The View from the Spaghetti Factory

My spam filters tend to grab most of the phishing scam emails doing the rounds (especially those purportedly from Paypal, Ebay or the high street banks) so I never see them. The ones I do see, therefore, have to be unusual and/or clever, meaning that they’re probably the ones that people are more likely to fall for.

So, for those of you who are self-employed, watch out for a fake tax rebate from HMRC. I tend to read unsolicited email with a healthy cynicism, so I consider myself pretty phish-proof, but as I read this…

… I almost, almost found myself on the point of dumbly complying. Part of it was the fact that HMRC change some of their procedures from time to time, so my initial surprise (at an email request to claim a tax rebate) was tempered by the assumption that it must be part of their gradual online development.

I soon realised not only that the reply-to address (@hmrc.gov.co.uk) was wrong, but also that my online dealings with Brenda tend to go through my non-Gmail address. And although I can’t claim to know my tax reference number off by heart, I can recognise it when I see it, and there’s no sign of it in that email. Still, it pays to be vigilant!

Farewell to the SuperSaver as train tickets change to simplify travel (Guardian)

The complexity of the train ticketing system is not the problem. It’s occasionally a minor annoyance, but not a real problem. The problem is the illusion of choice, where only a tiny number of cheap tickets are available, and the majority of available tickets are “full fare”. When the train companies reduce the price of standard tickets by about 50%, we’ll talk.

I’ve never yet been the victim of credit card fraud, but I know that the banks tend to treat their guiltless customers like criminals in these cases. On the moneysavingexpert site, forum member “zincoxide” has been plagued with calls from a debt collector after being a victim of card fraud, and his responses are some of the best comedy I’ve read in ages…

Having fun with Debitas

[edit: oh, and post #147, from a call-centre worker, is interesting]

… being, of course, Gaggia Acquisition Syndrome! And thereby hangs a quick public service announcement. The Croydon branch of House of Fraser are doing a special offer on the appropriately named Gaggia Classic, bundling it with an accessory pack for £199, which is an amazing deal. It’s very rare that you see a Classic in the UK for less than £250.

To be honest, I wouldn’t normally have gone for the accessory pack. We really don’t need another six espresso cups and saucers, we could have picked up a milk jug and chocolate shaker anywhere, and I’m sure the info on the Barista Training CD-ROM is pretty standard stuff. However, House of Fraser’s price for the Classic without the accessory pack? £299!

No idea if this offer applies to other branches or John Lewis, but if you’re after a decent coffee machine, I advise you to hurry…

If, like me, you use the train as your main form of transport, especially for cross-country journeys, you probably book your tickets from The Trainline, right? You get that clear interface, showing the prices of all available tickets, easy credit card payments, a choice of delivery methods… awww, let’s all have a lovely cosy Trainline appreciation party RIGHT HERE!

One further question. Do you live in the east of Britain, where the main intercity train operator is GNER? Well, here’s a tip… don’t use The Trainline to book your tickets.

Trying to book tickets to Lincoln, I was annoyed at how The Trainline specified a particular service via Retford, even though I knew there were much faster connections via Newark. I think they must have a fixed allocation of tickets for each service; whatever, I’ve craftily sidestepped this problem in the past by buying direct from the train operator’s website.

On this occasion, I wasn’t able to get the exact ticket I wanted direct from GNER, but something else grabbed my attention… GNER have a range of tickets with an online discount, which you can’t get through The Trainline. For example…

Standard Advance 3
Trainline — £17
GNER — £15.15

1st Advance 1
Trainline — £21.90
GNER — £19.50

For tickets in both directions, for more than one person, that’s quite a difference.

There. You can’t say I don’t do important consumer research for you.

Just a quick public service announcement, in case it’ll save anyone some bother…

I just noticed a comment on the bluesjamtracks Myspace page, where the request “please add me” was accompanied by a hotlinked picture of a comely young maiden.

I always remove spam and non-music advertising from our comments, so I clicked the picture to see what it would link to. It points at the URL http://d0f50129.com/login.php, where there’s a pretty convincing mock-up of the standard Myspace login page, except the “you must be logged-in to do that!” warning (and yes, the misplaced hyphen annoys me every time!) is on a red background, which I haven’t seen on the genuine Myspace site.

In short, a phishing attempt. There’s already quite enough comment spam on Myspace, so don’t fall for it!

Last week ended triumphantly for “Dr” Gillian McKeith “PhD”, but worryingly for those of us with the capacity for rational thought. The latest PLR statistics for public library borrowing in the UK show the Poo Lady’s books in first and third position in the non-fiction chart.

But what a difference a weekend makes!

Ben Goldacre’s hard work, both in the Guardian and on his own Bad Science blog, has finally paid off. After a tip-off by one of Dr Goldacre’s regular readers, the Advertising Standards Authority has now ruled that McKeith’s use of the title “Dr” is “likely to mislead”, breaching two clauses of the Committee of Advertising Practice code: “substantiation” and “truthfulness”.

Of course, she’s still perfectly entitled to claim that a single seed contains enough energy to create a full-size plant, or that chlorophyll can create beneficial oxygen in the gut, and no doubt plenty of people will still buy her books, watch her TV shows and believe every dangerous word she says. But it’s a step in the right direction…

… a lovely tin of whitewash!

Somehow, I just wasn’t surprised by the results of the Competition Commission’s investigation into large supermarket chains and their effects on the grocery market. Where I live in suburban south London, the cushy status enjoyed by these companies is all too apparent. You’ll shop at a supermarket or do without. It’s a terrifying thought, but I can’t think of a single “proper” butcher anywhere within a two-mile radius of my house. Or a baker (Greggs don’t count!) for that matter. There’s a decent fishmonger, and I try to buy from him as often as possible, but he’s a rare gem in a sea of flavourless pap.

Instead of going into more local detail, I’ll just redirect you to the more eloquent work of Felicity Lawrence (writing for the Guardian’s Comment Is Free site)… A grocery understatement.

Greene King boss faces a roasting (BBC News)

Of course, Greene King are perfectly entitled to sell whatever beer they like in their own pubs, but in this case they seem to be acting brazenly in the face of local opinion. That’s nothing unusual… despite the idealistic “traditional ale plus modern forward thinking” message on their company website, Greene King represent one of the biggest threats to proper localised brewing in this country.

Their recent growth spurt is well documented by CAMRA who have expressed concern over the Greene King approach to ruthless expansion. Other large brewers, such as Fullers or Wolverhampton & Dudley, have taken over struggling local breweries recently, but have generally maintained their product ranges, striving to keep the quality and branding consistent. On the other hand, Greene King simply absorb the resources of the smaller companies into their own homogenous operation.

I’m really tempted to go down to Lewes tomorrow for the bonfire celebrations. I’ve been before and it’s a lot of fun, but there’s that extra level of intrigue this year. I don’t exactly need much persuasion to drink Harvey’s beer, so I’m perfectly happy to do it as an act of protest :-)

(By the way, there’s more info on the whole affair at the Lewes Arms blog)

From a feature in yesterday’s Guardian…

And from the BBC today…

I feel quite guilty about Beano’s… I used to go there quite regularly, and although I didn’t buy much (I bought more from 101 Records, another sadly missed independent shop nearby) I was certainly “browsing with intent”. The easy availability of Amazon and Ebay have made it so much more convenient for me (and, clearly, so many others) to do my browsing online.

And while I can’t really blame Tesco directly for the demise of Beano’s, they are a major influence on the overall changes in our towns. Look at that Guardian quote again… three independent retailers in central Croydon, two of which are soon to close. In case you don’t know Croydon, there’s a *lot* of shops; I’m guessing a large proportion of them belong to companies such as Kingfisher, DSGi and Virgin Group… huge companies who want a finger in every retail pie. It might not be Tesco, but it’s the gradual “Tesco-isation” of our towns.

Another thing occurs to me… while our society is becoming more and more attuned to short-term disposability, Ebay proves that some of us are still interested in looking for tasty bargains among secondhand stuff. But when that interest is almost totally monopolised by Ebay, aren’t they almost as bad as Tesco? Rather than diversifying our spending habits (let’s drop in the obligatory Long Tail reference here!) is the internet contributing to the lazy, bland Tesco effect?