GCA CONFERENCE
DISRUPTION NOT DISASTER
D
elegates heard from the writer, broadcaster and film-maker on Tuesday, January 22, covering areas
of economics, globalisation and the future of capitalism. His speech, entitled ‘profit, people & planet’ analysed economic trends and political developments.
Formerly working as Channel
4 News’ Economics Editor, Paul covered all aspects of the UK and global economy, markets, labour
16 DIY WEEK 08 FEBRUARY 2019
and commerce, and previously served in the same role for BBC2 programme, Newsnight. Now free of the constraints
of broadcast journalism, Paul takes a critical look at business and capitalism. He considers the impact and democratising power of technology and how this could affect the existing political and commercial elites. Addressing GCA members, Paul Mason says: “For me, everything is economics. I go to a garden centre and I count the number of cars in
the car park every Sunday because that tells me what’s actually happening in the economy. The economy, for me, is not an abstract thing, it’s a real thing, and I want to offer my view on the British consumer and what is driving them; and how we understand the way they are going.” He continues: “We cannot keep two gardening gloves in the same place, so every trip to this garden centre begins with me and the wife restocking on the basics. Human stupidity.”
Statistics,
Former Channel 4 News economics editor Paul Mason joined the star-studded line-up speakers at the GCA conference last month to discuss how garden centres can capitalise on consumer behaviour in the face of Brexit.
Consumer weekly average spend Using data from the Office for National
Paul Mason
analyses what the consumer, on average, spends every week. “The weekly spend of the average UK household is about £700 and something pounds,” he says. “But this is where I think it becomes interesting,” he continues. “There is a big bit in the ‘non essentials’ category and economists call this ‘discretionary spending’, and you will not be surprised to find that most of what is spent in
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