Just something I'd been thinking about.

Just before I start I must make this clear that I do not condone any of the phone hacking that has been going on. It's disgraceful and all those involved should be brought to justice to the full extent of the law.

For me this has opened up an issue that's been annoying me for some time and it doesn't just concern newspapers/media but pretty much all consumer goods out there.

Having been involved in retail and mail order businesses for the last 19 years or so I've seen the desire for quality and service undermined by the desire for the cheapest price.

As a recent example, needing a new pair of trainers the other week I went into town to my favourite trainer shop and purchased some new shoes. While there the staff as always were accommodating, friendly and genuinely happy to serve me. this is what make me shop there. They get paid for this, I understand that but I don't mind paying that bit more to have a pleasurable shopping experience. Don't get me wrong I know I can save 10% by shopping online after having tried some on but is that really fair?

It's not of course but people do and if that's their choice then so be it.

I used to work for a photographic company, supplying BAe, police authorities, local businesses and the general public through our high street store. i was there nigh on 10 years and had a great interest and passion in the products and processes we sold and were involved in. I had a wealth of experience to draw, my bosses had between them 80 years of experience and every day was a learning curve.

The problem came with the birth of accessible Internet shopping, everyone with a dial up connection and a pc could trawl the websites and find the 2-3 models they wanted and come try them out.

I consider myself to be an experienced and passionate salesman and have won awards for presentation, conversions and overall service. The Internet forced me to become a box shifter working on much smaller margins just to keep the customer in store and not going home for 'the best price' on the Internet. Everything I stood for didn't matter anymore and I became disillusioned with the whole thing and left to work elsewhere.

Lots of other businesses have suffered by providing high quality service only to be beaten to the sale by Johnny Web master who can operate from his garage at much lower overheads. Once he has the sale he no longer cares. This for me is why the High Street suffers from a lack of quality independent retailers. This is the culture we currently we live in, believe me, I know, I've had 19 years first hand experience.

I'm sort of sidetracking here but trying give some sort of base for my next set of comments.

The New Of The World situation is horrific and all those involved should be heavily punished. I've read comments on Twitter, Facebook and of course various types of online and printed media. I was even affiliated to a Facebook group to boycott the News Of The World without my permission with the assumption that I would put my hand into my pocket and buy the wretched thing.

I'll choose my words carefully here:

Those most animated about the whole situation seem to be the very people The Sun/Mirror?NOTW target with these stories. These are the very people who almost demand to see the sorrow/despair/heartbreak in their paper/magazine as long as they don't know how it was found out. But these people are quick to jump on the bandwagon of hate when something rears its head. you only have to look at the weekly glossy mags to see the 'heart wrenching' stories they crave plastered all over them. Would these people happily pay their money to see pictures of puppies, kittens and people just getting along with themselves. The answer of course is no.

Really what I'm trying to say is yes the NOTW is wrong in doing what it's doing/has done and I'm sure other publications have done the same/similar that we're not aware of. But maybe some people need to sit back and ask themselves have they created this culture in order to be involved with other people lives, be they celebrities or the man on the street. has the reader forced the newspaper's hand in order to make them but their publication over others.

I'm not saying I'm right or wrong but maybe it's worth thinking about.