
ReplyDeleteYes, I did , I don't watch conservative propaganda videos. I mean DC should be REALLY out there.
Poor Canvas, she knows not what she writes. Cameron Direct is a town hall meeting where Cameron goes to a town and takes questions for an hour and a half. They're all floating voters. No Tories allowed. No advance notice of questions.
ReplyDeleteIn my TP interview he explains why he does it and how it all works.
You can't get more GETTING OUT THERE than doing these events. I covered one a few weeks ago so I know how unplanned they are.
Iain sweetie pie...conand said:
ReplyDelete"Canvas, did you miss any episodes of 'Cameron Direct'?"
Referring to the propaganda videos on conservatives.com
Why is DC doing sweet little town meetings? timid or what? He should be out TALKING with TV films crews everywhere!
Canvas Munchkin, Cameron Direct are not videos, they are town hall meetings where DC asks questions. The last two have been livestreamed on the internet.
ReplyDeletehe's meeting real people. Isn't that part of his job, as well as being on camera?
Iain, honeypie ;)
ReplyDelete"
Watch previous broadcasts
If you've missed a Cameron Direct event, or you want to see what they're all about, then click on a link below to watch a previous broadcast.
Cameron Direct - Harrogate
Cameron Direct - Belfast
Cameron Direct - Winchester
Cameron Direct - East Renfrewshire
Cameron Direct - Sutton
Cameron Direct - Pudsey
Cameron Direct - Croydon
Cameron Direct - York
Cameron Direct - Brigg & Goole
Cameron Direct - Worcester
Cameron Direct - The Wirral
Cameron Direct - Barrow in Furness
Cameron Direct - Loughborough "
Propaganda and timid...
Now that's not going to help the people of the UK in a time of crisis, is it?!
Canvas pussycat, have you actually clicked on one and watched?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Nick Clegg does it too. To his credit.
Iain my lil chickadee...
ReplyDeletethat's all very lovely - but this crisis needs a STRONG response... Not cosy fireside chats...they can come after the problems have been dealt with.
DC should be out there telling everyone how he can help them. TV crews and journos everywhere. No let up. Dealing with this serious problem head on...
I like DC - but he needs to raise his game.
just a wee bit?
Canvas poppet, I agree, all opposition politicians need to raise their game. Some more than others.
ReplyDeleteBut you neatly evaded my questions, I noticed. Have you actually watched a Cameron Direct. I think you would be pleasantly surprised.
You will also enjoy my interview with him, I hope.
My partner's business - a garage - has been trading in Bristol for 41 years. It's the second oldest business in its street, in the 'trendy' Clifton part where everything else is either a chain restaurant or a student flat these days. It's not going to make 42 years, and I think that's tragic. We're both staring unemployment in the face for the first time in our lives.
ReplyDeleteI live on what's famous for being one of the 'few remaining independent high streets' - Bristol's Gloucester Road. There are increasing numbers of empty shops around here and I'm sure that's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. All the local business people I speak to are saying the same thing; they're struggling. But nobody really seems to care.
The hotel will survive and be sold to someone else. The peope running it and working there will find new jobs, many with the new owners. Life goes on.
ReplyDeleteThere are fortunes to be made with high market volatility for the courageous and the infomed. Stop your moping and get in there.