Change of mind

Actually, I have no problem with any of this. I've been a customer of the bank for longer than I can remember, initially because they had no charges - the first to do that. The business has been pioneering in many other areas - internet banking, ethical issues, fair-trade and lots more.

Things like this are the legacy of the movement's origins, from the days of the founding Rochdale Pioneers (above) all the way up to the hundreds of local societies that ran their own businesses for the benefits of ordinary people (often blue collar and left-leaning) who joined as members rather than corporate fat cats. In 2006, for instance, the business gave back £19m in profits to members.

There's a good Wikipedia article giving all the background if you're interested and go to www.co-operative.coop to find out about the biggest organisation of its kind in the world.

The retail business - currently poised to take over Somerfield - is booming, with sales up 18 per cent to £6.3bn and profits up 35 per cent to £323m. Like-for-like sales were also up a market-beating 4.6 per cent. The £1.5bn investment planned for the coming three years will extend a £200m programme started last October which has refitted and rebranded 400 outlets across the country, with an average revenue increase of 13 per cent per store.

About 700 food shops will be remodelled this year, and all of the 4,000 operations - including groceries, travel shops, pharmacies and funeral homes - will be under one brand by 2010, although the now-familiar logo (below) is being ditched. The scheme also includes staff training, new product lines, and upgraded equipment, and aims to double the group's profits.

The Co-op has 2.5 million members and 85,000 employees. It already has more grocery shops than any other chain, and if the Somerfield deal goes ahead it will claim a market share of the food sector of around 8 per cent. It is the third-largest pharmacy and biggest funeral service.

The movement is also involved in lots of grassroots community activities, of the typically English WI type. There are Co-operative Ladies Guilds (no, don't laugh), choirs, drama groups, walking excursions and so on. It all smacks of WEA and vaguely Fabian tendencies. Members of the Midlands Co-operative Society, like me, used to be able to find out all about these things through a magazine called Change.

The latest edition (now called change, all lower case) arrived this week and my heart sank. It's been rebranded into a bland corporate mag aping trendy lifestyle publications with an insulting stream of advertorials plugging the co-operative bank's services.

A homogenous national readership (with a distinctly female slant) seems to be the target audience and the publication has thrown out all local and regional content. It's a terrible shame, turning something that resembled a parish magazine into another piece of junk mail.

Have you noticed, by the way, that since the takeover by the American chain, the Wal-Mart logo is gradually creeping up in size on all Asda branding. I think it will only be another five years before the group is called Wal-Mart over here.

I have the same foreboding about the co-operative magazine. On the cover there is a subtitle, good with money. I'll bet my next share of the profits that within a year that will be the main title of the magazine. The Rochdale Pioneers would not be amused.