Browse content similar to 28/06/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. More commit other | :00:28. | :00:35. | |
high street. Two more retail chains announced shop closures. Thorntons | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
and TJ Hughes are the latest victims. Thousands of jobs are | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
malign. We are asking what, if anything, can be done. More power | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
to the students. The Government says it wants greater competition | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
between universities. Labour calls the latest shake-up to higher | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
education a complete shambles. And they are back on the streets, | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
eight two day general strike is being held across Greece ahead of a | :00:59. | :01:09. | |
vote that could determine the So, all of that in the next half- | :01:09. | :01:15. | |
hour. With us for the duration, media and advertising might | :01:15. | :01:25. | |
:01:25. | :01:29. | ||
Let's turn our eyes to the visit of Wen Jiabao yesterday. It appears | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
the Chinese premier is not happy with David Cameron criticising | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
China's human rights record. Do you do business in China? Big business, | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
close to $1 billion. What should come first, business of human | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
rights? The answer is probably both. But there are ways of doing it. I | :01:48. | :01:55. | |
draw a distinction between what we saw Jack rocks and the IOC do | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
around the Beijing Olympics. -- Jack rocks. There were external | :02:00. | :02:10. | |
:02:10. | :02:13. | ||
issues like Sudan and Darfur. The quiet diplomacy, in the context of | :02:13. | :02:18. | |
the Beijing Olympics, dealing with difficult issues, against how | :02:18. | :02:24. | |
Google handled a similar set of issues and, in a way, how the Prime | :02:24. | :02:30. | |
Minister yesterday talked about human rights issues, the Chinese- | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
made moves last week to release prisoners and try to deal with the | :02:34. | :02:42. | |
issue. It doesn't work to, in public, take them to task. | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
David Cameron done too much of that? I think it's a difficult | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
thing to balance. You are making political decisions, you have to | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
counterbalance... Has he got the balance right? If you actually | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
tried to do something, I don't think... It is this odd question | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
about a loss of face. Westerners get worried about that. I think the | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
key issue is that you do it in private, the Chinese listen and | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
learn, if you have a strong case, talked to them privately and they | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
will change and move on. Slapping them in the face in public, whether | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
it is Google, and I don't think it was quite as bad yesterday as | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
people are making out, but I think it's counter-productive. When you | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
say business of human rights, you can achieve one with the other, by | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
working closely with them. Do we really want to be friends with | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
them? They are always mounting cyber-attacks against us, they are | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
not our friends. The MI5 has written that hundreds of UK | :03:37. | :03:42. | |
companies have been hacked by the Government of China. The German | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
government says that the personal computer of Chancellor Merkel was | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
hacked into. Are you suggesting that Julian Assange is a Chinese | :03:50. | :04:00. | |
plant? No, I think he is Australian. The Vodafone network, there were 90 | :04:00. | :04:09. | |
million a tax on consumer accounts. On the road system, about 6 million | :04:09. | :04:15. | |
a year. Cyber-attacks is a major issue and we had only seen the | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
beginning of it. But there are many types of hackers. People are | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
attributed to many governments. It's going to be an issue we have | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
to deal with increasingly, whether it be Sony, the attacks they have | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
suffered, or others in recent months. It's a big issue, but you | :04:31. | :04:36. | |
can't put it at the door of the Chinese totally. Have you ever been | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
in a dilemma where, on the one hand, if we going to this market and do | :04:41. | :04:47. | |
this we could make a lot of money, on the other hand... Yes. Sudan. | :04:47. | :04:55. | |
Iran. I was offered a considerable piece of business by a major | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
multinational company in Iran. Which, to the front, given the | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
sanctions that were meant to be operating and which the UK and | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
American government claimed are being effective, I was shocked to | :05:07. | :05:15. | |
even have the offer made to me. We declined. Burma, Cuba is off limits. | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
There may be political changes. Iran is actually one of the next 11, | :05:20. | :05:26. | |
I call it the next 10, because Iran is of the map. We made the decision | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
not to do it. If it's a difficult decision. If you go to Turkey, you | :05:30. | :05:37. | |
will find many examples of sanction busting through Turkey. We are glad | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
you took the decision to be with us today. We've got a lot more to talk | :05:41. | :05:49. | |
about. An offer I couldn't refuse. Andrew Neil, the Godfather! Plans | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
for a radical shake-up of universities in England will be set | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
up by the Government today. Ministers say they want to increase | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
competition and provide potential students with more information. | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
They are hoping to improve what they are calling the quality of | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
courses and drive down the level of fees. They also propose allowing | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
private companies to offer degrees and the best investors to recruit | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
more students with top grades. This is what David Willetts had to say | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
earlier today. What we are saying is, look, students are going to be | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
thinking very carefully about the quality of the academic experience | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
at university, what their job prospects after they had been to | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
university. We are looking for a transformation in the amount of | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
information that they get so that they will be able to make well- | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
informed choices. It will really drive universities to think about, | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
well, how crowded are the seminars? How much practical experience do | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
they get, how much work experience do we provide? Those are the things | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
that students care about and we want them to know what is being | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
offered. No government minister was available to talk about the | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
proposals. We are joined by Gareth Thomas, the shadow university's | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
minister. Isn't is a good thing that the universities that people | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
really want to go to La going to be given the freedom to get bigger? | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
the Government proposals, the vast majority of students who get the | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
highest grades get the opportunity to go to university. What is in | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
this white paper is that the number of student places that we are | :07:15. | :07:21. | |
seeing offered, at a far lower rate, is likely to be increased. Students | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
are going to seek place is taken from mainstream universities, | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
beneath the very highest level, and offered at far lower rates. That is | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
likely to affair in a -- a share in a new generation of high property | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
corporations, some of which have very low degree completion rates | :07:40. | :07:46. | |
and high drop-out rates. I'll come to private universities in a moment. | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
But students are not stupid. They will go to the university that will | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
give them the best chance of scoring a job in the future. That | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
will give them the best student experience. Really, what will | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
happen, is that those that are poor-quality will fall by the | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
wayside. That is just the way it should be? Well, that is not what | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
the Government is saying. It is taking place is away from | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
universities, many universities with a pretty good reputation at | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
the moment. It is going to offer them, in an auction, to the lowest | :08:17. | :08:24. | |
bidder. Beneath the highest universities, you are going to see | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
cuts... Of what examples can you give me where they are taken places | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
away from a successful, good university? By what benchmarks do | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
you say it is good? The Government is going to propose that the | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
students that get a highest grades will be able to go at the | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
University of their choice, if the universe deep in question wants to | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
expand. Beneath that level, what the Government have been ripping up | :08:48. | :08:54. | |
to now is that they want to cut university places at every other | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
university by a small amount, 20,000 places, and offer them, in | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
an auction, to a lower bidder. Doesn't that drive down prices for | :09:03. | :09:11. | |
students? That is what they want to hear, they want to pay less? That | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
is what they want to do, drive down the headline fees that they have it | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
-- allowed to rise to �9,000 in most cases. Potentially, what they | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
are going to do is make a race to the bottom, to lower quality | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
degrees. I don't know why you keep saying that, they will go to the | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
cheap university that is the best in that bracket. Martin Sorrell, | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
what do you think? I welcome greater private sector... As in | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
most areas of activity, greater private sector involvement. I | :09:43. | :09:45. | |
noticed the Shadow Minister talked about the American experience. My | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
experience of the private sector in America is that it has been pretty | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
vibrant, it has contributed to general levels of improving | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
education and training, at different levels. At the most | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
excellent degree level, at trade schools, that schools on down. I | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
feel that involving the private sector is not a bad thing. Netting | :10:06. | :10:13. | |
fees inflate I think is very important. Actually, I did | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
something for business schools at the turn of the millennium. We | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
looked at business schools. There are too many in the UK. You get | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
people coming in and donating to create a new school, that sucks in | :10:24. | :10:31. | |
more teens, Chancellors, students, you get a lowest common denominator. | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
I want the highest common multiple. One of the things we can sell the | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
Chinese is education and training, it's one of our strengths. Boosting | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
the private sector in education, having a public and private | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
partnership is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. Students | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
investing in their education, being able to pay for it longer term, | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
very much the American model, I think that's a good thing. I don't | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
agree with Martin's General point that there is a role for public- | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
private partnerships. There is a role for the private sector. But if | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
you take what has happened in America, many of the very big | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
business higher education corporations do have very high | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
drop-out rates, very low degree completion rates. They have very | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
aggressive recruitment practices. Some of them have been compared to | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
the pension mis-selling scandals we have had over here in the past. I | :11:25. | :11:27. | |
think we have to be extremely careful that quality is not | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
sacrificed because of the Government's financial incompetence, | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
to drive down fees for students. But the Americans have eight of the | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
top 10 universities in the world, they are the benchmark, Harvard, | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
Yale, these are the best universities in the world. We are | :11:43. | :11:46. | |
not talking about those type of universities expanding go be here. | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
We are talking about universities that offer a far lower standard of | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
education. Otherwise we would not have the statistics from the US. | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
are talking about a leaked White Paper, we haven't seen it yet. Is | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
there going to be some sort of benchmark to, testing, approval | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
process? One would hope so. One would hope that they are regulated | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
more vigorously, more often, in order to prove their worth. It's | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
not clear if that is going to happen. We will get those details, | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
as you say. We've got quite convincing leaks, but when we see | :12:22. | :12:28. | |
it for real we will have you back. Greece, and the trade unions have | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
begun a 48 hour general strike against the proposed drastic public | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
spending cuts, which are being voted on by parliament tomorrow in | :12:36. | :12:41. | |
Athens. If their package of austerity measures is rejected, | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
degraded national loans will have to be withheld. The country could | :12:45. | :12:50. | |
run out of money within two weeks, some say. That would throw the | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
European sovereign debt crisis into a new level of chaos. Jon Sopel is | :12:55. | :13:01. | |
in Athens. The demonstrators, are they going through the motions or | :13:01. | :13:08. | |
do they believe that they can stop these austerity plans? I think the | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
key is how many people turn out. If it is hundreds of thousands of | :13:13. | :13:20. | |
people who turn out and show that the anger is widespread, not just | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
concentrated amongst trade unionists, I think that will have | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
some influence. The other factor to bear in mind is how much trouble | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
there is today. We have seen groups of at -- anarchists, and I think we | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
can see them emerging into the square, wielding sticks, or wearing | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
gas masks and crash helmets. They are clearly intent on causing some | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
trouble here. Now, I think some trouble was always going to be | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
expected and anticipated today. If you look at the opinion polls, it | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
is not just a small minority of people opposed to the austerity | :13:56. | :14:02. | |
measures that are protesting outside Parliament today. It is 70 | :14:02. | :14:09. | |
to 80% of the Greek people. We are broadcasting from Syntagma Square, | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
from the roof of what should be prime real estate. The building is | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
largely derelict and empty because so many businesses have closed | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
during the past year or so of the austerity crisis. If people had | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
expected the parliament to vote for the austerity measures. But when | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
the politicians see the scale of the demonstration you are looking | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
on know, might they changed their minds? Might there be a vote to | :14:33. | :14:40. | |
reject austerity? Let's deal with the maths. For those that don't | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
know the precise numbers in the Greek parliament, there are 300 MPs, | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
155 of them are from the ruling Socialist Party. If they all toe | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
the line, George Papandreou should get it past. If you Socialists say | :14:55. | :15:00. | |
they are going to vote against. There is also a lot of pressure on | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
the centre-right to come in and back it. They will be very aware of | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
the people out there. If you like, Greece has two choices. One of them | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
is awful and the other one is calamitous. I think that is what | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
the Greek politicians have to weigh in mind. Do they go for the awful | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
choice of having another austerity programme, further tax increases, | :15:21. | :15:26. | |
further spending cuts, on a country that is already suffering? Or do | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
they go for the calamitous choice, and many people think it would be, | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
of a default and all of the consequences that might flow from | :15:33. | :15:43. | |
:15:43. | :15:44. | ||
that? Not just, of course, for Thank you, look after yourself. | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
Looks like it will be a hot day in Athens in more ways than one. Don't | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
we meet a reality check? Greece has already had a bail-out, it is now | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
looking for another 100 billion bail-out, it may come back for a | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
third bail-out and the austerity measures, which mean massive | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
unemployment in the public sector and huge privatisation, is probably | :16:06. | :16:12. | |
not going to happen? It is too big to sail again. Look at the knock-on | :16:12. | :16:21. | |
effects. That is different. Would it be Portugal, Ireland, Spain, | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
there are still a fundamental issues to be dealt with. It is too | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
big to fail, it is Northern Rock and Lehman Brothers all over again. | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
Look at the ramifications for the system, it is also interconnected. | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
At the end of the day, to say it is posturing would be unfair because | :16:39. | :16:46. | |
it is much deeper than that, but this is a process... In the case of | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
restructuring and bankrupts, they like companies to go through this | :16:51. | :16:57. | |
as well. Somebody is going to have to pay the bill at the end of the | :16:57. | :17:05. | |
day. You are part of the eurozone, in Ireland. Right? Yes. Has the | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
euro got a future? We are coming back to the UK if the legislation | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
gets... Coming back to Britain? This is not unique to Daily | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
Politics. This isn't the Politics Show! This is Daily Politics. | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
sorry. We're coming back when the legislation is enacted. We said | :17:27. | :17:33. | |
after the last Budget, we would get shareholders' approval, which we | :17:33. | :17:40. | |
haven't got yet, but on the euro, I think it does hang together and it | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
will hang together. Putting myself out on a limb but I think the | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
Greeks will approve it. There is a contingency plan that the EU have | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
already indicated they will put in place, emergency funding, and then | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
they will ask the Greeks to make the decision again. The politicians | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
are stuck between the banks and between the people so they have to | :18:02. | :18:07. | |
go through this process. It is very unpleasant. You have Amicis | :18:07. | :18:14. | |
involved as well. It is very unseemly and difficult -- you have | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
anarchists involved as well. Let me be the first to welcome you back. | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
We missed you. You should never have gone. It was the threat of | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
increased taxation, not the reality. Let's turn our eyes to the high | :18:29. | :18:37. | |
streets. Or is really not well in the retail sector. A David Bailey | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
goes by without another household name announcing a fall in profits | :18:42. | :18:48. | |
and shop closures -- barely a day goes by. It is carnage on the high | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
street! Carnage is the word for it to be | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
honest and it looks like it may just keep getting worse. Gloomy to | :18:56. | :19:06. | |
say the least. Be warned, the list of shops I am going to go through | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
is very, very long. At first, we mourned the disappearance of those | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
charming family owned shops as we bemoaned an attack of the clones, | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
the big generic superstores. But now it looks like closing time for | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
some of the giant retailers. This morning, chocolate purveyors | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
Thorntons announced plans to close up to 180 stores over the next | :19:24. | :19:31. | |
Fashion store Jane Norman shut all it's 90 stores this weekend. It | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
reopened them yesterday but only to the administrators. Although | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
efforts are being sold to sell it. Up to 1,600 jobs are at risk. | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
Liverpool-based TJ Hughes has also said it will call in the | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
administrators. Up to 4,000 jobs are thought to be at risk. | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
On Friday, Habitat, founded in 1964 by Sir Terrence Conran, saw its 30 | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
stores outside London placed into administration. 900 jobs are under | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
threat. Mothercare announced in May it will | :19:57. | :20:04. | |
shut 110 outlets and and focus on out of town super-stores. | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
HMV announced plans to close 60 stores at the beginning of the year | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
due to declining sales. It has also sold the Waterstones book chain for | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
�53 million to prop up its finances. Focus DIY and Oddbins are amongst | :20:19. | :20:26. | |
other stores that have faced buy- I'm joined now by Stephen Robertson | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
from the British Retail Consortium. This is a miserable lift. What do | :20:30. | :20:36. | |
you blame it on? There is no doubt that the consumer has got a lot | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
less in their pockets. We saw it reported last month, 8% less | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
discretionary spend. Where that is really hitting, as your list | :20:45. | :20:51. | |
demonstrates, is the non-food retailers because it is | :20:51. | :20:58. | |
discretionary spending that gets hits first. It is then non-food | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
retailers that we saw serious decline in, we have all got to eat. | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
Those sales are being sold at a poor practice because of the deals | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
and offers that go behind them. good ones will survive, the bad | :21:14. | :21:20. | |
ones will sink and that may be no bad thing? Remember, the retail | :21:20. | :21:30. | |
sector is 10% of all jobs in the UK. That is 3 million jobs. These | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
closures and reductions in trading are not without consequence and | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
right now, it is very important that the private sector is well | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
positioned to be able to mop up some of the jobs that we have seen | :21:41. | :21:48. | |
been shed in the public sector and we need to get from cuts to growth. | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
What do you want the government to do? You want a big hand to be | :21:53. | :21:59. | |
played? No. We do not want handouts. But there is no doubt about it, | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
things like the business rates increase that we saw at Easter, and | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
eye-watering 4.5%, do not help the situation. We do need action. The | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
red tape challenge that the Secretary of State for the | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
Department of business has issued. We need to get conclusions to | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
remove some of the problems that we have in business to do with ticking | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
boxes. In the employment legislation, we have seen growth in | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
the number of people going to industrial tribunals, which wastes | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
time and money in business. Let's see those sorts of things sorted | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
out very quickly. We have seen the appointment of a celebrity to | :22:37. | :22:42. | |
review the high street. Let's get to action, not more reviews. Thank | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
you very much. Back to Andrew. Thank you. | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
With us now is Allister Heath, editor of City AM, and Clare Perry, | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
who is a Conservative MP. Welcome. Allister, let's UN pick this. Let | :22:56. | :23:02. | |
me suggest to you, fundamentally a lot of these shops are closing | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
because of this incredible squeeze on living standards. People's wages | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
are not in any way keeping pace with prices. They just don't want | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
to spend any more. That is the number one reason for this | :23:16. | :23:23. | |
situation. When retail sales stopped growing or shrink, the best | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
performers continue to do well but the weaker shops go bust and that | :23:26. | :23:31. | |
is what is happening. When things are harder, we see a difference | :23:31. | :23:36. | |
between the retailers. Inflation is very high, taxes are going up and | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
in comes a not keeping up. The second reason is the technological | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
revolution, which is linked to the first. That is the longer term | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
trend. When everything is booming, when retail sales are going up | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
because of cheap credit, the fact that internet retailers were going | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
up 20% did not matter for traditional bricks and mortar shops. | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
Now it does. People are shopping mall online so there we could | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
traditional stores are going under and that trend is not going to stop | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
any time soon. So all the closures we see of famous high street names | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
is a direct consequence of the government policy. It is a | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
consequence of unravelling a decade of over leverage. People are | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
perhaps moving from consumption toward saving and investment and in | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
the long term, that makes for a more sustainable economy. Meanwhile | :24:31. | :24:37. | |
the casualties of Sirius. The good shops continue to survive. -- the | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
casualties are serious. John Lewis had its best performance ever. In | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
smaller market towns, if you get the shopping centre right, you have | :24:47. | :24:53. | |
a fantastic mix of independent retailers and it becomes a more | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
sustainable economy. Towns like devisers. So there is nothing to be | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
done. The biggest problem is when there is no link between business | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
rates and the local council can't see so all things that affect the | :25:07. | :25:13. | |
locality, like high street parking, developments, the council has no... | :25:13. | :25:18. | |
What we have to do, I am hoping there will be a consultation next | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
week, is give councils more up lift if they generate... Would that has | :25:23. | :25:31. | |
saved Habitat? We have seen a huge change in shopping patterns and | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
perhaps Habitat is not the strongest there. I suspect a lot of | :25:35. | :25:42. | |
traffic has gone to John Lewis. We need a stronger link between their | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
business community and the local council. Some of this is probably | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
the inevitable shift of market forces but this is still an | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
expensive country in which to be a retailer. We are a rock in the | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
North Sea with 60 million people and leasing property is extremely | :25:59. | :26:08. | |
high. Rents peaked at 2008 and they have come down, except London rents. | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
Prime positions in London, driven by the Olympics. But the recession | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
is an accelerated. That has accelerated the process. | :26:19. | :26:23. | |
Fundamentally it is the rise of e- commerce. It is interesting that | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
the internet is the biggest medium in the UK. It was the second | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
country in the world where we saw the internet surpassed television | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
as the main medium. Denmark was the first country a couple of years ago | :26:36. | :26:44. | |
and the UK was two years ago as well. This is an e-commerce country. | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
Most non-food will be sold over the internet. It will be a mixture. The | :26:47. | :26:55. | |
model will be a mixture... I am the woman who probably does most of the | :26:55. | :27:02. | |
shopping as recreation... Not if you are my husband. By increasing | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
use the internet, that is key. the high street, these jobs are | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
completely the same, the customer experience is terrible, they are | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
dull. Many reporters is trying to make the high Street's more | :27:16. | :27:22. | |
exciting. -- Mary. I don't think it is about the government trying to | :27:22. | :27:28. | |
change these things. The biggest single driver is the fact that this | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
quarter and the previous quarter, retells will continue to fall and | :27:32. | :27:38. | |
that is because of high inflation, increasing taxes and low incomes. | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
It is exactly the same as newspapers. Chopping trees down and | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
distributing newsprint is not a particularly economic the efficient | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
process or environmentally-friendly. If you can download a newspaper, it | :27:52. | :27:58. | |
is much more efficient and cheaper. Newspapers never close because some | :27:58. | :28:06. | |
mug is always ready to buy it. newspapers actually make money. Of | :28:06. | :28:11. | |
course some newspapers are doing badly. But by shifting their models | :28:11. | :28:17. | |
to embrace the new technology, and it is interesting, what is Murdoch | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
in the process of doing? Proving that subscriptions work. Don't we | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
need these retailers to think about their online brand. We have been | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
talking about this for 20 years. Sorry to keep plugging John Lewis... | :28:31. | :28:37. | |
You have done, non-stop! There is a great online presence there. | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
Anyway! We have run out of time. One thing is for sure, the high | :28:42. | :28:47. | |
street will be very different in the next five years. Thanks to our | :28:47. | :28:51. |