Raggy

Just to clarify my opinions are based on contact with BL when we started some years ago and recent contact (within last 6 months).

Were they important to your business success? No. They have not contributed to business success in any way Did you get what you wanted or needed? No. They have nothing to offer. Is the support that they offer useful? Not in my experience. They'll have you wasting precious time barking up a completely irrelevant tree. Was signposting correct? No put me in touch with others who wasted my time Did you outgrown them? Never grew into them Did you know they existed Oh yes, they're good at telling you they're around. Could you have found your needs elsewhere Yes, we did. Quicker and more efficiently Could you have done without them? Yes very much so. I've wasted too many days on them Were they value for money to you? No. In fact I may invoice them for my time.

I don't know what you mean

I'm going out on a limb and guessing Hindu

Yep, Ron's right. Get a number for their head office. Phone and ask for the details of the buyer who is responsible for scarves. Then be prepared to email, phone, meet and present. Also be prepared to be told "No." Have you considered a UK wholesaler? The main concern I would have buying direct from India is stock control. Are you expecting M&S to hold 3 months worth of stock? Unlikely that they would pay for this type of stockholding. Most retail companies require weekly deliveries into their distribution network. Do you know how M&S logistics work? eg. who does their warehousing and distribution? How much stock do they usually hold? It is possible to get in the door but your really need to have your proposal fully worked out. Great product wont do it. Great product + great supply chain network, might.

Absolute nightmare this morning. Got diverted through Tapton back streets and spent so long there I actually turned the engine off and got the laptop out at one point. Eventually turned up to Crosspool where queue was back beyond the Sportsman.

http://www.alibaba.com and http://www.globalsources.com are as good a start as any.

Have to say I've found them fairly useless. Not sure if that was their fault or the govt's. They had nothing to offer but a few very basic courses.

Er, yes I was. I was there as the crush built up. I managed to get out and back onto Leppings Lane at just before 3. I had been at the ground since around 1. At that point there was no reason to go into the ground early. It was a lovely spring day.

That's the point, I wasn't in the ground. I was in the crush outside until a friend managed to pull me out.

I was there at 2.30 for a 3.00 KO. I'm guilty am I?

As someone who was in the crush at the Lepping Lane End can I ask what action the police took to prevent the crush? In my experience they were actively asking people to join the crush in an effort to get us all in the ground.

Phone Mike at Capel Motors (0114 285 4449). He does my car. Great service and very reasonable. Always lends me a car to go to work and back as well. The garage is near the Barrack Tavern.

The large pub companies might've changed the pub industry but they didn't kill it. They were essentially property management companies with a vested interest in keeping pubs going, albeit with smaller margins for pub managers. The smoking ban killed many pubs completely in the space of 6 months. Our culture was already changing. Over the next 10 years the number of smokers would've dwindled anyhow. No need for such draconian legislation. Give pubs the freedom of choice to adopt smoke-free or smoking rooms as they see fit for the wishes of their clientèle. But then draconian legislation on anyone who dares to make a profit is what Brown's government has been successful at. Credit where it's due :-)

As a result the UK is not far off being pub free. Credit where it's due