Gosport's shopping experience is better than it's ever been: Rick Jackson

Shopping in Gosport has been revolutionised after the opening of Brockurst Gate Retail Park.
Big name retailers including M&S Foodhall, Lidl and Home Bargains are now open and trading at the newly-built Brockhurst Gate retail parkBig name retailers including M&S Foodhall, Lidl and Home Bargains are now open and trading at the newly-built Brockhurst Gate retail park
Big name retailers including M&S Foodhall, Lidl and Home Bargains are now open and trading at the newly-built Brockhurst Gate retail park

We have a Lidl, M&S Food Hall, Home Bargains, Food Warehouse and Jollies Pet Store. McDonalds and Costa Coffee are always busy.

It works really well for us as the cost of our weekly shop has dropped thanks to the German retailer, with a little help from the discount store neighbours. If you want something a little special, there’s M&S.

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Then again, we found our hardware and pet supply store in Alverstoke Village is cheaper than Jollies, otherwise it would have been a clean sweep.

Retail parks are replacing the high street. Is that such a bad thing?

Just a bit of light-hearted chatter over the roast beef

What would have happened if Germany had won the war? One of the more bizarre but fascinating questions that’s come up recently at dinner.

As we talked about D-Day and the forthcoming 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, we deduced many of these events would never have happened if the First World War ended differently.

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For a start, what would have happened if a German advance on Paris and the Channel had proved successful?

Germany was a very different country in 1914 and it’s difficult to predict what a German-influenced Europe would have been like, but for definite, the Treaty of Versailles, which crippled Germany would not have happened.

This in turn would have meant the rise of Hitler and the Nazis very unlikely and with that, concentration camps and post-war Zionism. With ally Turkey also victorious, the Middle East would be a very different place. Maybe there would be no Israel or a need for one?

France would probably be more of a hotbed for fascism, but would be a much weaker industrial power due to the Alsace-Lorraine region staying part of Germany. As for us, well who knows. With a defeated army and navy, the Empire would be unsustainable and undoubtedly quickly crumble.

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India would get her independence early and we’d lose control of vital oil supplies in the Middle East and the North Sea.

We may well have become a more modest northern European democratic republic, similar to Denmark, but without royalty, the Kaiser would have made sure of that.

And as for America, if she had not become involved in the war, or at least joined too late to sway the favour toward the allies, she’d be more an isolationist power, rather than the informer of international order we see today.

With this in mind, would there have been no Second World War? No Hitler, no Holocaust? No Israel? Would the seeds of hatred have manifested itself in other ways? Would Japan have bombed Pearl Harbour? Would the atomic bomb exist?

I should stop having the father-in-law over for dinner!

I’m being tempted to slip into something tight and shiny

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It’s so good having the Tour de France back on the TV. Former winner Bradley Wiggins reports on a motorbike live from the peloton for Eurosport.

He’s absolutely hilarious, it’s like having Paul Gascoigne reporting live from the sidelines mid-match.

Defending champion Geraint Thomas is in with a shout again, especially with Chris Froome out after his horror crash.

At the moment, they are in the Champagne region. The scenery is stunning, the racing exciting and the whole spectacle like no other on the planet.

Sadly though, watching all this makes me want to slip into some Lycra again – it’s the only negative about cycling!