The handling of their grouse issue by M&S has been shabby – not what many of us would have expected from a formerly trusted store.
Why do I say formerly trusted? Because I don’t trust them any more. Here’s why.
- M&S have not come clean on what they, and only they, describe as their industry-leading Code of Practice for game meat. No-one’s seen it except…wait for it…that bit of the game meat industry that is…the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. M&S suggested that the RSPB had been involved in it but the RSPB doesn’t know what it says and doesn’t endorse it. Whatever it is! And we customers certainly aren’t allowed to see it. This is shiftiness in the extreme. M&S are so proud of their self-styled industry-leading Code of Practice that it is a complete secret. In the words of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, to another retailer that got its customer care very wrong, ‘Big mistake! Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now.’ Bye, bye M&S!
- M&S have not commented at all on the issue of lead levels in the grouse meat that they intend to sell. They have all the facts that they need: lead is a poison; there is no safe level of lead intake; Red Grouse shot with lead ammunition have high, sometimes very very high lead levels; pregnant women and young children are particularly susceptible to lead. And yet, and yet, M&S don’t comment on these facts. They don’t deny them, so let’s assume that they are simply hoping that they will go away and that M&S can get away with selling meat with high lead levels to their customers. That is a massive dereliction of the maintenance of trust between M&S and its customers. Bye, bye M&S!
- M&S has not commented at all on this matter – that might mean that they are having doubts as to whether they have done the right thing or not. Or it might mean that they are being so arrogant that they feel that they can ignore their customers’ questions and views. No, it doesn’t work that way around – we customers can decide to shun you, you can’t ignore us. Bye, bye M&S!
- Selling grouse cannot possibly be a commercial decision – it’s an eye-catching sideline not a money spinner. Losing my custom alone will wipe out the profits from sales on hundreds of grouse a year – and you have lost my custom M&S until you kick grouse meat into touch. So what is your real agenda M&S? What is going on here? Bye, bye M&S!
There are a few other issues too, but those are damning enough, I think.
M&S may hope that this will all blow over if they put up the shutters. Don’t count on it M&S.
Your first customer for grouse meat will be me and those grouse will be destined for testing in a laboratory and will almost certainly produce a graph a bit like this one for Iceland grouse meat, but this time it will have your name all over it, and you will have walked right into it through choice.
And, in case you haven’t seen it or need a refresher course, here is Chris Packham’s video on why he will ditch M&S if they sell grouse meat in their stores.
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What we need now, Mark, is some expert advice on where to buy underwear !
On a slightly different topic, there’s been a lot of debate on when we should have HH breeding results – RSPB are being rather too careful to say nothing before 12 August – but I’m left wondering just how many breeding attempts are likely to start after the inglorious 12th ?! And anyone involved in this sort of thing knows it isn’t too hard to assemble data on numbers likely to be less than the fingers of two hands – the close to exact, and one can only suspect depressingly miniscule, number of English breeding attempts will already be well known to those who should know already.
Some comments re this on Martin Harper’s blog today.
I see that our chums at the Countryside Alliance, The Moorland Association, National Gamekeepers Association and BASC are again attacking Chris Packham over his video and calling for the BBC to “rein him in” (even they seem now to realise that a direct the call to sack him will backfire). But when did being essentially pressure groups for shooting and field sports, always a minority pursuit even in rural areas, make them “leading countryside organisations”? And why is it OK for them to use BBC personality Alexander Armstrong (& other TV personalities) to promote their interests but wrong for Packham to express his concerns? Why do they want Packham hauled over the coals for what he does outside of his BBC remit when not so long ago they not only avidly used Clarissa Dickson Wright (Armstrong’s cousin, apparently) but the BBC screened uncritical propaganda for field sports starring her (“Clarissa and the Countryman”)? Why are they complaining when Countryfile regularly screens uncritical items about their industry and whose ‘live show’ next month hosts a stand by the NGA. All this plus a house magazine in the form of the Daily Mail and yet they’re still whining? Goodness they must be getting very rattled!
The CA’s CEO seems to be confused about “Tweet of the Day” and the Today programme with this comment on Twitter yesterday:
“Hear @ChrisGPackham talking shite on @BBCr4today Facts are Merlin numbers doubled on grouse moors in last 20 years whilst halved elsewhere”
This was in response to Chris Packham describing the Merlin on yesterday morning’s “Tweet of the Day” (first broadcast in January 2014). A single brief mention along the lines of “in recent years Merlin had been persecuted on grouse moors but they’re doing better now” caused such offence..
Desperate stuff from the CA. Well done Chris.
Goodbye M&S.
Indeed, good by M&S, but perhaps an amendment to the intro to that brilliant graph of lead pellet content; when I first read it I thought it meant Iceland the country!(remember them , good at some game called football, but no grouse, only ptarmigan!!) so perhaps it should clarify Iceland the supermarket in the UK as the source of the toxic laden dinner party treat!