Knowledge is power

IN response to your article “Tesco plans may threaten survival of corner shops” (November 15), it should be noted that, far from being exhausted by their uphill struggle against the multiples, independent retailers are giving the fight everything they’ve got. The one weapon they have lacked until now is strategic information. Up-to-date purchasing trend data would enable them to make smarter decisions, plugging gaps, or adjusting the sizes or brands of products to maximise sales. Suppliers should also be able to harness this information. Consumers would win, too, as more of the products they want would be in stock.

Marcus Vallance
chief executive, SalesOut

TESCO is about to expand its cornershop activities to the detriment of existing retailers. Why does it not take over the small shops/post officers in our villages, which are closing at an alarming rate, subsidising their continued existence where necessary? Put something back into the community for a change.

Don Roberts
Prenton, Merseyside

Oil’s impact on this recession

ONE aspect of David Smith’s analysis not mentioned in comparing the present “recovery” to that of the 1992 recession is that in 1994 peak oil was still beyond the horizon so had no impact on the real economy and an imperceptible impact on market confidence. By 2009, however, we could easily be through peak oil already though market confidence seems strangely bullish nonetheless.

Nick Watts
Bungay, Norfolk

One rule for them...

THE sympathy in the headline “GM drives Germany to despair” (November 8) is misplaced. Before GM pulled the rug, Germany offered a huge subsidy to Opel to gain preferential treatment for its car workers, in defiance of EU competition law. But it was only following the common practice of our EU “partners”, who evade interference via filters such as the “precautionary principle” and “Luxembourg Compromise”. Contrast this with our obeying of all EU rules, such as that now requiring the break-up of the banks.

Francis Warren
Lancaster

Shame of the mega bonuses

LOOKING at the headline in your Business section for November 15, I see a figure of £950m to be paid out in bonuses. Why are the people who are the backbone of Britain being asked to tighten their belts when confronted with these shameful and massive payouts?

James Munro
Aneres, France

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