The Grumpy Old Blog

Grumpy old observances - watch the pennies as the pounds will NOT take care of themselves (warning, this is a long read) All around us, there are companies that appear to do their level best to fool us, if not con us altogether. And we fall for it hook line and sinker. Continually. Reliably. Helping the owners of these businesses to maintain their position on the Sunday Times Rich List. National lottery The odds of winning the National Lottery (Lotto) are 1 in 45 million. However, it used to be 1 in 7.5 million, before the National Lottery added another number to the ticket and increased the ball pool from 49 to 59 numbers. The odds of winning EuroMillions are 1 in 139 million. So, entering Euromillions offer a significantly lower chance than that of winning than the National Lottery. You would have had a 1 in 39 chance of winning the Grand National in 2023 (admittedly not such a big prize as Lotto, but still a far better return for your fiver), and a 1 in 26 chance of...

The supermarkets have been at it now for a long time. Once one of the big ones diversified away from their core grocery business, the rest followed. We seem to have long-since accepted that the big supermarkets sell clothes, white goods, brown goods, magazines, greeting cards, crockery, gifts, in fact you name it, they sell it. Originally, and to a degree still representing a good deal for the consumer - apart from their fake special offers that they always claim when exposed on the TV consumer programmes as an “error” – it would be more acceptable if they didn’t kill the local high streets and suburbs with their total unethical, and at times, dishonest attitude to the small local business. But this can be partially explained by lack of reality and short-sighted councils who just see these metro supermarkets as reliable businesses that can and will stump up premium business rates, month-in, month-out, without question. Despite it being we the residents who pay these...

Maybe I'm just getting older and more miserable, but are quiz shows on television, and in particular on the BBC, - which I might add you and I fund to the tune of almost £200 a year each - becoming more inane and ridiculous? They all seem to follow the same format - a slick-witted presenter presiding over to two teams of "B" stars comprising of the same, old, second-rate stand-up comedians and unemployed soap stars, just because it’s one particular agent who holds sway over the BBC light entertainment department. The format, presenters patter and audience reaction is identical, whichever the show. It's just a great pity the programmes on the BBC aren't as good as their link advertisements between those programmes. Back on commercial stations, banking advertisements have become so solemn, customer-friendly and twee. As the banking institutions take their long-suffering customers even further for a ride on their single journey of increasing dishonesty...

There can be no denying that UK lottery operators Camelot are on to a good thing. Especially the overpaid management. They have been reaping the benefits of the franchise for years now - a franchise that in essence, has been licenced by the government to print money. However, I can't quite make up my mind whether the management of the Lotto are dim, dysfunctional, liars or just plain greedy, although the cynic in me answers the question when I consider the chief Executive of Camelot was complaining last year that the annual bonus on her not inconsiderable 7-figure salary had been reduced (conveniently forgetting her 18 year sojourn to date at Camelot has produced a pension we mere mortals can only dream about. How about the poor soldiers, CEO Dianne Thompson, who come back from the far-east minus a leg and have to legally fight for compensation that doesn't even touch what you earn less than a month? And they don't receive CBE's for their troubles either !). Irres...