Truly the end of "Boom and Bust"...

... Thanks a bunch Gordon!

Now - a question... Is there (and if there isn't - why the hell not?) a way for the general public to force a General Election? Vote of no confidence perhaps? Mass marching (which worked so well against the war in Iraq)? Guy Fawkes 2.0?! A Facebook group perhaps?! (Ok... That was a joke....)

Hell, if enough of us shout about it, will there be an old school yard style scrap between Brown/Darling and Cameron/Osbourne in the House Of Commons?!

I reckon Eddie Izzard had the right idea... We should "storm the House of Parliament, kick the fucking doors in, get in there and say, 'Look, we’ll pay for the damage.' Have a revolution, just budget for it, yeah? You know…"

Who's with me?!

Our local Currys.digital just got a shiny new lick of paint, new logos, etc. I assume all the others have done recently (or are about to).

I wonder how much that set them back?

(where's the "rolls eyes" icon?)

'Is there (and if there isn't - why the hell not?) a way for the general public to force a General Election? '

In short. No there isn't. The UK constitution (written on the back of a thousand now long-lost fag packets) has a model where the electorate turn all political decisions over to their betters in the House of Commons and then has no involvement in the 'democratic process' for the next few years. The only way an election can be called are:

1: at the end of a Parliamentary term (a maximum of five years);

2: the decision of the then Prime Minister to call an election at a time of his or her choosing;

3: the government losing a vote of 'no confidence' in the House of Commons - although this is more the done thing than any particular piece of statute. This is how the last Labour government fell in 1979;

4: the government losing a finance bill (the Budget) - again, not constitutionally required, but IIRC it has happened at least once in the 19th Century.

The monarch has no ability to independently dissolve Parliament. There is a fig leaf of doing so when the Prime Minister requests it prior to an election.

I do like the Eddie Izzard idea though.

I did a stint at PC Service Call many a year back (what's now called The Tech Guys), the morons paid me full wages for 9 months after I left.

I'm paying it back in monthly installments of £15 (ETA, 30 years).

Topple the fuckers and its good times all round.

£20 for a memory upgrade?

£35 for a health check?

How's about do one.

Why do you think that Gordon Brown is responsible for this? Surely every country is suffering at the moment?

Jessops (the photographic/digital imagery specialist) have been limping along for the last couple of years. I wouldn't take bets on them staying in business much longer.

You believed the words of a politician? Muhahahahaha! You will be believing the Tories next!

My personal vendetta against PC World, Dixons et al. is that I used to work for The Link, and if you know much about what happened with Dixons offloading The Link, you'll understand my general dislike of DSGi. So personally (whilst I wish all of the poor employees of PC World etc the best for the future), I hope DSGi goes under, and fast!

Well, there's always Comet... £109.99 for an extra year's warranty on a £200 PC when I worked there. Anyway, haven't DSG been struggling for months now?

I do feel sorry for the employees of DSG who are going to be unfairly suffering as a result of this, however DSG is just about my least favorite company and would be missed by very few people if it disappeared overnight.

moaning about the price of USB cables need to remember that they have to try and make money somehow, most of the pcs they sell make little to no money (as a rule of thumb, if its below £350 they probably make a LOSS per sale) so economics say they have to make money elsewhere!

Also having staff on the tech desk etc ain;t cheap, all the good staff (people like me who know a bit about computers) leave because they can't afford to pay us, so your left with the "less knowlegable" lot, which is still a damn site better than your going to get when everything goes online, at least you can easily speak to a manager!

and Kudos to Anonymous Coward 10:57 for pointing out to people that we are not the market pcworld are aiming at :P

@AC (Why do you think that Gordon Brown is responsible for this? Surely every country is suffering at the moment?)

Well, mainly 'cos when our country was in the "boom" phase, we borrowed loads of money and didn't save any... Then when the world economy went "bust", we didn't have any savings... And now we're going to have to borrow a load more... However, the bloody Aussies, who had a similar period of growth to us and who actually saved are likely to do better than us in weathering the oncoming storm (the economic one - not The Doctor).

@Trevor - I DO believe that the Tories are correct in their comments about us all suffering tax hikes in 2011+ 'cos of this governments insistence on borrowing heavily and not cutting back on public spending while we're in a slump. I DON'T tend to believe everything one party says though... I can and do read more than just The Sun... ;-)

What I am REALLY looking forward to is our extravagant Olympics opening ceremony in 2012 which will probably consist of Boris, a paper Union Flag and a sparkler (which probably won't light 'cos of the rain)... "Oh... um... yes... right... the... um... the Olympics... Yes... Yes.. the Olympics... Here we are... Right then... They're... Um... open! Hurrah!"

PC world is dead handy when you need something in a real hurry (network card / router / usb to cat5 conector etc) & they will price match if ask (web on my e90 comes in handy sometimes)

it could be worse - sometimes I have to go into maplins - now THERE is a bunch of toosers who need to kneel in front of a wall and be shot (in my town anywhere)

As for dixons - the sooner they go the better

... i think i'm going to have to schedule a IT meeting and discuss how we are going to have to locate new suppliers if DSGi go bust...

our accounts will have to to source other suppliers for our small computing needs... i mean... they will have a fit a the lower cost of parts..

head accountant might have to go without his Merc next year

It's not just that the USB cables are expensive, but they're still selling USB 1.1 hubs. And for three times the price of a Tesco USB 2 hub.

I think Maplins is already a cross between Dixons and Woolworths! They seem to sell everything and be everything to everyone. Kids toys, petrolhead stereos, HiFi and TV accessories, modders mods, DJ stuff, etc. and, interesteringly to me, electronics components (transistors, resistors, etc.). One of the few shops in the world I believe where you can still walk into and buy a valve HT or output transformer. In fact to me this is its only redeeming and original feature - you can get everything else elsewhere. I could really understand it if they also went broke. In Swindon they are next to PC World (and Staples) and have a serious overlap of goods. They pay minimum wage so their non-student staff are what you may expect when it comes to motivation and knowledge.

If you expect minimum wage staff to be enthusiastic and knowledgeable then you will be forever disappointed.

... as an ex-employee it nearly bankrupted them when minimum wage was introduced, and us Saturday staff went from £2.58 to £3.60 an hour overnight. We just subsidised it by buying large amounts of goods with their generous staff discounts and selling them on in the free-ads (pre-eBay days, natch!). But where I was happy to sell little bags full of resistors and capacitors to hobbyists, they've scrapped all that stuff and now want to sell poor quality 'technology' items such as iPod docks, tacky PC cases and pretty much everything with a blue LED in. I'm not even sure who they're competing with now, maybe eBay? All I know is I got out when they offered me a full-time job for £8k.

As for DSGi, don't tar us all with the same brush. I'm a happy Tech Guy and am surrounded by knowledgable colleagues. Sadly I'm not customer facing so you'll never deal with me but there are decent folk in stores too, unfortunately I accept there are also some lacking, shall we say, enthusiasm and raw brain power?

Why are so many so angry and eager to point the finger at specific companies and in particular highlight your personal gripes?

These companies (and I have no bias) couldn't have been established and would not have developed into household brand names without proper prior analysis of the potential markets. I agree, in general, with most of the comments already posted but if you think you have right to vent your selective spleens on individual companies you’re missing the point.

For years I have wandered through previously active trading areas - markets, industrial estates and other development zones funded by local governments and have, observed their demise. Often, rather sadly, they are now just ugly, windswept concrete wildernesses.

There's little merit in criticising a specific company simply because it fails, rather you should be questioning the intent when the business started and why its business plan was deemed to be acceptable. Furthermore you should be questioning why the system actively encourages extreme competition in order to meet unrealistic criteria defined as local rates, rents and taxes. Do not loose sight of the fact that many of the so-called ‘rule-makers’ will have now moved to other (more comfortable) jobs and carry no burden of responsibility for their (possibly unknowingly) short-sighted actions at the time.

I now face the prospect of wnadering through my local town centre to find nothing I need. In consequence I have to travel quite a way to get the things I want. My only option is to order online without the benefit of being able to browse and ask questions. I’m not an avid devotee of Dixons or any of the others but I have enjoyed my position of power in that I could choose where to shop.

One day reality will make itself apparent. Every where I go I see shopping centres decaying, good retailers locations subverted into luxury coffee bars (which have a half-life of a year or two) and a slight reduction in (my) lifestyle. Perhaps I’m just an old fart but developments, growth and, unfortunately, failures are in the hands of the accountants who generally don’t give a damn and will move on to another job soon anyway.

I’m sure, that if someone bent their will and applied a few forensic methods, there would be trails of ‘Do Gooders and Clever People’ that have made a fat profit for and from their clients – who the hell cares if the company fails – ‘I’ll get a new job soon’.

Recession is here. Just look around at the rest of Europe and other parts the world. Let’s introduce some rationality into the system. For those of you that don’t know, or don’t care, be aware that it’s not a happy situation.

A good source of my'n tells me that their credit account has been pulled at ingrammicro and Computer2000!!!....