Christmas is coming for the high street

With reports of staff abuse and higher prices, online shopping isn't all it's cracked up to be.

'There are some genuinely brilliant alternatives to online shopping, where you might even
0) ________some actual human contact points.

The death knell has been ringing for the high street for a surprisingly long time: every
November and December ushers in fresh 1 __________ of lamentation about how our
habit of staying online and ordering Booker prize winners in our onesies has killed off the
independent retailer. Undoubtedly, these are legitimate concerns. We know that the first
businesses to go during the recession were small, niche, local or all of the above. We
know that these types of businesses have to charge higher prices 2 ________ necessity,
and that most of us jumped ship when faced with stubbornly low wages and high living
costs.

Most of us even feel at least slightly guilty when we see the effects of this behaviour, 3.
__________ our eyes with twinges of regret over a town centre now dominated by charity
shops and gambling outlets. But most of us also recognise that a fair share of the guilt
should lie with those online retailers, the Asoses, Amazons and Expedias of this world,
who have taken advantage of our high streets' 4. _________ terminal illness and made
one hell of a buck out of it. And it wasn't just the small, independent business that suffered,
if anything drew attention to the human cost of previous industry behemoths going into
administration after their customers migrated to online outlets, it was the HMV Twitter hack
back in January: "We're tweeting live from HR where we're all being fired! Exciting!! #hmvX
ck FactorFiring". Indeed, any customer service job has been 5. _________ for a long time
now as drop-off points, presumably after all the remaining underground staff have been 6.
__________.

So how exactly do you even begin an ethical Christmas shop? Yes, you should resist the
urge to do it by opening the lid of your laptop, and instead pull on some sensible shoes
and prepare to battle the crowds. Yes, you should support your local businesses. And yes,
you should keep 7._________ down the high street despite the fact that you might well
save money if you stayed at home and clicked. Oh, wait.

It turns out that you haven't been saving as much money as the internet had led you to
believe. The latest Financial Times examination of Google Shopping previously known
as Froogle, possibly because it did actually help you save money in its original form
suggests that its mechanism essentially pushes up prices for consumers. This is because
Google now allows merchants to bid for the chance to appear higher in search listings. As
a retailer, once you've paid for that privilege, you may as well 8._________ the costs by
charging higher rates for your product. And that's exactly what the FT says has happened:
based on their analysis, shoppers who buy from the Google Shopping listings pay more
than they need to about 85% of the time.

If you watched the BBC Panorama expos on Amazon this week, you'll know why you
should avoid Amazon: 11 hours spent going round depressing halogen warehouses didn't
look much fun to me, and clearly didn't feel like it to the undercover journalist employed as
a picker for the international supplier. There are some genuinely brilliant and accessible
alternatives to online shopping, where you might even gain some actual human contact
points by trading literary tastes with an assistant and 9. _________for a title, rather than
being directed to the latest bestsellers by a website's algorithm. The Alliance of Radical
Booksellers, for instance, is a collective comprising some of the most ethical stores in the
country. Elsewhere, try to buy your Christmas dinner ingredients from greengrocers nearby
that deal in seasonal food as much as possible. Avoid the 10._________ fashion trend for
real fur. Stay out of Topshop and its Arcadia cousins, however tempting their wares may
be: remember the creative taxpaying of its billionaire CEO, Sir Philip Green. Save up for
next year's big spend with a credit union. And pick up a copy of the Big Issue on your way
home.

11. ________ are that at least a small proportion of your yuletide celebrations will be
unethical: the country of origin of the baubles might get forgotten, for instance, while you
check whether the Tofurkey was made out of free range eggs. But there's no need to grow
a halo this Christmas, you just have to open your eyes a bit. Once you realise that Google
is playing you for a fool and realise the way Amazon is treating its staff, it becomes a lot
easier to avoid them. Figures on convenience stores are already challenging the
supermarket "big four", so it appears consumers have already begun to vote with their 12.
_________ If things continue as they are, the high street could experience a full-blown
resurrection by Easter.

0 a) gain b) win c) earn d) manage

1. a) cries b) voices c) shouts d) yells

2. a) for b) by c) out of d) in

3. a) throwing b) showing c) casting d) laying

4. a) long-awaiting b) long-winded c) long-reaching d) long-standing

5. a) at stake b) for good c) by rate d) on challenge

6. a) wiped out b) disposed of c) run down d) replaced by

7. a) trudging b) trekking c) tumbling d) trawling

8. a) revenue b) reimburse c) reinstall d) retry

9. a) flicking b) glancing c) browsing d) seeking

10. a) unsavoury b) distasteful c) unkempt d) disguised

11. a) probabilities b) chances c) likiehoods d) possibilities

12. a) hands b) feet c) head d) mind

KEY

0 a) gain b) win c) earn d) manage

1. a) cries b) voices c) shouts d) yells

2. a) for b) by c) out of d) in

3. a) throwing b) showing c) casting d) laying

4. a) long-awaitingb) long-winded c) long-reaching d) long-standing

5. a) at stake b) for good c) by rate d) on challenge

6. a) wiped out b) disposed of c) run down d) replaced by

7. a) trudging b) trekking c) tumbling d) trawling

8. a) revenue b) reimburse c) reinstall d) retry

9. a) flicking b) glancing c) browsing d) seeking

10. a) unsavoury b) distasteful c) unkempt d) disguised

11. a) probabilities b) chances c) likiehoods d) possibilities

12. a) hands b) feet c) head d) mind