By Harry Hopkins Profile of a Shoplifter Supermarkets throughout the land are grappling with huge increases in shoplifting. The majority are introducing surveillance hitherto unknown in the history of retail. Cameras everywhere, security guards much in evidence, valuable items ‘tagged’ and notices throughout the stores warning of consequences. For customers this can feel like a
By Harry Hopkins The Milgram and Asch Experiments I wrote some months ago about stupidity and how this very factor was responsible for the behaviour of many people during the covid hysteria. How could some people behave in such a way that a sizeable minority could only look upon with disbelief? Whilst stupidity is certainly
By Harry Hopkins As Paul wrote in Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” When I was a child, I believed in Santa Claus. I have vivid
By Harry Hopkins Recently I had a conversation with a senior local politician about The Light newspaper. I had just delivered a batch of papers to a shopkeeper who displays them on her counter for customers to take. While I was chatting to ‘Janet’, an elderly lady came into the shop. No sooner had she
By Harry Hopkins I arrived at the bus stop ten minutes before the scheduled arrival time. This was the X84 that was the ‘express’ service into Leeds from my home town. It failed to turn up. When it did arrive I had been waiting a full hour and some of the agitated crowd who were
By Harry Hopkins I’m a great believer in climate change. I remember walking across Derwentwater in the Lake District during the severe winter of 1963/64 whilst engaged on my Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. The whole of the region was blanketed with snow and everywhere looked beautiful. What fun it was. We don’t get severe
By Harry Hopkins The major supermarkets in the UK continue in their quest to introduce groundbreaking technology into their stores. Tesco (300,000+ employees) would appear to be spearheading this drive with its latest offering. It is trialling its ‘magic tills’ that enable customers to pick up their groceries, drop them in their basket and by
By Harry Hopkins Mr Micawber and his lessons for today Charles Dickens was an English novelist whom many regard as the greatest writer of the Victorian era. He was tremendously popular during his lifetime and his novels and short stories are still widely read today. One of his best-known characters remains Wilkins Micawber, who appeared in the
By Harry Hopkins Amazon must surely rank as one of the most detestable employers of modern times. If you read any of their recruitment ads you might think they were a decent company, but their ethos is based on fear, cruelty and a complete lack of humanity with regard to their employees. Strange as it
Why I wear my dad’s dog tags By Harry Hopkins Most of us who frequent TWR are fully aware that we are fighting a war to preserve our freedom. The weapon of choice rained against us is fear and it is thrown at us every minute of every day. It stretches from deadly diseases, so