There was a similar article in the Mail on Sunday about a shortage of rank slides, although it appeared that the article drew too heavily on a letter of complaint from a CT. The MoS article claimed that officer rank slides were impossible to get hold of, although how it can be difficult to turn a piece (or multiple pieces) of ribbon into a rank slide is beyond me - I've even seen staples used! I have heard grumbles (from SNCOs mainly) about the new slides so the story has some grounding in reality - might be time to sell my old slides on Ebay!
However, it is the hallmark of a failing organisation to attempt to rebrand itself by throwing money at fripperies such as insignia and logos - look at Consignia and every other former public service that has gone down the toilet! Alas, we are following suit!