Ringing the changes.

Dear Reader, your Editor starts off today’s article by exposing himself to the possible accusation of committing a criminal offence – that being religious aggravated harassment.
How?
By the use of the word, “Ringing” as this denoted bell ringing and it is known that the founder of the Muslim religion did not like the sound of bells and thus it is possible that a Muslim reader might deem this to be harassment due to the subject matter discussed later.
Today is Halloween. In recent years it has seemed to gather a greater and greater presence in our lives – in England, in which I include the county of Cornwall.
Fairly recently, a week or two ago, I drove a number of miles from my small village to Redruth and then to Helston before returning to my abode via Penzance. The reason? To purchase Tesco’s own brand vindaloo cooking sauce which I use along with tuna, chopped tomatoes, green lentils, chickpeas, borlotti beans – all tinned – together with a tin of other types of mixed beans to make a curry to go with boiled rice. It has a distinctive flavour! But above all, it is what the healthy eating boffins describe as being “good for you”. It has certainly helped reduce the load gravity places upon the bathroom scales whenever the occasion arises that I stand on them!
Why travel so far?
Because the nearest Tesco’s in Penzance does not stock them.
Why?
Because in the area in which I live the demographics are very different from multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-faith Leeds where I used to live! There is therefore less demand for the product!
In my perambulations in these two Tesco stores however I could not help to fail to notice products that I definitely had no interest in whatsoever! These were various Halloween costumes! You see, it seems many modern Britons make a big thing about Halloween to the extent of having themed parties and go to the expense of buying such costumes and dressing up! Whilst this clearly is something aimed at children, the sizes of some of the costumes on sale suggested that teenagers and possibly adults were customers.
Halloween has established itself firmly in the mainstream population. The couple who occupy the flat immediately below me have decorated their living room window on a Halloween theme and will doubtless – as previously – decorate this window for Christmas. Neither see any contradiction in this.
Now there are some British Gazette readers who will be somewhat disturbed at the behaviour of this very nice couple. Your Editor however does not share these concerns. The window below is a perfectly harmless and benignly intentioned window display. No offence has been caused to me. No offence was intended and even if (which I am not) offended, the proper attitude for me to display is “Tough! Suck it up! If they want to decorate their window in this manner then live with it! Do NOT complain!”
Now the attention of some of these readers is more likely to be directed towards retailers such as Tesco for stocking these products in the first place. All Tescos however are doing is stocking a product that their customers demand. This is why I have to drive all the way to Redruth and/or Helston to buy the product I want.
By forcing me to drive the distance I have to, Tescos are not discriminating against me. They do not think ill of me. They do not “have it in for me”! They are merely acting as retailers should – in their own best commercial interest.
Now many such (stocking Vindaloo sauce) decisions are taken a store level or a little above. It will not have been taken at board level. However, Tesco’s board will be looking at the medium to long term demographic changes and making their plans accordingly as to what products and markets they are going to focus on in the future. Tesco’s of course will not be alone. Most other large scale businesses focus on retailing or supplying retailers will be doing so.
This focus (on the demographic changes) taking place is carried out by other firms. Thus it is that I have copied some of the text from an email of a firm subject to the Financial Conduct Authority has sent me. Herewith below the text:
“Two critical trends in the UK economy converge in the firm we’re examining today: Sharia finance and crowd-funding. [Intermediary Deleted for legal reasons] has covered crowd-funding before – but not Sharia.
A rapidly growing population of UK Muslims want to buy goods and services from the companies you’ve invested in. These purchases must fit in with the pervasive influence that religion has on many of their lives. In particular, the dominance of the UK’s strict Deobandi and Wahabi Islamic sects means that we all need to plan for the rise of the Islamic system of Sharia law, as the Muslim population grows.
Sharia is therefore going to play an ever-increasing role in our lives – and smarter investors are already preparing for this fact.
Today, we’re interviewing [Identity Deleted for legal reasons]. He’ll be explaining exactly why his firm is well placed to benefit from the inevitable demographic ascendancy of Islam.”
Now Dear Reader, please understand that the sender of this email is in no way “political” – they are merely looking dispassionately and apolitically at the situation as they see it.
The above firm is not the only one. Many large scale businesses will be looking forward to a radically changed UK population. Makers and distributors of female swimwear will clearly be focused on the change as the market for bikinis and revealing one piece costumes (female) will slump as demand for the “burkini” will soar. Similarly, the demand for pork meat (and it’s associated products) will decline. As too will demand for alcoholic drinks.
This of course will seriously affect many log and well established businesses such as the makers of Scotch whisky not to mention brewers and the makers of cider in county’s such as Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.