Open post - Mock, mock, mock, mockity mock.
Now it's Mice Infestations
In an effort to show that America doesn't have a monopoly on the crazy, yesterday's article (28th March 2012) from the Christian Voice website attempts to draw a link between the woes of Tesco, one of the biggest grocery retailers in the UK, and its donation to Gay Pride. From the article:
“It doesn’t get any better for Tesco, who have seen their ‘big price drop’ flop, sales and profits drop, the worst perfromance of the ‘big four’ over Christmas, their share price plummet, their UK operations CEO sacked, their local management in a spin, all since announcing a £30,000 gift to London Gay Pride in November 2011.
...Now it’s an infestation of mice in Tesco’s flagship Tesco Metro in Bedford Street in London’s Covent Garden. The store has been closed by Westminster Environmetal Health Department. ”
Christian Voice UK's home page starts off the way that most conservative webistes do - blaming secular society, the media and homosexual activists for the breakdown of society. Yawn. Seen it before. It's only when you get to the About Us page that things start to get a little bit scary.
“Christian Voice is a prophetic ministry in the ‘forthtelling sense’. We attempt, with God’s grace, to analyse current events in the light of scripture, proclaim God’s word to those in public life and provide the information Christians need in order to pray with the mind of God and witness in these dark days. We are not ‘conservative’. We don’t want to conserve this present darkness. Yes, we may have to ‘Hold the Fort’, but we are looking to take the battle to the Lord’s enemies. We are radical, urging repentance, a better way, God’s way.”
Admission of radical tendencies right there. I didn't think I needed to say any more. And then this caught my eye.
“In an age when oestrogen is overwhelming the church, this is Christianity with testosterone.”
So now we've established this website's bona fides, let's look at this article's quote above with some facts and figures, shall we?
The Big Price Drop Flop - Money website ThisIsMoney has a breakdown of the figures, and it's about what you'd expect. Tesco took a gamble over the Christmas period, cutting prices and offering a lot of one-off promotions, but it didn't pay off. Of course, this has nothing to do with the current economic situation, does it?
Sales and Profits drop - As above. Failure to attract the customers equals failure to get the money in the till. If sales drop, so too do margins and profits.
Worst performance over Christmas - Several news articles - BBC, The Guardian - all corroborate this.
UK CEO sacked - False, from what I can find. He resigned from the business after the disappointing Christmas period. There is some suggestion of a clash between him and the Group Chief Executive, which is denied by the company.
Local Management in a spin - ...what? I've found nothing to back this claim up. One thread on an investment forum that's expressing a sentiment that staff feel alienated from managers, and an article saying the Duty Manager role of the Tesco Express stores will be phased out, but that's it.
And now there's an infestation of mice. In a supermarket. In the middle of a city. Yes, perhaps the Rentokil boxes are in need of replacing. But to suggest that this is some sort of divine plague on one unit of one retailer because of a donation to London Gay Pride is laughable.
The donation of £30,000 to London Gay Pride in question? Profits for the Group for the financial year ending February 2011 were £3.8billion. Yes, billion. With a B. That's more than £10million profit per day.
In percentage terms, that's 0.00078947%. That's miniscule. That £30,000 isn't even a drop in the bucket.
It's a classic right-wing religious nutcase tactic. Make a lot of claims, some true, most false, to drum up the hysteria level. Link it, by any means necessary, to something that they don't like.
And now I've just wasted an hour writing , sourcing and checking a rebuttal, I'm posting this and then I'm going to go and do something sinful. Like wearing a shirt made of two different fabrics. I may even eat some shellfish.
In an effort to show that America doesn't have a monopoly on the crazy, yesterday's article (28th March 2012) from the Christian Voice website attempts to draw a link between the woes of Tesco, one of the biggest grocery retailers in the UK, and its donation to Gay Pride. From the article:
“It doesn’t get any better for Tesco, who have seen their ‘big price drop’ flop, sales and profits drop, the worst perfromance of the ‘big four’ over Christmas, their share price plummet, their UK operations CEO sacked, their local management in a spin, all since announcing a £30,000 gift to London Gay Pride in November 2011.
...Now it’s an infestation of mice in Tesco’s flagship Tesco Metro in Bedford Street in London’s Covent Garden. The store has been closed by Westminster Environmetal Health Department. ”
Christian Voice UK's home page starts off the way that most conservative webistes do - blaming secular society, the media and homosexual activists for the breakdown of society. Yawn. Seen it before. It's only when you get to the About Us page that things start to get a little bit scary.
“Christian Voice is a prophetic ministry in the ‘forthtelling sense’. We attempt, with God’s grace, to analyse current events in the light of scripture, proclaim God’s word to those in public life and provide the information Christians need in order to pray with the mind of God and witness in these dark days. We are not ‘conservative’. We don’t want to conserve this present darkness. Yes, we may have to ‘Hold the Fort’, but we are looking to take the battle to the Lord’s enemies. We are radical, urging repentance, a better way, God’s way.”
Admission of radical tendencies right there. I didn't think I needed to say any more. And then this caught my eye.
“In an age when oestrogen is overwhelming the church, this is Christianity with testosterone.”
So now we've established this website's bona fides, let's look at this article's quote above with some facts and figures, shall we?
The Big Price Drop Flop - Money website ThisIsMoney has a breakdown of the figures, and it's about what you'd expect. Tesco took a gamble over the Christmas period, cutting prices and offering a lot of one-off promotions, but it didn't pay off. Of course, this has nothing to do with the current economic situation, does it?
Sales and Profits drop - As above. Failure to attract the customers equals failure to get the money in the till. If sales drop, so too do margins and profits.
Worst performance over Christmas - Several news articles - BBC, The Guardian - all corroborate this.
UK CEO sacked - False, from what I can find. He resigned from the business after the disappointing Christmas period. There is some suggestion of a clash between him and the Group Chief Executive, which is denied by the company.
Local Management in a spin - ...what? I've found nothing to back this claim up. One thread on an investment forum that's expressing a sentiment that staff feel alienated from managers, and an article saying the Duty Manager role of the Tesco Express stores will be phased out, but that's it.
And now there's an infestation of mice. In a supermarket. In the middle of a city. Yes, perhaps the Rentokil boxes are in need of replacing. But to suggest that this is some sort of divine plague on one unit of one retailer because of a donation to London Gay Pride is laughable.
The donation of £30,000 to London Gay Pride in question? Profits for the Group for the financial year ending February 2011 were £3.8billion. Yes, billion. With a B. That's more than £10million profit per day.
In percentage terms, that's 0.00078947%. That's miniscule. That £30,000 isn't even a drop in the bucket.
It's a classic right-wing religious nutcase tactic. Make a lot of claims, some true, most false, to drum up the hysteria level. Link it, by any means necessary, to something that they don't like.
And now I've just wasted an hour writing , sourcing and checking a rebuttal, I'm posting this and then I'm going to go and do something sinful. Like wearing a shirt made of two different fabrics. I may even eat some shellfish.