Hello. This is a ‘test’.

Hello. This is a 'test'.

Hello. This is a 'test'.

Last train from Derby?

So, the Department of Transport has awarded the contract for £1.4bn worth of new trains - for the new Thameslink route - to Siemens of Germany, instead of a rival bid from Bombardier of good ol' Derby. Here in Axminster, a firm who were supplying components to Bombardier consequently missed out too.

Another shameful, short-sighted, bonkers decision.

Value for money for the UK tax payer? What about decreased taxes and increased benefit payments in Derby when Bombardier - our last train manufacturing facility (after the French closed the world famous Metro Cammell works in Birmingham (where my Granddad worked) a few years' ago) - inevitably closes? Yet another skill lost to the UK forever. Then, whether the Government of the day wants it or not, EVERY train ordered for use in the UK will HAVE to be foreign-made. So much for Cameron's new-found love of manufacturing. When is this country going to wake up?

I won't bother setting an alarm clock.

When a Lidl becomes too much

Tesco (rightly) receives a lot of criticism for opening too many stores within a small area. Witness the recent 'Tesco Riots' in Bristol and the outcry when Tesco was allowed to build in Seaton, despite there already being seven Tesco stores within a 21 mile radius.

In East Devon, the retail giant has enjoyed a 50% success rate with recent applications to the Sidmouth-based authority: Honiton (close to Sidmouth) and Ottery (close to Sidmouth) were both rejected. As compensation, Seaton (also close to Sidmouth, but historically a seaside rival) and Axminster (virtually in Dorset, so of little interest to councillors in East Devon) both get lumbered with ridiculously oversized developments.

But little seems to have been said about the meteoric rise of Lidl. In these days of Food Mile consciousness, with much of the German discount chain's non-fresh items being trucked in from mainland Europe, their success is a little hard to fathom... whilst the fact that all of their profits leave the UK is especially frustrating.

A report in this week's Pulman's View from Axminster suggests that Lidl recently tried to buy a chunk of land from Axminster Community College. Call me naive, but I wouldn't have thought building supermarkets on school playing fields was a particularly good PR move. What next - demolishing care homes to make way for convenience stores?

When I first moved to Axminster five-or-so years' ago, there was a single local Lidl - in Chard. And a nice novelty it was too. There was also one, a little further afield, in well-to-do Sidmouth, which I always found a little bizarre. Since then, Crewkerne and Bridport have opened, with Honiton almost ready too. How many Lidl stores does an area need?

But they needn't worry about being rebuffed by education chiefs in Axminster. When the town's Tesco doubles in size I expect the Co-op will become free...

Your caring, sharing Co-op

When The Co-op rebranded as The Co-operative back in 2007, their strong (although not perfect), contemporary, new identity was successfully applied across all divisions of the group, and on a smaller scale, across all types of own-brand food packaging. The latter was especially impressive - each item of packaging would follow the same, strict corporate guidelines, with type and layout remaining consistent throughout, only the colour-ways changing from the value to the mid-range to the high-end products.

McCann Erikson of London were responsible for the rebranding, but gradually their work has been diluted. Firstly, The Co-operative's purchase of Somerfield saw the 'The Co-op' inexplicably ditch their family-look Everyday range, in favour of Somerfield's clumsily-titled Simply Value range. Now, Manchester's GJ Creative have tinkered with the Truly Irresistible range (another naff name), helping to produce a now confused-looking food portfolio.

The Co-operative needed to tweak the flavour, quality and pricing of its food. Not the packaging.

And we just couldn't resist the nostalgic inclusion of the Co-op slogan and logo from the 1970s. Memories!

Focus a little blurred

Sad to see the 'closing down' signs go up at my local DIY store - Focus in Chard. Seemed to spend half of my life in there when I bought my house in Axminster five-or-so years' ago.

So, why has the Focus chain failed?

Off the top of my head, three things spring to mind:

1. A failure to adapt to the changing world of DIY, as B&Q and Homebase have done, by offering a wider and more contemporary range of homeware and soft furnishings.

2. The wishy-washy name. Think the 'Do It All' brand, from their own back catalogue, is ballsier.

3. The colour scheme. That dark blue always looked drab, whether on uniforms or signage. The yellow and blue would've looked much brighter and stronger reversed, with a nice, bright yellow as the main background colour.

Let's hope the staff get fixed up with alternative employment very soon.