Guernsey news

I’m still feeling a little ill but I guess the worst of it is past, poor Clarissa is still very unwell :(

I thought I’d cover some of the bits and pieces going on in Guernsey at the moment for a refreshing change…

1M ADSL upgrades

Cable & Wireless have announced they will be upgrading everybody’s 512KB to 1MB with no price change any time now.

My take is that they are under pressure to deliver a 1MB service and to also reduce the price of the 512KB. Rather than suffer big income losses with the price reduction of 512KB they first give everybody a “free upgrade” to 1MB and then quietly introduce a “cheaper 512KB service for casual users” a short time later that people will have to actually switch to that most people will never get round to.

C.I. Traders expands

C.I. Traders became Sandpiper CI a couple of years later

Tom Scott’s growing empire seems to be scaring more and more locals in both islands and with it’s acquisition of Safeway in Guernsey the Co-Op has apparently had to take on extra staff to cope with their increase in shoppers. Best Foods are also not part of the group and provide an excellent and often unusual selection. Personally I do most of my shopping there, failing that at Co-Op although I still stroll down to Safeway for their amazing hot roast chickens for £1.60, available in plain, BBQ or garlic varieties. There are other reasons to visit Safeway, after all they have the recycling banks there.

For those not up to speed, C.I. Traders currently controls Le Riche’s, Checkers, Island Shopper, The Wine Warehouse, Stampers, Riche Marques, Technology Store, Channel Publications, Marks & Spencers Jersey, Channel Rentals, Mango Jersey (possible closure due to high rent and poor sales), CI Finance, CIT Estates, Trade Saver, Phoenix Foods, Russell Meats, Warry’s, CI Bakery (Island Gold & Island Bake), Coat to Coast Catering, G Orange (Coca-Cola, Golden Wonder distribution), St. Pierre Park (casino in the works), Dix-Neuf, Green Acres Hotels, La Trelade Country House, Jackson’s Garage (dealer for almost every manufacturer). Lets not forget Admiral Park and the various building work still going on there.

Now, while it’s good to see business flourishing in the Channel Islands most islanders are worrying that it is reaching monopoly status. Besides the usual problems of lack of competition there is also the worry that if things go horribly wrong they’ll be nobody else left to pick up these businesses and we’ll be without a lot of stores. If you are interested head over to their web site and read through some of the shareholder reports to find out what’s going on and the future plans.

In the highly unlikely event this page ever gets to Mr Scott’s hands may I suggest that instead of acquiring any more already successful local brands he considers giving the islanders some things they don’t already have. Three immediate things spring to mind. 1. We don’t have a decent cinema (I keep getting told “plans are under way”) 2. Buying a DVD (If Woolworth’s don’t have it you’re stuffed. Blockbusters selection is tiny and Number 19’s DVD selection is a joke of overpriced unheard-of titles), 3. Fast food consists of Vlad’s lackluster empire.

News sources

If you want more Guernsey news check out This Is Guernsey (local press) or BBC Guernsey (local branch of national TV & radio), Channel TV (local TV) or even Island FM (local radio) if you can put up with the poorly conceived slow-scrolling news.

No RSS as yet, but I’m thinking of making a scraping tool to aggregate the headlines into a RSS feed from my site. Leave a comment if you’re interested.

[)amien