Archive for November, 2008
Which markets most disappoint the consumer?
November 17th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It’s National Consumer Week in the UK and the Government has launched a long-awaited survey on which markets are top and bottom when it comes to a fair deal for consumers. The measure used is something called the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI). Overall, the most poorly rated markets were: Gas and electricity, Private pension plans, […]
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (3)
Extension to consumer role
November 17th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It’s taken a long time – the advertisements were placed in mid April – but the Ofcom Consumer Panel, now renamed the Communications Consumer Panel, has a new membership and, to coincide with the announcement of the new members today, there is a new name, a new logo and a new web site. As a […]
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Obama – the first Net president (1)
November 16th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It is widely accepted that Barack Obama has made cleverer and more extensive use of the Internet than any previous politician in any country. This should not stop once he enters the Oval Office. Obama was fighting not just to win an election but to change a nation and ultimately change the world. This requires […]
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Contrasting American and British politics
November 15th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Two and a half months ago, I did a blog posting on the contrast between American and British politics. It attracted more comments that I usually obtain on this blog, so you might like to revisit it. Now that the presidential election is over, this is a good time to make some further comments about […]
Posted in American current affairs, British current affairs | Comments (0)
POCA wait over
November 14th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
A month and a half ago, I blogged about the importance to the future of the Post Office network of the Government decision on the award of a contract to run a successor product to the current Post Office Card Account – the so-called POCA 2. The Government announced its decision yesterday and the contract […]
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Now they tell me …
November 13th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
For almost three years, I have worked part-time from 28-30 Grosvenor Gardens, near Victoria Station in central London, as a member of the Council of Postwatch, the watchdog for postal consumers. Last month, Postwatch closed down and was merged with two other consumer organisations to form Consumer Focus which is located in another building opposite […]
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Our new roof (2)
November 13th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
On Monday, I blogged about the need for us to have a new roof. That morning, three guys came along in the pouring rain to erect all the scaffolding. This is what our place looks like now: What about the workers? Since then … nothing.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (3)
Britain’s new consumer champion
November 12th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Consumer Focus – a merger of Postwatch, Energywatch and the National Consumer Council – only came into operation on 1 October and still has a lot of staff to recruit, but it is already winning respect and making an impact. As a member of the Board, this is very pleasing to me. Yesterday I was […]
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My visits to the White House
November 12th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Seeing pictures of President-Elect Barack Obama visiting the White House this week took me back to my own visits to this most iconic of political buildings. I believe that, since 9/11, the general public has not been ableto visit the White House but, before then, I had done so on three occasions. The first time […]
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24% and 75%
November 12th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This week, George Bush finally broke all records with the most unfavourable ratings ever at 24% – lower than either Truman or Nixon. At the same time, Barack Obama recorded the most favourable ratings ever for an incoming president at 75%. Of course, these two phenomena are not unrelated. No doubt, Obama’s ratings will fall […]
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