The Ramadan Rush
It would appear from The Times, that rich shoppers from the Middle East are getting their shopping in before Ramadan starts on July 20th. They also claim that France’s burqa ban, means that shoppers now prefer London.
The French really know how to create laws that help their business sector, especially as they are bringing in a financial transaction tax.
Everybody Needs a Dry Cleaner
Mohamed Mahamoud Sheik thought that and has now opened a shop in Mogadishu in Somalia, as reported on the BBC. He is quoted as saying.
When they read ‘Somali Premium Laundry’, they say, ‘wow, is this a real laundry?”
If there was an international business award for the most outrageous start-up he should win it.
Good luck to him!
A Pair of Wongas
Wonga is now targetting the business market.
A Pair of Wongas
Did they give the drivers a bonus to be in convoy?
The ARM Phillosophy
Tudor Brown has stepped down as president of ARM Holdings, the chip designer. This article on the BBC,explains the company and its philosophy.
It is a business model that should be copied. It’s certainly worked!
It Was The Scousers That Nicked It!
Congratulations all round to Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port fsctory for getting the nod to manufacture the new Astra, as reported here.
Duncan Aldred, the chairman of Vauxhall, who had a lot of say in the decision, is not exactly a scouser, as he was born in Bolton, but then Aldred is quite a common surname in Liverpool and one of the Senior Lecturers in Engineering at Liverpool University in the 1960s was another of the clan. So one way or another the man who took the decision was on the payroll of the Scouse Army.
I suspect though, that one drink in the Phil was enough to get the Americans on his side, as who could resist a city and its workforce after seeing some of the best pub toilets in the world.
Saving Fish With Flies
A large amount of the fish caught in the sea ends up as animal feed. The Sunday Times reports how in South Africa, a process has been developed to create chicken feed from maggots fed on blood from abattoirs. Sounds gruesome!
But if it means we take less fish from the sea to feed animals, it’s surely better.
Rupert Murdoch Drops Himself In It
Rupert Murdoch “is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company”, MPs have said. I’m not going to argue with that, as I don’t have the detailed evidence. However, I do know from the personal recollection of a friend of mine, who did a bit of business with Rupert, that he very much takes all the decisions.
So the buck stops with Mr. Murdoch! Unfortunately, there was no system of checks and balances to make sure he took the right decision!
Perhaps we need a rule, that all senior people in public companies are not above a certain age.
Call That A Bin?
I was watching the Apprentice on BBC1 and one team came up with a bin design.
It may be arrogant to say it, but my bin design of a couple of years ago is better.
Zopa Mentioned in the Guardian
My Google Alert for Zopa found this report in the Guardian. It’s not particularly relevant to Zopa or peer-to-peer lending as this extract shows.
Not all hairdressers are on one giant VAT dodge, otherwise there would have been some public outcry and we would all, by now, be doing each other’s hair (we would call it peer-to-peer grooming, it would be somewhere between Zopa and a zoo, and it wouldn’t matter what we looked like, because we’d all look the same).
But it does show that you should choose a unique name for your company.
The Anonymous Widower 