Regarding the report that WHSmith will disappear from the high street (March 29), I recently visited my local Smith’s. Inside the store was a rack full of daily newspapers but the FT’s section was empty. Instead, there was a sign saying that copies of the paper were now stored behind the counter and I should ask an assistant for help.
Copies of the FT were on the shelf next to Panini sticker albums and copies of the Racing Post. I asked a staff member why the FT was now restricted access and he explained it was because the FT was their most stolen newspaper, followed by the Racing Post. I can maybe understand the Post being a target but stealing the FT? In Richmond? I’m told that up to six copies of the FT Weekend were stolen each Saturday alone. Is this specific to Richmond-upon-Thames, or is the FT hot property in other parts of the country? Could this be a regional indicator of how hard the middle classes are being squeezed? Is there a secondary market in trading the FT?
I cannot fault the thief’s choice of reading material but with WHSmith’s demise, I wonder where they will get their daily fix of global news and events in future? Given their taste for first-class journalism, perhaps they may finally splash out and buy an annual subscription, given the money they have saved reading previous editions of the paper for free.
Mark Fitzgerald
London KT2, UK
