I was in Dunelm today. By the checkouts, were rack upon rack of those little
pieces of the devil's work known as CFLs. A large sign at each rack
proclaimed "11W CFL 99p each or 5 for 50p".

My immediate thought was that some little work experience erk had got this
wrong, and it should have read "or 5 for 50p *each* ". But no, it was
correct. Buy one for 99p. Buy five for 10p each. Now I can accept that at
99p each, costs of manufacture, shipping, distribution, and everyone making
their cut, might juuuusssst about work, but at 10p, we're talking plain
ludicrous. I'm pretty sure that even if these things are being slave-made in
China by the million, 10p is only going to cover the costs of the materials,
manufacturing process, and maybe first point shipping. Clearly, the whole
thing is a scam to get people buying these hateful devices, as the ban on
some types of incandescent lamps doesn't seem to have done the trick.

Obviously, there is some heavy duty subsidisation going on here somewhere. I
think we can be reasonably certain that Dunelm and their suppliers are not
going to be losing out on their profits, so at what point in the chain is
this subsidy being injected, and by whom ?

The primary suspects would have to be either our government, or some
faceless eurobollox department in Brussels, but where is the money coming
from ? Out of our taxes ?

Arfa