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Life.. is all about survival and we never really know how long each of us have on this planet.
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But our job as a species is to perceiver and
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eliminate anything which may threaten our survival.
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So what is the biggest threat you can think of? Pollution? Disease? Natural disasters?
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Looking around the powers that be seemed to have identified some pretty nasty threats,
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and so we have the war on terror, the war on crime, the war on drugs, the war on cancer...
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but when do we ever think about our basic life supporting needs?
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We usually don't have to because luckily for us we have a system, a system whereby
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the cost of living can be earned. You can gain employment and work for money which of course
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provides access to food, to water, to shelter and it's a good thing we have
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this system because without money you're are as good as dead. But if you are without a job
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no need to worry because yet again we have a system. If you're out of work,
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for whatever reason, simply apply for government aid.
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See all the people with jobs pay taxes and since the government understand that a certain
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level of unemployment is to some degree to be expected, they simply dip in to some of
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that tax money and hand it over to those without jobs through a magical process called redistribution.
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But, it kind of makes you wonder. If this is our big solution, where's the threshold?
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What level of unemployment can we really sustain? And what would happen if all these jobs suddenly
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disappeared.
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The world is facing an urgent challenge and needs to create, listen to this number, needs
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to create six hundred million jobs in order to generate growth and maintain social cohesion.
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Maveric Media Presents:
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Defence giant BAE SYSTEMS has confirmed its cutting almost three thousand jobs at sites
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across the country. Tata Steel which employs nineteen thousand
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people in its UK steel business has announced it is cutting nine hundred jobs around the
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UK Another blow to the region's economy today
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as the energy giant EON has announced that six hundred jobs are to go at a call centre
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in Essox The Phyzer facility in Kent, the world's
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biggest drugs company runs the UKs largest foreign owned research and developments facility.
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It will close entirely with the loss of most of two thousand four hundred jobs.
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Ford has announced to trade union representatives that it will cease manufacturing cars in the
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UK after more than one hundred years. Japans Honda is to cut around eight hundred
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jobs at its plant near Swindon in south-west England.
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And we start tonight with news at the BBC has announced cuts and job losses across the
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region as part of a plan to make twenty percent savings
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Hundreds of police jobs have already been slashed with thousands more under threat
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Kodak the firm that invented the handheld camera and remains one of Americas best known
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brands has filed for bankruptcy protection. Rangers football club one of the most famous
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in Britain has announced its gone into administration. More than three hundred of the eight hundred
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stores that Woolworths use to occupy are still standing empty more than a year and a half
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after it collapsed at the end of 2008. More retailers are expected to go bust over
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the next few months. All one hundred and eighty seven outlets are
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to be shut with the loss of almost fourteen hundred jobs, the administrator said that
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it is apparent we cannot continue to trade. It was once Britain's biggest sports retailer
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but today JJB SPORTS announced plans to go into administration.
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Six and a half thousand jobs are at risk after electrical retailer Comet announced it's
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going into administration. More than four thousand jobs at risk after
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HMV announced that it was going into administration, it follows other chains.
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Its Blockbuster, its become the latest casualty on the high-street this week, a quarter of
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its stores are going to close, more than seven hundred people are going to be made redundant.
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There's serious doubts now about the future of around six thousand jobs around the UK
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after the company asked for its shares to be suspended last Wednesday.
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Former LaSenza employees have come to the decision to occupy the store as a direct consequence
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of the actions of management. A buyer hasn't been found with the group
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currently employs a total of nearly four thousand staff.
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Taiwan's IT giant FOXCONN announced its plans to replace up to half a million human
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workers with robots in the next three years. It's called "scan as you shop" customers
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love it. It's a very simple system. Each load is almost three hundred tons, but
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look closely. There's no one behind the wheel.
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The facility boasts the first robotics system in the UK to deliver supplies such as linen
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and food and an automated robotic pharmacy.
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A Sam Vallely FILM
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Will work for food
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Will work for free
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This isn't the first time unemployment has been a threat to this system.
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20 years ago, UK unemployment accounted for 10% of the population. It marked one of the
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worst recessions in our history with significant waves of rioting. However in ninety three,
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unemployment took a turn, somehow the jobs came back and things got better.
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This growth in employment is just what we needed, however it only lasted till two thousand
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one. Then the rates stagnated, the increased. By two thousand nine we were back to around
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eight percent. But it's reassuring to see the recent trends of unemployment have slowed
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since then. Or at least it would be reassuring, if it weren't for this. This chart shows
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the trends of part time versus full time employment. Notice how the increase in part time employment
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runs almost parallel to the decrease of full time employment. So, where one person may
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have been working say, a 40 hours week contract... now, two people would each be contracted 20
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hour, and funnily enough, this cross over section occurred in two thousand nine. So
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because technically more people are employed, the rates falsely imply a slight slowing down
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of job loss, but in reality, the amount of avalible work is shrinking and the economy
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is only getting worse. Sso what happened last time we were in this
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mess going? let's go back to 93, what changed? Was it an orderly street protest which brought
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back the jobs? Perhaps it was some well thought out policy
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from parliament that changed things. Maybe everyone just stopped being lazy and
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simultaneously arrived at the decision to go out there and get a job. But maybe it has
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something to do with technology. In 93 Microsoft realised their Windows NT
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operating system, Intel developed the first Pentium processor and the National Centre
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for Supercomputing Applications released version 1 of "Mosaic" which was to be world's
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first internet web browser. It is estimated the Internet grew throughout the 90's at
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a rate of 100% per year. Subsequently improving global communication and creating many jobs
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within developed countries. Now to remove any speculation as to whether or not this
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was the reason for the growth in jobs, it should be noted that throughout the nineties,
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our employment trends were almost identical to the U.S. trends and in a 2007 paper, a
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team of Harvard economists found "the economic expansion of the nineties was in fact driven
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by the increased efficiency in the production of IT, including computing, software and telecommunication.
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The birth of the internet had propelled us in to a new age and saved us from further
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degradation. However, while emerging technology is responsible for having created many new
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jobs, technology has been known to replace jobs throughout history.
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When employment stagnated in two thousand one, this wasn't because technology had
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stopped expanding or that there weren't any new ideas, the stagnation is simply because
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technology is ever improving, and the numbers of new jobs were being matched by the number
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of job losses.
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Economists will always deny that technology replaces jobs. It's called the Lump of labour
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fallacy. Essentially it's the notion that technology merely redistributes human workers,
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the jobs which become obsolete or automated simply allow humans to explore new sectors,
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perhaps even invent new industries which have yet to be conceived of. Well, while this idea
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may have been partially true in the past, the argument simply doesn't hold up anymore.
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Computers these days are much smaller, faster and durable, with ever increasing mobility,
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dexterity and artificial intelligence. They also become cheaper as time goes on. Moore's
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law demonstrates how computer processing power doubles approximately every eighteen months.
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So even if we were to create new jobs... why are we pretending we would give these jobs
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to humans?
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So what does the government have to say about all this? Well In June of 2011 not knowing
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what to do with the increasing unemployment, they invested £5B in the welfare to work
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scheme, also known as the work program. This five year program promises to help 2.4 million
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people, find and secure long term employment by paying private companies to do the work
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of actually looking for jobs on behalf of their unemployed clients.
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One year later the department for work and pensions released the figures. Turns out the
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work program was a complete failure... only 3.4% of all those who signed up to the program
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actually found work. 3.4%! Let's just put that into context. What percentage of people
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looking for work, gained employment without the help of the program? 1%? 2%? Well the
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figures from the same period showed 5.5%... That's right; if you are assigned to a program
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you are statistically less likely to find a job. Now, the failure of the work program
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can be largely attributed to the lack of available jobs, but perhaps there's another factor,
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in joining the program, if you find a job, you forfeit your right to minimum wage employment
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and in place you are subsidised with an amount equivalent to job seekers allowance. Making
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the work program essentially a paid slavery scheme, excused under the guise of gaining
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experience. In late 2012, university graduate Cait Reilly disputed the legality of the program
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after being assigned to stacking shelves in Poundland. Initially the appeal was rejected;
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however after further appeal by 2013 three judges had ruled "the regulations, under
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which most of the back-to-work schemes were created, are unlawful"
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Whatever the government's response to this ruling will be, they will not stop in their
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efforts to resolve the threat of unemployment, but let's face it. Unemployment is not a
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threat to this system for the reasons we are usually given by mainstream outlets. Forget
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all the noise about the recession, benefit cheats, immigration or this idea that people
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are simply too lazy to look for a job.
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Atomisation, thus technological unemployment is a mathematical inevitability of a system
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based on perpetual growth. And this pending eventuality is vastly misunderstood by the
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majority. And not just the majority of voters, there isn't a single politician who acknowledges
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let alone understands the implications of technological unemployment. And what's worse,
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when human beings don't understand something, that's where fear comes from. We fear what
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we don't understand, and we fight what we don't understand.
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Ok I have a very concrete question for you because you're getting wrapped up in this
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money and regulators and who is at fault. Technological automation is replacing jobs
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at the moment and it has been forever, it's doubling every year, that's the rate regardless
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of what financial system you have and what regulators you put in their place. So, without
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jobs as a basis for the economy, it's not really a question more of a statement, your
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system is going to be obsolete and in fact your very lucky that you've been working
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this long because you get to get out at the last floor, its going away.
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Yeah but on the other side of the coin I fear for my children. Absolutely, absolutely so
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why are you a fan of the banks then?
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Retail High-street
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In recent times high street shops have been disappearing at staggering rates, taking thousands
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of jobs with them. 1998 - 2009 First Quench Retailing
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1909 - 2009 Woolworths 1973 - 2011 Hawkin's Bazaar
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1999 - 2011 D2 Jeans 1990 - 2011 Officers Club
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1987 - 2011 Focus DIY 1931 - 2012 Blacks
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1990 - 2012 La Senza 2008 - 2012 Best Buy Europe
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1968 - 2012 Clinton Cards 1903 - 2012 Barratts
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1993 - 2012 Gamestation 1933 - 2012 Comet
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1991 - 2012 Optical Express 1971 - 2012 JJB Sports
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1963 - 2012 Oddbins 1992 - 2012 Game Group
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1921 - 2012 HMV 1935 - 2013 Jessops
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1934 - 2013 Ethel Austin 1985 - 2013 Blockbuster and more.
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Now, it's obvious some of these stores have not disappeared entirely. Many have moved
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into warehouse distribution and their stores still exist in the form of websites; you may
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also be wondering why I have included companies like Game in this list, since there are in
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fact GAME stores on the high street today. Well I do so to make a point, see in 2012
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when GAME went bust, the Swedish "Nordic Games" acquiesced the GAME Group, they acquired the
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brand as well as the companies stores and employee contracts. But this is actually a
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different company altogether. GAME wasn't resurrected through strategical advertising,
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market booms or stern administrative decisions. The company we all knew as "GAME" went
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bust... It lost. But GAME still had brand status. If it didn't, these shops fronts
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would read "Nordic Games".
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So why is there so much failure in retail? Are we merely witnessing the natural boom
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and bust cycles of free market economics? Or are we actually witnessing a retail transition?
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Looking back, our high streets were consisted of small family owned businesses, but the
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more companies grows, mergers and acquisitions become inevitable and the smaller stores get
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phased out as they struggle to compete for market share, eventually being replaced by
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conglomerates. In much the same way, a natural evolution
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of retail is occurring again. Only this time the shops are being phased out and the replacement
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is coming in the form of websites. And software applications, which are conveniently accessible
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with smart phones, are subsequently reduce our dependency on outlets such as high-street
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banks, betting shops and travel agencies. You've probably already witnessed technological
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unemployment on some level. For camera and film orientated shops like Jessops, it's
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not so hard to understand. Barely anyone with a modern phone is going to buy a disposable
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camera and pay money to have film developed; and there probably aren't too many people
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with 8-megapixle camera phones who also require digital cameras. Due to advancing technology
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these stores had suddenly become "specialist stores" their customers now having to mainly
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consist of serious photographers.
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Entertainment For music, video and games stores, there are
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five main threats here. One -- Supermarkets, supermarkets are selling
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a lot of the same products and most of the time cheaper.
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Two - On-line Stores like Amazon, they also offer good deals with the added comfort twenty
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four hour browsing and of course, item delivery. Three - Pawn shops like cash converters, they
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get away with selling entertainment at a second hand rate making them even cheaper than the
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supermarkets. Four -- On-line digital downloads and streaming,
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with apps like iTunes and Netflix conveniently accessible through smart TV's, gaming consoles,
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PC, and most phone and tablet devices. But let's not forget about five. Good old fashion
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piracy. With the advancements of fibre optic broadband, you can now download entire movies
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in a matter of minutes. Not that I'm suggesting you do that of course. That would be illegal.
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I'm just saying it's easier and faster than going to the shops, waiting on the post
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man or signing in the Netflix account on the PS3. As an aside, if any part of you is enraged
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at the thought of all these immoral people illegally sharing media. Why not aim some
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of that authentic aggression at the idea of a society which distributes digital entertainment
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in physical form. The wastefulness of this would be equivalent to having a unique physical
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address in order to access each and every website in existence. But perhaps you li the
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plastic cases... and what's wrong with the plastic cases? Well, the case itself is made
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from polypropylene, while the clear film sleeve is made from polyester. By bonding these different
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plastic materials together, it makes them almost impossible to properly recycle on large
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scale, so when the plastic rips, breaks or even just gets old and wasted.. They have
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to be either buried in landfills or incinerated which of course produces toxic chemicals.
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and this is the system we support by the way we choose to purchase entertainment, despite
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having had the possibility of digital alternatives for over a decade.
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Asking people to shop in these stores is asking us to live in an unnatural counter progressive
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way. So perhaps the failure of these stores is
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a good thing. But good or bad, a digital acquisition is upon us and the failures of these stores
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are simply a matter of time. And yes, even if they sell their brand status, they are
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failing. Nordic GAME won't be too far behind either.
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But what about book stores like Waterstones? Well the increase of tablets and e-book readers
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certainly poses a threat. However I can imagine the feel of a book, which people are oh so
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nostalgic about, will be used as a "justification" argument for the continued stifling of a successful
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digital transition. But, even without a digital alternative, Waterstone's in particular
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is facing the same threat of on-line distribution as well as competition from supermarkets.
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As are almost all product based stores - products to do with body care, cosmetics, clothing,
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mobile phones, electronic appliances and even musical equipment. However there is an argument
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to be made that physical stores are different, perhaps better than a website or a supermarket,
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in that they provide "knowledgeable staff". Perhaps you're not sure what product is