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Just seen this on the Beeb website. How about this for a counter argument?

Immigrants from the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 contributed more to the UK than they took out in benefits, according to a new study.

• They added £4.96bn more in taxes in the years to 2011 than they took out in public services.
• Immigrants who arrived since 2000 were 43% less likely than British people to receive state benefits or tax credits, and 7% less likely to live in social housing.
• They were better educated, with 62% of those from the first 15 EU countries and 25% from the A10 countries having a degree, compared with 24% in the UK.

Full Story BBC News

Drives a cart and horses through the immigration debate if the figures are correct!

Maybe we are looking at this wrong and need to export a section of British society to live somewhere else where benefits aren't so available. Then let them come back when they've gained some work ethics 

Wow, a powerful sentiment, especially at the moment with the first world war centenaries etc

I'd love to be swayed by your argument, but the economic crisis of the present and it's multitude of issues is also a good counter argument.

I'll confess and say I am genuinely stuck on the fence 

Hi John, has any of that helped? Or are you still looking for some inspiration?

Knowing nothing about physical retail, so forgive my innocence, but isn't supply and demand?

If loads of retail units are left empty, wouldn't that force landlords to lower rents as a necessity? Or are there other issues, maybe retail units been given a change of purpose and turned into residential?

It seems, listening to a lawyer on the radio that there will be a limit of 3 months, and she clarified that it's not actual voluntary overtime, but compulsory extra hours.

The way she explained it, some firms have a requirement for staff to work extra hours, or overitme hours, eg some weekends, or evenings. If an employee is unable to refuse these hours as it is expected as part of their job role, then these hours must be taken into account as well as basic pay when calculating holiday pay.

If that's the case, then that actually sounds fair enough. If you choose to do overtime, which you can opt out of at any time, then this wouldn't be part of the holiday pay calculation.

The issue or problem as she explained is the way a lot of companies pay staff, ie a very low basic, then a sales bonus or shift allowance. In this instance, then employers could be faced with higher future salary bills.

Not sure personally if it should include bonus/shift allowances, as that is an employee choice when they took the job, rather than forced extra hours, ie anti social or weekend.

Certainly an interesting one, anyone else got any thoughts? 

Must admit, am getting sick of my kids being dazzled by the latest tat on TV, so pester power is definitely a firm favourite  

A hardware shop round the corner from us has had his store adorned with xmas lights from the 3rd week of October. Depressing...

Good advice for ecommerce sites, target low hanging fruit and go early.

Anyone started?

Amazing story on the beeb:

"Workers have won a ground breaking case at the Employment Appeal Tribunal to include overtime in holiday pay.

This means all people working voluntary overtime could claim for additional holiday pay. Currently, only basic pay counts when calculating holiday pay.

The details of the ruling, particularly on whether claims can be backdated, have yet to be released.

The ruling could be appealed to the Court of Appeal, meaning a final decision may be years away.

The ruling has widespread implications for all companies paying overtime to their staff."

BBC News - full story

So it's not going to happen overnight, but regardless this eventually could have far reaching consequences for business owners, especially if it gets backdated. 

What do people think?

It's actually a great question Paulo, and could be a good sales generator if you canvassed your clients and published your findings on your home page. eg "on average leaflet distribution increased leads by xyz%"

Do you have any feedback from clients how effective it is?

I know we have some other traditional marketing forum members who have previously stated the importance of leaflets as part of the marketing mix.

Thanks Nick, your insight is very much appreciated 

The Flex 2 arrived today and seems alright (other than Windows 8.1). But a quick download of Classic Shell puts the start button back where it belongs and makes people more productive!

Certainly impressed with first impressions. 

It's that time of year again, and for online retailers this quarter can be the most profitable if they get their marketing message and sales processes right.

The big brands are now focusing on multi channel marketing, realising that we don't just make choices any more by watching the TV adverts. Lets be honest, how many adverts do you actually see now on the telly if you schedule your own viewing or live on catch up TV?

Marketing Week focuses on the new Debenhams "Found it" campaign after disappointing results from last Christmas.

The new campaign will combine all marketing avenues, online, offline, hashtags, TV, based around a notion of finding the perfect gift. Obviously using children and pulling at our financial heart strings

Interesting comments from the Debenhams Marketing Director:

The challenge has been in effectively going back, listening to customers, understanding what they want from us and building a campaign that we believe responds to those needs.

Last year customers in-store were saying, “we don’t think you’re Christmassy enough”, “we don’t think it’s celebratory” and “I want you to get me in the mood for Christmas”. We are investing in our in-store environment and have over 120 ‘Found It moments’.

So what do you think of the TV ad that is kick starting the campaign off?