Reporting the reports

A few of the things I hear on the news amaze me, but over the last few days some of the reports have left me totally confused.

The focus of these reports has been on the current financial situation we are being told we are living in. A reporter was giving her take on the post-Christmas sales and though accepting that these sales happen every year, credit crunch or not, she did say something very strange. She reported that shoppers were taking a different attitude to the sales than usual, they were deciding what they were going shopping for and then finding out where it was going to be the best deal before actually buying it. Now I am sorry but what is strange about that, that is the way I always shop; what do other people do? The statement conjures up visions of people walking into shops at random, picking something up and then buying it.

One reported did come out with a good point though, all the crowds for the sales congregated at the expensive stores, such as those in London’s Bond Street, where items are still very expensive at half price whereas as the general high street stores, who were also having sales, were “business as usual”, so there is still money out there. Even the stores that were closing down were not attracting the sales crush.

And have you noticed the number of reports on the current financial situation, forecasting the number of stores that are going to close, the cost of housing, unemployment and so on, that are being published daily. Who are writing them and who are publishing them, here in Britain most institutions that would be involved in these reports have been closed for the last week and will be for the next week.

The number of stores going into administration increases daily, but I heard this morning of one that also went into administration this time last year and another has been in administration three times in the last five years. I suppose they find it easier to get the publicity that way then paying for advertising.