Declining standards

I've just watched BBC Lunchtime news and they had a 'feature' (I can't really refer to it as a report) on the country's financial situation. It began with the shock news that the Dixons group have made a loss. It then moved to Plymouth where it took a straw poll of passers by, asking them whether they thought they would be better or worse off this time next year. Unsurprisingly, most people said 'worse off'.

OK, even ignoring the fact that the poll was taken in a shopping centre in the middle of a weekday, when most employed people are at work, how is this even remotely credible? They're asking random passers by whether they think they'll be better off in a year's time and drawing a conclusion from that. They may as well conduct a straw poll of five year olds, asking them what they want to be when they grow up, and then conclude that there's going to be a surge in the number of astronauts in the next 15-20 years. Secondly, the reason for the article in the first place, the Dixons group. They've made many losses over the last few years, even before the credit crunch... it's nothing to do with the economy, it's more likely to be a combination of their high prices, piss-poor customer service and the fact that more people are buying online these days.

Come on, BBC, I know that the government are shafting you up the arse after getting into bed with Rupert Murdoch, but that's really no reason to start producing tripe worthy of Sky News or the Sun.