| Greens call for supermarket code |
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The Scottish Green Party has led a debate in the Scottish Parliament calling for a tougher code of practice for large supermarkets.
The party said that the big four supermarket chains were putting local farmers out of business.
Green MSPs want regulations put in place to help encourage local production and aid smaller retailers.
However, the plan has opposition, with the Scottish Retail Consortium disputing the Greens’ assertions.
The Greens said the present code of practice governing supermarkets is not working.
The party said it is wrecking livelihoods and communities across Scotland.
Greens claim that Asda, Tesco, Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s have a stranglehold on milk prices.
Green MSP Shiona Baird said during the debate that high street butchers, bakers and newsagents had been decimated by the grip of the main chains.
Ms Baird, MSP for North East Scotland, told the parliament that supermarkets were dominating farmers and independent retailers, reducing consumer choice.
Once in the supermarket, what is the choice? The choice between 20 different kinds of over-processed breakfast cereals or six different thicknesses of loo paper, she said.
Ms Baird also accused supermarkets of specialising in healthy option ranges which were over-processed, over-priced, high in fat and contained too much salt.
She said the real facts of supermarket trading methods had to be exposed.
When supermarket prices are cut, they are achieved by squeezing producers, suppliers and competitors, she said.
The Greens also claim to have worked out that, while prices of common food items like tomatoes, eggs, potatoes and chicken have risen by 47% over the last 15 years, farmers have only seen a 12% rise in prices for their products.
However, Environment Minister Ross Finnie, who labelled the comments appalling, said a competitive retail sector was important for the economy.
He added: Of course there are problems in some sectors, but to condemn the whole of the supermarket industry out of hand on the basis of one or two rather skimpy pieces of unrelated fact is simply not good enough for a debate in this chamber.
The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) said the Greens have failed to take into account transport and storage costs and the code of practice they refer to only applies to direct suppliers, not farmers.
It said the supermarkets are providing better value for money now than they did in the 1950s.
SRC director Fiona Moriarty said profit margins across the supermarket groups had not increased over the past 10 years.
She added: Households are spending less on food now than ever before.
In the 1950s, households were spending a third of their income on food, whilst now we spend less than a sixth of our income on groceries.
Scottish National Party spokesman Richard Lochhead called on the Scottish Executive to investigate each sector’s share of the profits between the plough and the plate, particularly the farmers’ share of every pound spent in the supermarket, in order to redress the balance.
Tory agriculture spokesman Alex Fergusson attacked the Greens’ description of supermarkets as simplistic, pointing out the greater choice of food and costs at larger stores.
Scottish Socialist MSP Frances Curran conceded that supermarkets provide cheap food for deprived areas.
But she called for more reasonably priced healthy food such as fresh fruit and vegetables provided locally, particularly through public procurement.
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| NI proposals ’ready for publishing’ - Nov 26, 2004 18:23 IST |
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Speaking after meeting Tony Blair at Downing Street, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said officials would provide the parties with written answers to their questions.
However, he added that the two governments could not go on clarifying their proposals forever.
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| GAO to Probe Vote Counting - Nov 26, 2004 18:21 IST |
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The Government Accountability Office said Tuesday it will investigate how the vote was counted in the Nov. 2 election, with an eye toward answering persistent questions about voting irregularities in many states, including Ohio and Florida, which were crucial to President Bush’s win.
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| Air Force Staff Sergeant Walter Campbell is one of Texas’ Hottest Comedians! - Nov 26, 2004 18:5 IST |
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San Antonio, TX (PRWEB) November 25, 2004 -- Walter Campbell, one of San Antonio funniest comedians will be the featured comedian at the Rivercenter Comedy Club downtown San Antonio, TX December 15th thru the 19th with Headliner Rick Gutierrez. Having recently opened for legendary comedian Sinbad at the Lila Cockrell Theater in October, Walter is exploding onto the comedy scene and taking no prisoners.
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| Cyber solutions for Las Vegas Weddings - Nov 26, 2004 18:1 IST |
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Las Vegas brides gained a new wedding planning resource in http://www.WhereBridesGo.com. This online retail storefront is now part of http://www.VegasWeddingGuide.com, a local online bridal information source in Las Vegas, NV.
WhereBridesGo.com features wedding favors, bridal accessories, wedding party gifts and designer wedding sets from national suppliers. In addition to reception and ceremony items, including invitations and programs, WhereBridesGo.com offers 24 hour secure online shopping with click and ship delivery.
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| Back to square one in Kashmir after Aziz visit? - Nov 26, 2004 16:19 IST |
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With a tinge of reality always underlining hope here, nobody in Jammu and Kashmir really expected anything earthshaking from the visit by Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to New Delhi, but the despondency persists anyway.
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| Centre to help trace abducted NHPC officials - Nov 26, 2004 16:17 IST |
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A week after the abduction of two National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) officials, the federal home ministry has assured help to Bihar in tracing them.
The assurance came following a request by union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.
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| Devotees set up website on Shankaracharya - Nov 26, 2004 16:3 IST |
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A new website set up by followers of the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram seeks to disseminate authentic information about the controversy surrounding his arrest in a murder case.
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| Russia, Ukraine ponder next move - Nov 26, 2004 16:1 IST |
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Protests by tens of thousands of people in the wake of the victory of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was backed by Russia in Ukraine’s polls, suggest that Moscow has less of a firm grip on its former republic than it previously believed.
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| Bomb blast kills one in Pakistan - Nov 26, 2004 15:59 IST |
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At least one person was killed and 15 were injured when a bomb went off in a busy market in Pakistan’s Balochistan province Thursday, reports Xinhua.
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| Two policemen, two guerrillas die in Kashmir - Nov 26, 2004 15:53 IST |
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Two policemen died instantly and another was critically wounded when separatist guerrillas fired at a group of police commandos in Jammu and Kashmir Thursday.
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| How to Attract New Business Like George W. Bush Wins Elections - Nov 26, 2004 15:47 IST |
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Small to medium-sized business can learn a lot about attracting new customers by studying how George W Bush won the US Election.
Bush won with an increased majority with a campaign message of building trust to overcome people’s anxiety about the future.
“In a time of stress and crisis, Bush was able to connect with the masses, and this is what businesses should be doing,” said marketing expert and International Business Speaker, Thomas Murrell, CEO of the Australian-based 8M Media and Communications.
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| A bird in the Hand: RMC and BirdLife Do More Than Improve Biodiversity Together - Nov 26, 2004 15:39 IST |
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One is the world’s largest supplier of aggregates with operations in 17 countries; the other is an international charity striving for the conservation of the world’s birds.
Together they form a remarkable partnership which proves that businesses and NGOs can function together in pursuit of a common goal.
Improving biodiversity in quarries:
The alliance was designed to capitalize on shared objectives of sustainable development and biodiversity. Noel Morrin, international environment director at RMC, explains: “RMC wants to continue to grow, but in a sound environmental way.
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| Life In The USA! - Nov 26, 2004 15:36 IST |
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Book Description
The Little House on the Corner is an adorable story about a young girl and her little brother who along with their parents move into their grandparent’s home which is located on the corner of a peaceful dead end street.
The first two years living there were lonely because there were no children their age living in the neighborhood, but soon enough several families moved in at the dead end. The story is about that one-year period when the children along with their parents become not only friends but also Best Friends.
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| Maoists arrested for rally bid - Nov 26, 2004 15:26 IST |
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Hundreds of Maoist activists were arrested Thursday when they tried to hold a rally in the Indian capital without official permission to do so.
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| BJP demands ban on cow slaughter - Nov 26, 2004 15:21 IST |
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday demanded a total ban on cow slaughter in the country and vowed to raise the issue in parliament when it meets Dec 1.
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| Bangladesh plans crackdown on illegal cell phones - Nov 26, 2004 15:15 IST |
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Bangladesh has decided to crack down on the sale of smuggled and stolen cell phones to discourage black marketing, which reportedly constitutes 90 percent of this multimillion-dollar industry here.
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| Rabri to flaunt achievements - on postcard - Nov 26, 2004 15:4 IST |
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A picture of Chief Minister Rabri Devi along with the achievements of her government will soon adorn thousands of postcards to be mailed to people across Bihar.
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| Kalahari USA Welcomes Peter Wadkins as Sales Director for the Americas - Nov 26, 2004 15:4 IST |
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Kalahari, a global provider of real-time price discovery and analytic solutions to banks, brokers and other financial institutions, today announced the appointment of Peter Wadkins as Sales Director, effective immediately. Peter, based in Kalahari’s New York office, is responsible for leading the company’s sales and expanding usage of its real-time trader analytics and data publishing technology – kACE and kACE DataPort – by the financial services community in the Americas region.
This appointment adds force to Kalahari’s success in the Americas market by adding to its ranks a proven sales manager whose extensive financial services expertise will help translate into strong revenue growth for Kalahari.
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| BJP meets again - after Hindutva speech - Nov 26, 2004 14:58 IST |
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) resumed its national executive here Thursday, a day after its president L.K. Advani made it clear at the meet that the BJP was firmly rooted to its Hindutva ethos.
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| Joshi asks reporter to ’Get out!’ - Nov 26, 2004 14:57 IST |
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Get out! screamed a furious Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi after a television reporter held his hand at the start of the second day of the party’s national executive meeting here Thursday.
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