Ideas

I’ve been having some trouble with a couple of Eastern Europeans. You know the types; a beautiful woman who, it turns out, is actually a spy, and a ruthless maniac who wants to take over the world. Being a secret agent myself (something I normally only mention when checking into hotels or introducing myself to villains) it’s beholden on me to step in if I get wind that there’s a move afoot to take over the world: it usually only takes a couple of hours to sort it out. Of course, there are various tools of the trade that help me in my endeavours. I’ve equipped my car with a few natty gadgets: a satellite navigation unit that doesn’t just tell me where I am and how to get where I’m going, it also falls off its mount as I drive along and, at night, if I leave the mount […]

If you have seen the Tom Hanks Meg Ryan movie, “You’ve Got Mail” you may remember the plot revolves around the email exchanges of the two characters. Hanks runs the large corporate book store – FoxBooks, and Ryan the small independent Shop Around the Corner. In the course of the movie the implication is that the small independent can offer so much more by way of knowledgeable care and product expertise. The suggestion is that it’s a sad indictment of our obsession with ‘value’ (for which read price) that we choose economies of scale over service… “… we’ll just put up a big sign: ‘Coming soon, a FoxBooks superstore and the end of civilization as you know it.’” So does the small book store have anything special to offer its customers – more to the point did Buy the Book in Nottingham have anything to differentiate it positively from its […]

Picture the scene. You walk into the car dealership having made your decision that today is the day you’ll buy your new car. As you walk through the showroom, past all those gleaming metal forms you stop and linger over the model you expect to buy. The visual excitement moves seamlessly into the sensory thrill of the smell of that distinctive ‘new car’ smell. Soon after that touch takes over, as your hands are drawn towards the surfaces and switches (which you happily press even though you know they won’t do anything). The salesman, not wanting to appear too eager, leaves you for a moment before his own excitement takes over and he comes over to join you. You tell him you want the car, reel off a list of options, and start trying to contain yourself so that you might haggle effectively. Unfortunately (but unconsciously), the fact you’ve spent […]