Sunday Trading Laws Are They Passed Their Sell By Date?

Slightly off topic this one and first post that will encompass the whole country rather than just Crawley however the back bone for this idea I came upon whilst shopping in Crawley the other day.

Sunday trading laws came into being in 1994 before that and I remember when I was a kid that Sunday's were a day we could not go into town or go to the shop and get anything. The law came in and allowed the shops to open for 6 hours on a Sunday.

Now for me this law is outdated 21 years later and needs reviewing I think the days of people not shopping on a Sunday are long gone and would be more beneficial to people if shops had the same freedom to open for as long on a Sunday as they can on any other day of the week.

We live in a world now were we have everything at our fingertips 24 hours a day and I wanted to purchase something but was 16:50 on a Sunday I knew I could not get to town before closing so I ordered online and had it delivered instead of waiting until the following weekend to go into town and purchase it instead.

I think Crawley is a great example of the death of the high street just take a look at Queens Square and you have to feel that the people in power have neglected to notice the change in consumer behaviour and as such are forcing people to shop online rather than supporting the shops of their town's. 

If I look around Crawley now and the number of big name shops that have left the town for a number of reasons I wonder if some could of survived longer if they had been allowed to trade freely.

I think this law is one that was written before the internet came to be the force it is now and has not been reviewed in over 20 years and is certainly one that could also benefit the UK economy if shops were allowed to trade for longer and truly make the high street a 7 day a week business!

General & Local Elections

So here we are again its Election Time in May for both local MP's and also the Prime Minister!

I had a leaflet come through my door the other day for Chris Oxlade who is hoping to be elected for Labour outlining the things he stands for and it got me thinking. I have no idea what the major parties are standing for in the General Elections and more to the point and in my immediate interests other than Chris Oxlade I have no idea what any of his opponents stand for.

Now I have no particular affinity to any political party but try and make a decision based on what I think is best for me, my family & the town I live in.

In 2010 that was Henry Smith his big thing at the time was to restore a Hospital to Crawley which 5 years later has still not been fully achieved and I know the argument from Henry would be there are more services and staff at Crawley Hospital than before he was elected but thats not what he was selling at the time.

Now it seems to me that both with the General Elections and the Local Elections people seem to be keeping quiet and not wanting to really deliver a manifesto to the VERY people who will elect them in to power. The simple equation in my mind is this at the moment:

General Elections - We have now had Labour & Conservative in power although with a little help from Lib Dems and neither have done a good job but to be honest we are out of options!
Local Elections - I am leaning towards Chris Oxlade simply because I do not know what anyone else stands for and they have not taken the time to tell me!

I think Politics is a mess in general but I always take the view if I do not vote then I am not entitled to an opinion afterwards.

I also feel that people aged 16 should be allowed to vote, they are the voice of a generation that we are not capturing at the moment and will be the very people who at 21 will help to shape the Elections next time around!