An own goal for Stoke-on-Trent City Council

Don't just love it when bureaucrats, like those who work at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, are put in their place?
I've been rubbing my hands with glee this afternoon, and I reckon plenty of people who have been reading the website of my local paper, The Sentinel, will have been too.
Why? I hear you ask. Because in a David and Goliath-style battle, a pub landlord has taken on the town hall and won.
Ian Miller shelled out £400 on a marquee at the Village Tavern pub, in Joiners Square, near Hanley, so his Sunday league football teams had a place to change and dry off after matches.
Nobody complained and all was well.
Then Stoke council's planners ruled the marquee was an "eyesore" and authorised legal action, demanding it be pulled down.
However, they don't take things lying down in Stoke, as Mr Miller was to prove. He appealed and now the Government's planning inspectorate has found AGAINST the council. The outcome? The marquee can stay.
If the city council appeared to be getting to grips with improving life for people in Hanley, Stoke, Burslem, Tunstall, Fenton and Longton, perhaps they could be forgiven for such an over-the-top approach.
But the authority leaves a lot to be desired... Hanley looks like a dump; Stoke doesn't look much better; and there's still no obvious sign that all the talk of regeneration in the Potteries is actually coming to fruition.
Councillors probably wonder why the public are so hostile towards them, but it's meddling in minor matters like the pub marquee that does little to boost the council's PR ratings. With cuts in services looming, and more complaints that the public is being ignored over schools reorganisation, you'd think they'd get their own house in order before picking on the likes of Ian Miller.
Not to mention the benefits of pub regulars playing sport and feeling part of the community.
It appears the lunatics are running the asylum in this city!

Increasing parking charges could kill off Hanley

I got angry the other day.
I was reading the Daily Mail at the time, so it's perhaps no surprise.
And the reason for my fury? A so-called 'think piece' by that condescending toff A N Wilson, who was writing about the sad demise of Wedgwood in Stoke-on-Trent.
It seems he spent part of his childhood living in the city because his dad worked for the former pottery giant when it was a big Staffordshire business. His memories and commentary were fine - until he got to the part of his ramblings in which he described Stoke as a 'dump'; a wasteland with a failing university; a city full of immigrants.
Now that got me mad. For what it's worth, Staffordshire University has had more than its fair share of successes (though perhaps gender-neutral toilets in its nightclub is not among them).
And Stoke-on-Trent might have its problems, but why does the national Press insist on continually describing it as a dump. That got me mad too.
In fact, I resolved never to buy the Mail. Again.
Then I went to Hanley. On the bus. The city centre on a wet Thursday morning...
And after trudging round the shops, I realised I perhaps shouldn't be so angry with A N Wilson. Because it seemed to me that he's right. Stoke-on-Trent is a dump.
I don't know why it hasn't dawned on me before, but Hanley is dismal. Derelict buildings everywhere; vast swathes of land on which factories once stood; the old Woolworths store standing empty.
It was depressing and in desperate need of some serious investment. Fast. Some movers and shakers in the world of regeneration reckon it can become a shopping destination to rival Manchester and the like. Yeah, right.
City councillors and quango bosses with vision and the determination to see plans through to fruition. New jobs. Big high street names. That's what's required.
So imagine my disbelief when I read that Stoke-on-Trent City Council is planning to increase parking charges in the city centre by 45 per cent.
It's part of a drive to bring in extra money to help tackle an overspend which has seen one department go £12m into the red.
This would be all well and good if Hanley was a thriving, bustling, successful city centre. But it's not. It's far from it.
And we're in the midst of a recession (yep, it's official now.) Will people whose credit has been severely crunched be prepared to pay over the odds to park in a depressing city centre with limited retail appeal? I doubt it.
And that can only mean bad news for those businesses already struggling to make ends meet and turn in a decent profit. The council must realise there's a serious risk of more Stoke-on-Trent redundancies if this strategy is pursued.
(There's also the added issue of the Potteries' remaining five towns - Stoke, Fenton, Longton, Burslem and Tunstall - all trying to pull in punters too.)
I just hope somebody on the council sees sense before this proposal is rubber-stamped. Otherwise, those who vote in favour of it could simply be hammering another nail into Hanley's coffin.

Why Elizabeth Hurley should hit the red carpet in Stoke

I'm not a fan of Elizabeth Hurley.
She strikes me as a vain bit of posh totty who has a habit of hanging around with blokes who are more wealthy or talented than she is.
However, a story in my local paper, The Sentinel, in Stoke-on-Trent, might just have changed my opinion of La Hurley.
For it seems she's been recruited by the charity set up by former mobile phone tycoon - and Staffordshire business success story - John Caudwell.
Yep, it would appear that Liz has a softer side than her haughty image might suggest. For she has taken over as Caudwell Children's goodwill ambassador.
The Stoke-based charity offers life-changing help to children in need - namely youngsters who are terminally ill or disabled.
It's had some pretty impressive support from the world of showbiz before and is one of the biggest charities in North Staffordshire.
So I suppose a surprising 'well done' must go to Hurley for pledging her support.
I'll now be anxious to see whether she puts her money where her mouth is and helps bring in some serious cash for the charity.
And I can think of one easy way for her to do it... She just needs to safety-pin herself back into THAT frock and hit the red-carpet outside the King's Hall in Stoke, or the Victoria Hall in Hanley.
Now that'd get the menfolk of the Potteries (armed with their small-change) out in force.

Alton Towers protest is so short-sighted

Call me unsympathetic to trees, but have parish councillors on the patch where Alton Towers operates lost their marbles?
If they haven't, perhaps they took one too many turns on the theme-park's Corkscrew ride before it was dismantled last year.
Because some of these parish representatives are apparently opposing plans for a new rollercoaster to replace the iconic yellow one, which was pulled down before Christmas.
Parish council chariman Tony Moult says the scheme will "encroach" on woodland.
Is he mad?
In an ideal world, the trees would be left alone, and residents living near Alton Towers wouldn't be disturbed by this attraction which provides Staffordshire jobs for thousands of people and brings in millions of pounds to the local economy.
But we're not living in an ideal world. We're living in a pretty dismal one at the moment. Just ask the poor workers from Wedgwood, JCB and countless more big business names who have lost their livelihoods.
There's a credit crunch on. No. Let's be honest. We're in recession, and anything that can safeguard jobs, or create new ones, should be welcomed.
I'm all for close-knit communities and people standing up for what they believe in.
But sometimes - as is the case with these whining councillors - you have to forget parochialism and see the bigger picture.

Feeling sluggish in Stoke-on-Trent

You've got to feel sorry for besieged mum Nicola Bruce, who lives in a council house in Stanfields, near Tunstall in Stoke-on-Trent.
Imagine 50-odd intruders raiding your gaff every night for two years - and the authorities apparently doing little about it.
But these intruders aren't burglars, out on the rob to feed their crack habits. Nor are they tearaway hoodies looking to half-inch a telly to flog as the credit crunch bites. (It' still grim in my neck of the woods - Wedgwood and JCB have announced about 1,000 redundancies this week.)
No, the offenders causing mayhem in Nicola's house are... slugs. Yes. Slugs. And Stoke-on-Trent City Council's partner in these matters, Kier, has done nothing about it, she says.
My local paper, The Sentinel, has reported tonight that Nicola picks up bags of slugs and bleaches her surfaces every morning before letting her kids come downstairs.
It sounds horrific.
Keir reckons the house has received "substantial improvement works" during 2008. Which would be lovely, if it wasn't overrun by slugs who leave their slime everywhere.
Though to be fair to them, they say they'll be back to take a look at the problem again.
Detractors knock Stoke-on-Trent. They reckon the six towns - Fenton, Hanley, Burslem, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall - are dumps and the people are backward-looking.
But I reckon the Potteries could soon boost an admittedly unenviable first... Could this be the city in which the first family in the UK is forced out of their home by slime?

M&S Simply Food branches to bite the dust?

Bad news for posh types in my home town of Newcastle, Staffordshire.
For they'll soon be slumming it in Morrisons with the rest of us when it comes to grocery shopping.
Why? Because Marks and Spencer (or M&S as it's known these days) is pulling the plug on its Simply Food branch in the town.
The shop, on Castle Walk, hasn't been there for very long, and whenever I've walked past (or popped in to treat myself to a very rare snack-sized Melton Mowbray) it's been heaving.
But the economic downturn continues to hit the high street hard.
Newcastle, like other towns including Burslem, Stone, Stafford and Hanley, has just lost its branch of Woolworths. It's still staggering to imagine that 27,000 Woolies workers nationwide have lost their jobs.
Now another name is about to disappear in Newcastle, meaning 19 staff are facing possible redundancy.
I'm getting fed up of all this doom and gloom, to be honest. The sorry demise of Wedgwood at Barlaston, near Stone, is bad enough. Then there's Spode, JCB laying off hundreds of workers, and plenty more companies cutting back or going under.
Who knows where it will end? Towns like Newcastle can't afford to lose these high street giants. There's a handful of independent retailers, but it's the big boys that pull in shoppers with their hard-earned cash.
I hope M&S can be convinced to change its mind and keep the branch open.

Tea-riffic Trentham goes from strength to strength

First came the Trentham Monkey Forest. Then came the Big Wheel at Trentham.
Now the up-and-coming tourist attraction at Trentham Gardens (or the Trentham Estate as it's also known) has another development set to pull in the punters... a £1 million tearoom.
I thought it sounded like a lot of dosh to be splashing on a caff, but perhaps not. Perhaps the tea will be top-of-the-range from Whittard of Chelsea (oh, haven't they gone under?). Perhaps the tea will be served in quality china produced by Wedgwood (oh, haven't they gone into administration?).
Well maybe the cakes will be hand-crafted by Nigella 'God I'm a sexy mother, I know' Lawson? Maybe Gordon Ramsay or some other showbiz type will be doing the dinners.
I'm just being silly, I admit. It's been one of those days. The Lemsip, Strepsils and Marlborough Lights have gone to my head.
But there's a serious point to be made about said-£1 million teashop. Everything that's being done to develop Trentham Gardens as a major visitor attraction is good news. Yes. Good news. In Stoke-on-Trent. (Now there's something you don't hear very much of.)
Because when it comes to North Staffordshire regeneration, Trentham is a major success story. At last, something to celebrate.
So I wish the new tearoom all the very best. And the next time I'm passing, you never know... I might just drop in (after a spot of monkeying around and a turn on the big wheel) to sample one of Nigella's buns.

China crisis in Staffordshire

If further proof were needed that the economic downturn and credit crunch are biting hard, today's news from Stoke-on-Trent about Waterford Wedgwood is surely it.
The world-famous pottery firm, which is based at Barlaston, near Stone, has collapsed into administration.
It's a huge blow to not only the pottery industry and North Staffordshire, but the entire UK economy.
There are some businesses that feel so British (even if most of their wares are produced overseas) that you kind of presume they'll always be there.
But even a firm as famous and at one time as successful as Wedgwood has been hit hard by recent events. Now, according to my local paper, The Sentinel, administrators Deloitte have been called in.
You can only hope that the company can be sold as a going concern. In the world of Staffordshire business news, today's is the grim headline many hoped they'd never see - not least the 1,000-odd people who could be looking for a new job in Stoke.
David Sculley, group chief officer at Waterford Wedgwood, has said: "I'm disappointed, but we remain optimistic that ongoing discussions will result in a buyer being found."
Let's hope his optimism pays off.

Christmas cheer? Not in Stoke-on-Trent

I'm all for surprise gifts at Christmas. They can lift the mood when unwrapping socks, pants and car-cleaning kits gets a trifle tedious.
But I'm not sure I'd want the kind of festive present left by the good old traffic wardens of Stoke-on-Trent on Christmas Eve.
You see, church-goers who had attended mass at Sacred Heart Church in Hanley came outside at the end of the service to discover they'd been ticketed by said wardens, who work for oh-so-popular Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
According to my local paper, The Sentinel, up to 50 worshippers discovered they'd been fined at the end of mass. And I bet they wanted to give the traffic wardens more than a glass of sherry in return for their stunning display of festive cheer.
A mate of mine reckons traffic wardens get a hard time. "It must be a joyless job," he whines on. "Imagine how much grief they must get in the line of duty."
Well if behaviour like this is anything to go by, I'm not surprised. Utter jobsworths, the lot of them.
What happened to Christmas cheer? What happened to good will to all men? What happened to making allowances because it's bloody Christmas?
The parish priest, Father Peter Weatherby, is fuming about the fines and has vowed to fight tooth and nail on behalf of his parishioners.
A city council spokesman had nothing unusual to say... just the usual town hall claptrap which will do nothing to boost the authority's appalling PR rating.
"Penalties are issued when vehicles are parked in violation of the restrictions," said a town hall spin doctor. "On-street parking restrictions apply until 6pm. Motorists who are issued a penalty are welcome to appeal the decision and details of how to appeal are on the back of the ticket."
Great.
I wonder whether the target-setting chief who runs traffic wardens in Hanley, Stoke, Burslem, Longton, Tunstall and Fenton goes by the name of Ebeneezer?

Ricardo Fuller v Andy Griffin: Stoke City's own goal

I hope for his sake that Stoke City striker Ricardo Fuller isn't spotted doing his shopping up Hanley any time soon.
The bargains first revealed in the Boxing Day sales might be tempting, Ric, but I'd keep a low profile if I were you.
For all hell broke loose at Upton Park when Stoke City took on West Ham today. And Fuller was in the thick of it.
Now I know about as much about football as the chiefs in charge at Woolworths apparently know about steering a high street favourite through the choppy waters of a credit crunch.
But I know that Fuller has landed himself in hot water for hitting his team-mate (and captain) Andy Griffin at a time when every point counts for Premier League new boys Stoke City.
And as somebody who knows so little about football, and until recently cared very little about it too, I have to say I'm gutted.
Because some so-called pundits apparently reckon Stoke City shouldn't be in the Premier League. They don't have the skill or the panache of the big boys like Manchester United and Liverpool, these know-it-alls claim.
Well I say balls to that. Stoke getting into football's top-flight is one of the best (and relatively few) positive things ever to happen in the history of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. And the city's people (whether they're football fans or not) need it to continue.
It's good for our name. It should be good for the regeneration of the city. And that has to be good for everyone.
So I'm gutted at Fuller's outburst. You can't deny that passion is to be applauded, but when it spills over into violence, things have gone too far. And besides denying Stoke vital points in their struggle to succeed in the Premier League, I can't help feeling Fuller has committed a PR own goal for the whole city.
He's now facing disciplinary action, a three-match ban, and he'll have his wages docked.
But should he be allowed to pull on a Stoke City shirt again? The fans are raging and many of them say he shouldn't. They're calling on Tony Pulis to get tough and show Fuller the door. They're all kicking off on the website of my local paper, The Sentinel.
With the January transfer window about to open, who knows whether Fuller will be on his way.
And whatever happens, Pulis has got to leave his players in little doubt that this kind of behaviour is bang out of order.
It'll do Stoke City no good in their current campaign, and it'll play straight into the hands of those stuck-up pundits who barely travel past the North Circular and reckon Stoke has no place in football's top league.

Mind over matter for Stoke City

He's the man who can help you overcome the fear of everything from spiders to flying.
Now Jamil Qureshi is a man on a mission close to the hearts of every Stoke City fan.
Yep, it might sound like the Bovril's gone to their heads, but the powers-that-be down the Britannia Stadium have hired Jamil to help the club's fear of (not) flying (high) in the Premier League.
So if the now-legendary Rory Delap is struck by a bout of nerves when it comes to his next long-throw, or Dave Kitson suddenly decides he can't face leaving the dressing room with THAT hair on show, I hope sport psychologist Jamil manages to work his magic.
He's apparently already helped Bolton and has had a call from Nottingham Forest. And if ever there was a recommendation not to be taken lightly, he's said to be a regular on Five's Trisha Goddard show. (Whatever next? Jeremy Kyle?)
Anyway, according to www.whydelilah.co.uk, the online bible for Stoke City fans and readers of my local paper, The Sentinel, he will be on hand at Stoke City training sessions. And he will be helping the Potters deal with all manner of problems, be they professional or personal.
I'm becoming something of a Stoke City fan myself of late. Maybe it's because Stoke are now in the Premier League, which means the biggest clubs in the business parking up for a showdown at The Britannia Stadium.
I've even been to a game. It was all right (the experts tell me it was boring) but I saw Mama Sidibe put one away. That said, the pies were extortionately priced.
But I hope self-styled mind guru Jamil will succeed in working his magic on Stoke City. And despite what some of the whining, whinging, negative 'fans' have to say, I reckon the people of Stoke-on-Trent - whether they're from Burslem, Tunstall, Longton, Fenton, Stoke or Hanley - will too.
Even the Port Vale fans.

Let's make Stoke-on-Trent the Amsterdam of the Midlands

Those bright sparks at Stoke-on-Trent City Council are at it again.
First they want to ban takeaways because they make the people of the Potteries fat.
Now they want to ban "downmarket" sex shops, arcades and bookies' because they're worried that plans for the regeneration of Hanley will be undermined by such tawdry "outlets".
They reckon the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership (NSRP) has some great ideas for the Piccadilly area, and giving visitors the chance to play the slot machines before purchasing a bit of porn and a marital aid sends out the wrong impression.
In principle, I suppose I can see where they're coming from. If Realis Estates' proposed East West Shopping Centre comes off, there's the potential for Hanley to become a city centre worth visiting.
But are the minds at the Civic Centre in Stoke thinking about the people who actually live in the city? (They're the very same taxpayers who pay their wages, after all.)
Because, from a PR point of view, it all just sounds snotty, snobby and out of touch.
People in Stoke-on-Trent like to visit takeaways. They evidently like a flutter on the horses and a fair few probably have Debbie Does Dallas in their DVD collections. If they didn't, such "downmarket" businesses wouldn't exist in the city.
OK, they might be fat, broke and have repetitive strain injury, but it's their personal choice.
And if those taxpayers got the feeling that the city council and its regeneration partners knew what they were doing, perhaps grand declarations like this one would be a bit easier to accept.
No, I've decided we need to innovate and be bold. We need the powers-that-be to come up with a different plan to put Stoke-on-Trent on the map.
So I will be writing to the town hall immediately with my suggestion. (Actually, I'll email because Stoke Royal Mail postal workers are going on strike. My dossier might never get there.)
And my suggestion? We should create a Sex-And-Betting Quarter in the Potteries. We could become the Amsterdam of the Midlands (we've already got the canals).
Now that's the kind of vision needed to transform North Staffordshire's fortunes.
And I reckon the good folk of Burslem, Longton, Hanley, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke might agree.

Takeaway ban? Just call the food police

Well I've heard it all now.
First they ignore the views of the public over issues like secondary school re-organisation in Stoke-on-Trent. (If you don't believe me, have a chat with the families campaigning to save Trentham High School).
Now, they're sticking their noses in to people's lives and trying to tell them what they shouldn't eat.
To whom do I refer? The town hall bureaucrats at Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
Or, as they shall now be known, the food police.
For the council's health overview and scrutiny committee (snappy title, I think you'll agree) wants to limit the number of takeaways allowed within a certain area. They also want to meddle with the type of food these takeaways are offering, and only allow them within a certain distance of schools.
Why? Because we're an obese city, apparently.
Now I'm all for encouraging people to be healthy. But what happened to personal choice? What happened to entrepreneurship and businesses doing business?
If people want to eat takeaways, they should be allowed to eat takeaways. Try telling somebody in Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall or Stoke that their local chippy's licence is being revoked because it's too near a school.
What's going to happen? Black market kebabs? Illegal pies and pasties sold under the counter?
If the ordinary people of Stoke-on-Trent felt their council served them well, and had its own house in order, perhaps this wouldn't be such a bitter pill to swallow.

Royal Mail? Simply second class

Well it looks like the poor old people of Stoke-on-Trent have been shafted again.
But forget failing schools like Sandon Business and Enterprise College in Meir. Forget waste-of-space politicians at Stoke-on-Trent City Council. Forget Third World conditions (queuing for hours on trolleys) at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.
Forget them all.
Because there was more great news today... the poor old peeps with an ST postcode officially get the worst postal service from the Royal Mail in mainland Britain.
Personally speaking, I'd love to say I'm surprised. But the last time I was at home on a weekday, I didn't get my gas bill on the doormat until gone 1pm.
1pm? What kind of postal service is that? Evidently a very late and not very good one. I'm just grateful I'm not a struggling North Staffordshire business. How they're supposed to make any money with a postal service so poor, especially during a credit crunch (I had to mention it somewhere), is beyond me.
And it gets worse. Because not only is the Royal Mail second class and completely useless in North Staffordshire. My local paper, The Sentinel, reckons postal drivers might go out on strike over Christmas. Oh behold the festive joy. Let's all lick a stamp in celebration.
You might be unsurprised to know that the public are not being too sympathetic up to now, while Royal Mail big noises reckon the customer deserves better.
Well at least they've got that bit right... though I'm not sure that shipping a load of delivery staff from Stoke to Wolverhampton will help much on that front.

You'll never be lonely (up Hanley, duck)

I love it when I'm right.
It seems the hand of fate has been at the controls of a computer keyboard somewhere, reading the purple prose of my blog yesterday.
For no sooner had I declared that Stoke-on-Trent is a dump but a wonderful place nevertheless, a bunch of academics from Sheffield University go and prove me right.
Yes folks, the view might not be too pretty, but when you're in the Potteries (be it Burslem, Longton, Hanley, Fenton, Tunstall or Stoke), you'll never be lonely.
Our shops might be shite, our buses late, our job prospects grim, and our Argos full of chavs. We might lack the cultural kudos of rivals like Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham.
But you'll always get a warm welcome in Stoke-on-Trent, where it seems good old community spirit is alive and kicking.
The city is the least lonely in the UK, according to research commissioned by the BBC. At last, Aunty's making good use of all the money I've stumped up for that TV licence.
So if you're Christmas shopping this week, you won't find the kind of retail heaven that those bigger cities have to offer. True.
But when you realise you've spent up, you've got no money for the gas, and the credit crunch is biting AGAIN, don't worry. There'll be no need to sit sobbing alone on a bench outside the Potteries Shopping Centre. There'll be plenty of others sat there too. And they'll probably offer you a tissue.

Has Hanley got the X Factor? Nope!

I've heard some claptrap in my time, but this takes some beating.
Stoke-on-Trent is apparently "a beautiful place".
Who says? Laura White, who got booted off ITV's X Factor amid considerable controversy.
Now I consider myself a Stokie. I love the people and I love the place. There's bags of heritage, owing much to the city's former status as the centre of the pottery industry. Once-thriving companies like Wedgwood, Spode and Royal Doulton are to thank for that.
But they've gone - or what remains of them is going. And "beautiful" the city is not. There are some beautiful buildings, but it's largely a post-industrial ruin; a place where there's been plenty of talk about "Stoke-on-Trent regeneration"; plenty of public consultation; plenty of "vision" and artists' impressions.
But it's a dump. And until organisations like Stoke-on-Trent City Council, the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership and Renew North Staffordshire pull their fingers out, it will remain as such.
However, describing it truthfully probably wouldn't help Laura White flog any records. And the Lancashire lass will be desperate to do that, after being kicked off X Factor amid claims from her fans that it was a fix.
That said, she went down a storm at Liquid nightclub in Hanley last night. She did a turn as part of a tour, and she's now hoping to land a record contract and see her name in lights. (Personally, I preferred that Spanish sizzler, Ruth Lorenzo, but what do I know?)
Despite Laura's rather disingenous description of Stoke-on-Trent as "beautiful" (God knows how she'd describe the Taj Mahal or St Mark's Square), she is actually a rather likeable character.
She did a video interview with The Sentinel, my local newspaper, and she seems down-to-earth and more than pleasant.
I hope she does well... and has a look around Hanley in the daylight. She'd be groping for another word altogether to describe what she saw then.

First Choice? They'd be my last choice

First Choice? More like Last Choice, if one of the main stories in my local paper, The Sentinel, today is anything to go by.
Stoke-on-Trent newlyweds Claire and Michael Kirk tie the knot and book thier honeymoon to the Dominican Republic with the aforementioned tour operator.
They pay £220 extra for premium class seats on their flight to a fortnight of marital bliss. So far, so good.
They get on the plane at Manchester Airport and indeed are shown to thier swanky seats. Yet there's just one problem. They're told they can fly first class, but they can't sit together.
Is it me or is there a credit crunch on? I know I'm obsessed by the economic downturn, but are we Brits not feeling the pinch? Are we not cutting back? Are we not thinking twice before putting our hands in our pockets?
And are some of the biggest names in business not going bump? Are previously gargantuan commercial powerhouses not crashing to the ground as the recession takes hold?
Well it's no bloody wonder, when hard-working punters are treated as shoddily as this.
I loathe bad customer service. In fact, when I'm on the receiving end of it, I go out of my way to (a) complain; (b) complain again - loudly; and (c) never darken the offending business's door with my shopping list and wallet again.
It's about time companies like First Choice got a grip. For too long they've been able to treat customers badly and get away with it, not least because of their sheer size and market dominance.
Claire and Michael Kirk, from Sneyd Green, near Hanley, in Stoke-on-Trent, apparently complained when they got home. But they got nowhere.
It was only when The Sentinel contacted First Choice and its Holiday Hypermarket at Festival Park, in Etruria, that First Choice offered a refund.
It shouldn't take the local press to ensure that common sense prevails and these bungling big boys do the right thing.
And if companies like First Choice want to survive the economic downturn, they'd do well to realise that - as cliched as it sounds - it's the customer who should always come first.

MFI's demise is no loss

I'm not surprised that MFI has gone to the wall.
When I was a kid, it was the store of choice for my mum and dad when it came to kitting out my bedroom.
I know the 80s was the decade that style forgot, but the furniture from MFI (or MI5 as we called it) wasn't pretty. And within months it was usually leaning alarmingly to the left, or to the right. Then the handles would fall off.
Of late, the chain has gone more upmarket, no doubt forced out of the lower end of the game by Ikea, which manages to offer stylish furniture that's built to last - and it looks good too (well, most of it does).
Yet I bet the middle classes have once again found quality lacking at MFI, despite pretty hefty price tags. And if my recent trip to MFI at Basford, near Newcastle, Staffordshire, is anything to go by, the company could have done with brushing up on its customer service too.
So I won't be sorry to see MFI disappear, if that's what happens once the administrators have finished with it.
Of course it's a bitter blow for the staff, just weeks before Christmas. But there's no place for overpriced, poor-quality furniture from a company which has apparently never heard of 'service with a smile'.
On the other hand, I hope there's a future of some kind in store for Woolworths. The company has branches all over my neck of the woods. And there have been some serious bargains to be had when I've been shopping in Newcastle, Hanley, Stone and Stafford.
Woolies is an institution and would be sorely missed. I've been following the story on the website of my local paper, The Sentinel, and people seem pretty sad about the chain's demise.
One bloke from Hanley reckons that other high street 'W', Wilkinsons, is to blame. It is, he reckons, the new Woolworths.
I'm not so sure. And I hope the administrators, Deloitte, can pull something out of the bag.
In the meantime, I'll be popping in for some pick n mix this weekend.

Bungling burglar story's a real steal

You get a better class of plonker in Stoke-on-Trent.
And the evidence for this outrageous claim? Step forward, Mr Barry Munro.
Good old Bazza's a bit of a serial crim. He'd already done time for some unknown crime and when released on licence decided to go on another crime spree.
He popped into a North Staffordshire hairdresser's salon and half-inched some hair straighteners. Not exactly a bumper haul, but he probably thought they'd go for a few quid down the pub.
Anyway, poor old Bazza obviously hadn't read up on the latest forensic science tips, for the dozy burglar went and left a trace of his DNA... and promptly got nicked by Staffordshire Police.
Munro, from Smallthorne Crescent, in Bradwell, Newcastle, is now back behind bars. It's probably a blow to him, but it's cheered me up, and readers of my local paper, The Sentinel, have probably been having a titter too. It's just what the doctor ordered in these dismal, doom-laden times.

Robbie Williams: Grade A success story?

I remember those dark days of school when the teachers would have you believe that failing your GCSEs spelled the end of the world.

Being a bit of a swot, I fell for their scare-stories hook, line and sinker. But looking back (it's incredible how much a recent birthday ending in -0 can make you contemplate your life thus far), I wish I'd rebelled.

I wish I'd fallen in with the wrong crowd, got trolleyed on cider and popped a few pills in an act of adolescent rebellion.

After all, it didn't do popstar Robbie Williams any harm.

For the Stoke-on-Trent born songman has revealed much about his teenage years in the Potteries. Granted multi-millionaire Robert will make you pay £30 to listen in full on his website, but my local paper, The Sentinel, has done its bit for the credit crunch and spilled some of the beans for free on http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/

Yep, the Robster has relived the moment his disappointing GCSE results were revealed to his mum Jan at their home in Tunstall.

Yet just hours later, this young Stokie was jumping for joy after bagging himself a place in Take That.

The rest, as they say, is history. And didn't he do well for himself?

OK, so he appears to have gone a bit bonkers of late, doing BBC radio documentaries about aliens and sporting a haircut to be ashamed of.

But he's rolling in it, living a life of luxury in LA, indulging his passion for all things Port Vale - and all after flunking his exams.

His Robcast, as his confessional podcast has been called, also includes details of him taking LSD at Shelley's nightclub in Longton; trying to summon spirits with a Ouija board at Chuch Lawton Hall; and buying his first pair of Versace jeans in Hanley.

Now all he needs to do is get himself back to Stoke-on-Trent, settle down with a good Potteries woman, and launch his own Fame Academy to put the city on the map.

That way he can really prove to others growing up in his neck of the woods that there is hope after all...