villamark

Not really, have read the thread and you have not made a valid point on why shops are failing apart from it is the govermnets fault. HMV have been in trouble for years so have Blockbusters. It is not just the internet but retail parks, giant supermarkets which do their products as loss leaders. There are quite a few retailers that are doing well.

The high street is changing, a lot of people don't need to go there anymore. The internet and retail parks have had a large impact on them. They need to change or die. Improve service, add extra value and be a place where people want to go to. They have to have a more social experience.

No it's the governments fault, it has to to be for some people on this forum! The government has got a lot wrong but I not sure how you can really blame them for HMV and Blockbuster. Was it Labours fault that Woolworths went under?

Brother is a mamber of Gay Hill

I would say around St Pauls square, I know a few people who live around there and really like it.

So on one hand you complain about unfair competition from online retailers, but you want to create an unfair market by some retailers having cheap rent from the government who has compulsory purchased from the landlords. Who is going to pay for all the properties that the government will buy at market value? but then renting out at well below market rent. Tenants are not forced to pay high rents they enter into a lease, they negotiate to get the best deal they can, one of the major mistakes that small retailers makes is that they do not take professional advice when taking on a lease. As the biggest retail landlords tend to be pension funds, would you not be taking billions out of people’s pension pots?

But you have to have a break clause to play hard ball, if you signed a 15 year lease with 5 year upward only rent reviews you are stuck at the rent you agreed at the start of the lease before the economy went south. The only option would be to put the company through to get out of the lease, some landlords have given rent reductions but that is rare. There have been increases at rent review in London and more affluent areas, places like Wolverhampton have seen massive drops in rents. that is why the governments decsion to delay a business rates revaluation for 2 years is a joke.

Risso, lots of companies are tied into leases that are upward only, so they can not be reduced at rent review. If a company takes a new lease now they can get a great dea, landlords have to pay the business rates on empty properties now, so they are desperate to get rid of the liability. In theory this brings the level of rent down. The downside is that it has cut the amount of construction as developers do not want to be stuck with empty units esp industrial.

Solihull and Sutton are nice, but I would go to Moseley, some decent bars and closer to the city centre.

Well a landlord can only put the rent up if there is the evidence to support the increase in rent, for example a new letting on a nearby property. They have to ignore the sucess of the business and any goodwill. Landlords have to have the ability to increase rents as the market improves. I would sugggest that they should get rid of upward only rent reviews, so if the values drop the rent can be reduced at rent review. A major problem is the cost of business rates, the government has done everything to keep them as high as possible.

Moseley, Harborne, St Pauls Square or Solihull ( I know it's not Birmingham) Was in Digbeth on Sunday it is really run down and dirty.

I don't agree with vouchers being handed out for benefits, think there would be a certain element of stigma involved with using them.

The government are really trying to turn people against each other when it comes to social welfare and public sector pay pensions.

I got to the last set before I gave up, it nearly killed me.

Just reading through this topic made me think of my worst gym training mistake. I used to do 3 weight sessions a week as well as 2 rugby sessions. One pre season the club fitness coach sent the front row players a pre season routine before we reported back for the start of pre season fitness. It was cardio with weights , so run 200 metres as fast as you could with 20 shoulder press’s X 5 with no rest until you had completed the whole 5, then there was one using the cross trainer and latt pull downs and the rowing machine and burpees. The last exercise was cycle 500 metres then 20 body weight squats X 5, I misunderstood that a body weight squat was just a squat without any weights. I tried to squat my body weight (120 KG) 20 times. It took me a week for my legs to recover.

What he says on his web site is Quote .. Viewers who were unaware of this full context may, however, have interpreted Cameron’s words and intentions very differently. His mention of gay people and an anti-gay witch-hunt was unexpected and unprompted. Schofield had not mentioned any gay involvement. This led many members of the public to believe the Prime Minister was linking homosexuality with paedophilia - which is probably not what he intended to suggest. Inadvertently and unfortunately, Cameron reinforced the prejudice that associates gay people with child sex abuse. At this stage, based on known evidence, there is no reason why anyone should link the current paedophile scandals with gay people. The police investigations concern paedophilia, not homosexuality. Most child sex abuse involves heterosexual men and young girls; usually within the family. Homosexuality and paedophilia are two very different sexual attractions. Gay people are not paedophiles. You failed to show below which is also on his website. In these circumstances, perhaps the Prime Minister’s words were understandable and reasonable. He was reacting to unsubstantiated internet allegations and what looks like a scatter-gun denunciation of gay top Tories.

Peter Thatchall defended Cameron on 5 live this morning.

Are the RICS accredited, is so contact them.

they were not throwing a game so somebody could win lot's of money, which is why people fix matchs. they did it to give them selfs a better chance of winning the gold medal. It it was 10/1 for them to lose and they bet that they would lose then it would be match fixing.

One is being paid to fix a match and one is doing your best to win a gold medal.

I think you have to look at the qualifying system, where you have a situation that it is better for you to lose a match than win there is going to be problems. Just seems strange to me to throw somebody out because they are doing their best to win a gold medal.

Not the same at all

They gave a shedload of free tickets to schools, think they were hoping more would turn up.

I hate this attitude. Really really hate it. I'm not just picking on you CI, I've seen it a lot. How can they justify a night on the lash? They're human. If you're having a bad time at work do you lock yourself in your house for the whole year because you don't deserve a night out? And as BOF said, the players didn't want a ceremony. And even if they did, what's the big deal? We've been shit but it's just one night out. The only stupid thing abotu it is it should be after the season has actually finished. None of this makes the incident excusable. The players should apologies, which they have, and they should be punished, which they have. I just hate this attitude that footballers aren't allowed to be human beings, especially the attitude that they ARe allowed, but only if the team is performing. It's just strange. Yes they're role models, and yes they should be more careful than you're everday person. But some people seem to think they should go training, go straight home, and stay in their house until it's time for a match or more training. No-one in any profession works like that this! if the company you or i worked for was having a crappy time of it, i don't see why we would be expected not to go out and enjoy ourselves if we were off the next day i think fans get the (mistaken) impression that footballers are all about football, like fans are. that's not the case and, if anything, many of them would rather talk about or worry about anything other than football while they're not training/playing Should professional player's be drinking during the season?, I know the argument is that they are only human but for me they should be tee total at during the season.

Danny Dyer