A weekly roundup of media news and talking points, sans effort

Thought for the Week

“Consumers do value energy security, they do want their lights on. It’s something all our evidence shows they are prepared to pay for.??? Ed Davey, UK Energy Secretary, dropping the bombshell that Britons would prefer to have a power supply rather than blackouts as the UK steps ever-closer to an entirely avoidable energy crisis that will see bills continue to increase.
 

Weekly High

Asda has begun offering customers 3D printing of pretty much anything. Designed to entice shoppers looking for stocking fillers in the pre-Christmas rush, the supermarket scans an object, person or pet, sends the file to a 3D printing house, where a ceramic model is created. Selfridges is set to follow suit by the end of this month. Read our story on it all here.

  

 

Weekly Low

British Gas announced a 9% price hike this week, adding to consumer woes surrounding the cost of living in Britain. The firm also held a Twitter Q&A session, which resulted in more than 16,000 angry comments during the session, meanwhile Energy Minister Greg Barker didn’t even bother denying the fact that the public was being ‘robbed’, as John Snow put it. Not good for brand image guys, not good at all. 

 

Things that may happen in the next week

America will begin crawling back to business as usual following an eleventh hour agreement to increase the country’s debt window, thus avoiding a national default. Sensible football fans who were unable to fund a trip to Brazil before will buy a ticket to next year’s World Cup, as airfares to South America sore following England securing automatic qualification for the tournament. And the search will continue for a Sky News Arabia team of reporters currently missing in Syria.
 

Just in case you missed it…

Facebook has altered its privacy settings, allowing teenagers to share posts with anyone, raising fears this will leave young people open to online predators. Here’s The Guardian’s report on the news.
 
If there is a success story, blunder, or news event you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!