I wonder if I can take credit for various ideas I put forward when I wrote a regular column called "Shop Talk" for ABPL Group’s former “Asian Business” fortnightly magazine for independent retailers? My column (an entire page, with photos I took) ran for 12 years, starting in the early 1980s and boosting my journalistic experience as a full-time reporter elsewhere.
For example, I urged greengrocers to bag up unsold fruits and vegetables before they deteriorated and sell them at £1 a bag. To my surprise and delight, I noticed many Asian greengrocers doing just. Were they adopting my idea or acting on their own initiative all those years ago?Another idea of mine was for newsagents to wrap up unsold magazines, whatever their cover price, and sell a batch of three at £1. This also happened. Another coincidence?
I also floated the idea in the 1980s that chemists could use their medical knowledge and expertise to deal with many people suffering from coughs, colds and other minor ailments, thus relieving pressure on GPs. This idea, after all these years, is now being considered by the NHS. Another coincidence?
Readers will recall my suggestion in Asian Voice several months ago that entrepreneurs who wanted to get rich quickly should consider starting a taxi service in Southampton to transport vast numbers of people between the city's rail and coach stations and the various cruise ship terminals there. I noticed long queues in Southampton serviced by only a handful of taxis. Did any (or many) business-minded Asians decide to try their luck with my idea?
“So," I hear you say, "what other big ideas do you have now?” Well, when I see folk treading carefully up and down aircraft stairs, I remember how former US president George Bush nearly tripped up on one occasion. This led me to the idea that airlines could provide mobile escalator stairways to wheel up to tarmac-parked aircraft for increased passenger safety.
How to solve the housing shortage? Bricks-and-mortar houses take too long to build. Here's a crazy idea that might just work. I would suggest constructing giant mobile 3D printing-type machines to produce compact bungalows on vacant land, taking just minutes to create each one and producing hundreds of instant houses every day, complete with strategic gaps for linking up utility services.
Regarding police shortages, why not have street-based robot police controlled by remotely situated security staff monitoring CCTV screens and directing instant arrests by computer?
Finally, don't discard Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar after you have finished reading them. Pass the papers to relatives and friends. They will not only appreciate your kind gesture but enable both papers to inform and entertain even more people in the UK and abroad.
Rudy Otter
By email
