If you are on diet and find it hard to count calories when you eat out, then one restaurant chain has the answer. The Real Greek has become one of the first restaurant chains to start adding the calorie count to their menus. Whilst not everyone may want to know the amount of calories their food contains the move has so far proved popular with their customers and many of their low calorie options are proving to be more popular. Even bottles and glasses of wine have the calorie content listed.

A Burger King advert has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority because it shows the burger as bigger than the real thing. The Advertising Standards Authority came to the conclusion after buying three burgers and finding that their thickness and overall height was much less than that shown in the TV advert. It has since ruled that the advert should not appear again in its current form.

According to this article Waitrose has been named compassionate supermarket of the year. Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have also won awards for improving the lives of farm animals. The awards were presented by Compassion in World Farming at their Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards. Waitrose scored best on issues such as overall well being of animals, stocking densities and the freedom of animals to express natural behaviour. Sainsbury's was named the Best Volume Supermarket and also won a Good Chicken award. Morrisons won the award for the Most Improved Supermarket whilst the Co-op and M&S also won Good Chicken awards.

A Tesco advertisement which gives the impression that their bread is baked fresh on the premises has been banned for misleading customers. The advertisement uses the headline “Fresh Bread. Baked from scratch in our in store bakery”. The problem is that in reality most Tesco stores only reheat loaves that have been prepared and part cooked on another site rather than cooked from scratch as suggested. In fact the supermarket only bakes its loaves from scratch in 504 of its 1,792 outlets. Tesco have said that the advert does contain small print which make it clear the loaves are baked from scratch in a limited number of stores only. However, Advertising Standards Agency have ruled that it can no longer be used.

This is interesting it’s a new variety of apple that has been dubbed by this article as the tom-apple. The apple is unusual because it is red all the way through even after it has been cooked. It has been produced by a grower over a 20 year period by using cross pollination techniques involving a number of parent trees. The apple is said to be extremely tasty and apparently it contains more antioxidants than the average apple. It would certainly make a colourful additional to a fruit salad.

According to this article Wetherspoon are to move into the coffee market with a plan to sell cappuccinos and lattes for as little as 49p a cup. The pub chain which currently has more than 700 outlets outlets will start opening from as early as 7am. It will offer breakfast including porridge and yogurt as well as well as tea and coffee. Wetherspoon will offer coffee from the Lavazza range at a price which is likely to undercut many of their rivals such as Starbucks.

If you feel you have been getting less strawberries than usual for the same money then you may be right. According to this article many of the supermarkets have shrunk the size of strawberry punnets whilst keeping the price the same. Last year Asda sold a 454g box of strawberries for £1.98. This year they are charging the same price for a 400g box. Sainsbury’s did sell a 400g box for £3.99 last year. This is no longer available and has now been replaced by a 300g box for the same price. Tesco have also introduced a smaller box but the article does not mention whether their prices have also changed. The retailers excuse is that the larger punnets were too big and led to strawberries getting crushed.

I have been thinking of rearranging the home office to try and create a feeling of more space so have been looking around at some new office furniture. I came across this UK based website that has a good selection of computer desks, office chairs, cupboards and book cases. They offer free delivery on all UK orders and optional installation on selected items and many items are available on next day delivery if you order before 3pm. The prices are quite reasonable as well so if you are looking for some new office furniture then you might want to check them out.

In their latest attempt at world domination Amazon have recently launched an online grocery store. In a move that could be direct competition for retailers such as Sainsbury's and Tesco Amazon are now offering food and household products. They will stock around 22,000 brands including Walkers, Kraft and Pampers and offer customers deals for buying in bulk. They also offer a few more unusual products that are harder to find elsewhere such as a whole lamb for £119.95. Looking around the selection the prices are not really any cheaper than other online retailers. There is also less fresh food on offer. I think it would probably suit people looking to do a bulk shop for cupboard staples but for me it won’t be replacing Sainsbury’s as my online retailer of choice. This is mainly due to the ease of shopping and the fact I can easily find what I need, for example accessing “my usuals” list rather than searching for each products. I may, however, use Amazon if I want to bulk buy an item and save a few pennies.

According to this article Waitrose will soon be stocking a range of food created by chef Heston Blumenthal. For those who are not familiar with the chef he is famous for some rather unique creations such as snail porridge and bacon and egg ice cream, as well as being involved in trying to turn around the misfortunes of the Little Chef brand. The dishes in the Waitrose range are more familiar classics rather than food with the wow factor. They will include beef and ale pie, spinach and mushroom pie and chicken ham and leak pie although it’s not clear whether they will some twists in the recipes. Either way it could be something to look out for next time you are in Waitrose.

According to this article the number of new UK car sales rose by 10.8% in June. This is compared with the same period last year and is despite the end of the car scrappage scheme. Figures from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show that 195,226 new car were sold in June which is way above expected performance levels. Although private sales were 3.3% lower than last year there has been a rise in both the the fleet market and the business sector which saw an increase of 18.4%.

According to this article a group of MPs are calling for a ban on ticket touting at big sporting events. It is currently only illegal to re-sell tickets for professional matches, however, it has been suggested this should be extended to other event such as Wimbledon, the Grand National and Six Nations Rugby. Legislation already exists to ban the reselling of tickets for the London Olympics and it is hoped this could be extended. There have also been calls for the greater regulation of websites that sell tickets to ensure they are only able to charge the face value of a ticket and a fixed charge for reselling it.

According to this article seven in every ten homes in London is currently brought by foreign investors. The weakness of the pound against other currencies means foreign buyers can secure large discounts. This is shown by the fact that the number of wealthy foreigners buying in London jumped 20% last year. In June last year for example 53% of those buying properties in London worth more than £5 million were brought by overseas buyers, this has now risen to 68%.

If this article is to believed Unilever has introduced new terms which are likely to squeeze small suppliers. Previously they took up to 30 days to pay their suppliers but they have recently ruled that will now change to 90 days. The change will be effective within the next week and warning letters have already been sent to many firms they deal with notifying them of the change. Although an initiative called the Prompt Payment Code was introduced in 2008 to encourage firms to settle bills quickly, Unilever have not signed up to it. Many other large firms such as Dell, Carlsberg, United Biscuits and Argos have all recently taken similar steps.

Toyota have announced another recall after faults were found in some Lexus and Crown vehicles. Initially the vehicles are being recalled in Japan but action is likely to follow for overseas markets. The recall affects around 91,903 vehicles in Japan and as many as 270,000 worldwide. The problem which is caused by a flaw in the valve spring can make the vehicle stall whilst it is still moving. So far 220 complaints have been received about the problem but no crashes have been reported to date.

According to this article a fault has been found which can lead to engine problems in some Lexus models. Toyota have said that the problem is down to "improperly functioning valve springs have been found in some Lexus engines and there is a small possibility that abnormal engine noise or unstable idling may occur". Affected models include the Lexus GS 450h, GS460, LS460 and LS 600hIt is thought the issue could affect as many 3,000 cars in the UK.

In some good news for the car industry one thousand new jobs are to be created at Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood plant. The firm which is based in Warwick will be building the new Range Rover called the Evoque which has been described as the greenest Range Rover yet.

Tate and Lyle have agreed the sale of their sugar business for £211 million. Tate and Lyle has refineries in Silvertown and the East end of London which have been operating for 130 years and owns the world’s oldest brand Lyle’s Golden Syrup. The new owner American Sugar Refining has said there will be no job losses at the company's London refineries.

According to this article cash machines that dispense nothing but £5 notes are to installed across the UK. The move comes as the Bank of England tries to increase the circulation of £5 notes in the system. Bank Machine a firm based in Hertfordshire has recently installed 21 of the machines across the country after a trial of two machines put around 100,000 new £5 notes into circulation every month. It seems we may soon be seeing more £5 notes appearing in our change.

If this article is correct then UK tenants pay the highest rents in Western Europe. According to the article it costs an average of £348 a month to rent a room in a shared property in the UK. That’s 75% more than it would cost in Spain where the equivalent would cost just £199 a month. France was the second most expensive to rent a room but at and average of £285 it still worked out a lot cheaper than the UK. In Italy the average cost was £282 a month. The figures come from the flatshare website easyroommate.co.uk which says the high cost of renting a room in the UK is largely down to the lack of mortgage finance available which forces first time buyers to continue renting thus driving up demand.

If you are interested in horse betting then you might want to check out this website. It saves the walk to your local betting shop and allows you to do all your horse racing betting online. If you are new to the site you can get 20% free cash on your first deposit. Then just check out the live odds and research the jockeys, trainers and horses before making your selection and waiting to see if your horse comes in.

BT are to start offering the Sky Sports channels at a reduced price. BT Vision customers who want to receive Sky Sports 1 and 2 will be able to receive them for £as little as £6.99 extra a month which undercuts Sky. The offer is available to customers who subscribe to a bundle offer of broadband and calls for a 24 month period, the total monthly cost for the deal is £16.99 a month which is still cheaper than Sky.

According to this article BT have recently signed a deal with Sky which will enable them to offer Premier League football. Although the exact details of the deal have not been announced BT have announced that they have signed a wholesale deal to offer Sky Sports 1 and 2. BT customer will be able to sign up from the beginning of August, a couple of weeks before the start of the Premier League. It is thought it will cost between £15 and £20 a month although this is still to be confirmed.

Barclaycard have recently cut the amount of cashback that customers earn for spending on their credit cards. The move comes about a month after the company withdrew cashback cards for new customers and stopped promoting its Freedom rewards scheme. Customers currently receive the cash equivalent of 1% for the first £200 of monthly spending and 0.5% for spending above this level. From the start of August this will reduce to 0.25% for the first £200, 0.35% for spending between £200 and £1,500 and 1% for spending over £1,500. The company have said the cuts have been made for commercial reasons and that there are no plans to axe the scheme altogether.

According to this article Ford will become the first car manufacturer to sells its cars direct to the customer via the internet. Ford’s research has shown that customers would like to be able to buy their new car on the internet and that many would be happy to do so without taking a test drive. Ford will make all car models available to purchase online and customers will be able to place their order by email. The car will then be delivered to one of 12 regional delivery centres where customers can inspect it before driving it away. The move is likely to trigger similar initiatives from rival companies who I’m sure are watching closely to see how successful this is.

According to this article a new project from car maker Nissan will create 200 new jobs in the North East of England. The Japanese car maker will start producing a new two litre petrol engine at the company’s plant in Sunderland. The programme is part of a £15 million investment programme. Around 60,000 of the engines will be produced every year meaning that 130 jobs will be safeguarded and 200 new posts will be created by 2013 depending on market conditions.

According to this article the government is reviewing the stamp duty break for first time buyers. Currently first time buyers can take advantage of a two year stamp duty holiday on properties up to the value of £25,000. The stamp duty holiday was granted by the Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling in his pre-election budget. It had been thought that the Conservatives would make it permanent if they were elected but it now seems they are thinking of axing the break instead. They have now said they will review the stamp duty tax relief taking into account affordability and value and money and this statement has led to the speculation that it will be axed.

NICE the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence has called on the government to cut the amount of fat and salt in food, something which they say could save 40,000 lives a year. Under the guidance NICE say that ministers should consider introducing legislation if manufacturers are not forthcoming in cutting saturated fat and salt in food. According to the article there are around five million people living with the effects of cardiovascular disease in Britain with around 150,000 deaths a year. NICE has calculated that 40,000 deaths a year could be prevented if all trans fats were eliminated from prepared foods. They have also called for the advertising of unhealthy foods to children to be banned until after 9pm and action to be taken to introduce a more transparent food labelling system.

If you like a flutter on the horses then you might want to check out this website that specialises in horse racing betting. It offers real horse race betting and also a really good virtual game called Virtual Derby where you can research jockeys, trainers, horses and conditions before making your selection and play like a real race. Signing up for an account is free and then all you need to do is place your horse racing bet online and sit back and wait to see if you are successful.

This is an interesting idea its a vending machine which will offer prescriptions 24 hours a day. The machines which will initially be put into five hospitals will hold up to 330 different types of drugs. Each pack will include a microchip so that the machine will indentify it. The patient will then insert their prescription into the machine and speak to a pharmacists via a video link where they will check the medicine has been properly prescribed before authorising the transactions. The prescription can be paid for by inserting cash or a debit or credit card. The patient will then receive their prescription along with a leaflet on how the drugs should be taken.

According to this article fraudsters are already starting to take advantage of the upcoming Olympic games and have launched a number of fake ticket scams. Although tickets for the Olympics and Paralymic Games do not go on sale until next year a number of companies are claiming to offer them online. Tickets will only be on sale from official London 2012 channels and are company that is claiming to have them now is bogus. According to the Office of Fair Trading one in 12 tickets brought online is fake. This amounts to around £30 million in fake ticket sales. Customers should be careful to only buy tickets though official channels and bear in mind that if an offer looks too good to true it probably is.

According to this article a new serum promises to give thicker eyelashes. The Rapidlash Eyelash Enhancing Serum which goes on sale at Boots for £39.95 on the 14th of July is designed to enhance the growth of your eyelashes. It is meant to be so effective that there is already a waiting list of people who want the product. The product does not contain any actual growth enhancers but is a treatment that conditions the lashes appearing to enhance their size. In clinical trials it has been shown to give up to 50% longer looking lashes as long as it is used daily for eight weeks.

I came across this website Quicksilvergames recently that offers a lot of online slot machine games. They are much the same as the Slot Games I remember playing in arcades when I have been on holiday and are just as addictive. The games that I really like are the traditional fruit machine slot games but there are also a lot of new games available from famous names such as Monopoly and Cluedo that provide something more challenging. What I like about this particular website is that you can choose to play the games for fun if you want to. Alternatively if you want the chance to win cash prizes you just need to register and you can win prizes ranging from £500 to around £15,000. Either way its a good site if you are bored and are looking for something to pass the time. 

According to this article Asda have recalled a number of paper shredders due to a possible fault. The problem is with the Asda eight sheet diamond cut shredder which has been shown in some cases to have a fault in the plug. The product which was on sale for £19.97 has been recalled as a precaution after some customers experienced a small shock when using it. It is thought that a few thousand of the shredders have been sold. Anyone who has purchased one should stop using the product and return it to their nearest Asda store for a refund.

If this article is to be believed then Waitrose are currently offering more price cuts than the other major supermarkets. This is surprisingly particularly as they tend to have a reputation for being rather expensive. The results come from a survey which was carried out by the online consumer website Supermarket Own Brand Guide. It seems Waitrose have cut more prices in the past year than any of its mainstream rivals particularly when it comes to discounts on their own brand products. Although Waitrose matches Tesco and Asda on most basket items it seems the cheapest place to shop is still Aldi. The survey showed that Waitrose reduced prices on 16 of the 27 items in a typical basket on own brand goods and increased the prices on 8. Tesco cut the price of 14 products from the same basket and increased the prices on 11 and Sainsbury's reduced the prices of 8. I’m guessing, however, that when you take into account the prices of other items not seen as typical basket items the prices are still higher, it would be interesting to see a broader comparison.

According to this article Tesco are currently offering the best deal for school uniforms. They are offering polo shirts for 50p, sweaters for £1.75 and trousers or skirts for £1.50. The price is the same for all ages from three to sixteen year olds. Not to be outdone Sainsbury’s come second on price selling sweatshirts, skirts and trousers for £2.00 and a pack of three polo shirts for £2.00, a total cost of £4.66 for the entire uniform. Asda who have often had the cheapest price in the past are offering the uniform for a total of £6.00.

This is a new product which will soon on sale in Waitrose. Called lasting leaf it is a bag of lettuce that will stay fresh for up to 7 days before opening and has a 48 hour life once opened. The salad is blanched by passing the leaves through hot water before dousing them in chilled water which increases the life of the leaves whilst preserving the flavour.

If you still have any £20 notes that look like the one in this picture then it’s time to start spending them. The £20 notes which feature a picture of Edward Elgar will cease to be legal tender in three weeks time. Shop will no longer have to accept the notes after the 30th of June and banks can choose whether or not they will agree to swap them after this date.

If this article is to be believed then there could be a shortage of Jersey Royal potatoes this year. The problem is down to the dry conditions the area has been experiencing following the worst drought on the Channel Islands in 34 years. It is expected the first yield of potatoes will be down as much as 50% as well as being two weeks late due to a recent sharp frost. With no rain predicted over the next few weeks it looks like we might paying a little more for our potatoes in the coming months. Although I have recently planted a bumper crop in garden so fingers crossed I see some results.

Argos and Walmsleys are among the retailers that will have to pay out up to £20 million to their customers over sofas containing harmful chemicals. Many of the customers who purchased the affected sofas suffered chemical burns, severe skin conditions and eye complaints. The sofas which were made by Chinese firms Linkwise and Eurosofa contained the chemical DMF which has since been banned. Following an agreement in the High Court victims are set to receive payouts of between £1,175 and £9,000. Around 1,650 customers will be due a refund, however, Land of Leather customers who were affected will not receive anything as the firm has since gone into administration.

An attempt by the EU to ban misshapen fruit and vegetables has failed because it would mean too much food is wasted. A group of Euro MPs were trying to bring in uniform standardisation parameters which would have meant oddly shaped fruit and vegetables could not go on sale in the supermarkets. The proposal was defeated in the European Parliament because around a fifth of produce would end up being wasted as it would not conform to the guidelines. I’m not entirely sure why people would want to try and force through such a silly motion. At a time when food prices are so high I really don’t mind whether my vegetables are a little on the wonky side.

According to this article prices of fruit and vegetables are soaring due to record rainfall in Spain. It seems that we import a large amount of our produce from Spain and so are likely to be paying higher prices in the supermarket. According to the article oranges are 25% more expensive than they were a year ago, avocados are 17% more expensive and cherry tomatoes are up 10%. The problem is down to the recent heavy rainfall in the Spanish growing region of Andalucia which has wiped out large areas of crops and hit exports. Prices are likely to remain high until British crops come into season later in the year.

McDonald’s will soon be offering a new work experience based qualification equivalent to a GCSE. Under the scheme the company will work with the exam board Edexcel to develop a BTec certificate to recognise the skills gained. The BTec course will be open to teenagers and will require them to complete a 10 day placement in a restaurant as well as completing work at school. The course is fully accredited and is equivalent to one GCSE at grade B or C. The placement adds up to a 80 hour study requirement and covers issues such as team working and communication skills. The qualification is designed to help prepare young people for the work place, helping to build their confidence and give them the edge when looking for employment.

Tesco are backing a new online estate agency. The agency called Spicerhaart is launching the website iSold.com. It will launch initially in the Bristol area and will be advertised to users of the Tesco website. The service offers a basic online selling service for a flat fee of £999 rather than charging a percentage of the selling price as is the norm. All dealings with buyers and sellers will be conducted over the phone and online and the business will be kept separate for the Spicerhaart high street outlets.

Wine lovers who thought they were investing in new age wine have been duped by a bogus scheme. They were offered what they thought was a chance to buy new age wine for £100 a bottle. The wine would then be kept for them for seven years whilst it matured and they would be sent regular updates on their purchase. In fact the scheme was completely fake and police have recently arrested six suspects who were running it from their homes in east London. Some would be investors are thought to have spent as much £100,000 on the scheme which targeted those on wine club marketing lists.

Weightwatchers have recently signed a deal which will see them promoting McDonalds meals. Under the deal a range of healthy meals will include the Weightwatchers logo. Meals that are included in the range are Chicken McNuggets, the Filet-O-Fish and the Sweet Chilli Seared Chicken wrap. The deal is part of an attempt to cultivate a healthier image for McDonald’s and show that they do have a number of healthy meals available.

According to this article the AA is to launch a new service to help people within the home. The AA will answer calls from householders who have problems with issues such as leaking pipes and broken down boilers or even those who need help putting up a fence or hanging a picture. Householders will use the same call centres which are currently used to dispatch the AA’s breakdown service. People will be given a time of arrival and a reference number and repair men will use an AA van but without the flashing lights. AA members will get a discount on the new service which will also be offered to new customers. The service is split into two parts. The AA Home Emergency Response which is an insurance policy against domestic problems and will tackle burst pipes and leaks. The AA Home Assist will tackle smaller jobs such as putting up curtain rails, mending fences and picture hanging. The service will have a stand alone network of patrolman and vans, separate from the existing fleet of roadside patrol vans. Typical prices for the Home Emergency Response are expected to be £9.95 per month for AA members and £11.95 for non-members.

According to this article the major food retailers have all agreed to cut the carbon footprint of their grocery packaging by 10% over the next two years. Some of the measures they will put into place include selling milk in plastic bags, meat in vacuum packed plastic bags and spirits in plastic bottles. Under the agreement retailers will also provide facilities to recycle wrappings and plastic bags. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer have all signed up for the agreement which could save consumers £800 million over three years because of the reduction in the amount of food thrown away. It should also save the industry £200 million and cut gas emissions by three million tonnes over the next three years.

Tesco has been ordered to pay £74,000 in fines after mice were found in one of its stores. Members of the public had reported seeing mice running around the aisles at the store in Martlesham near Ipswich. Poor cleaning and inadequate procedures were blamed for the failings. Tesco was convicted of eight hygiene related offences following a trial. Magistrates in Ipswich fined the store £17,000 and ordered it to pay £57,000 towards the council's costs.

According to this article less people appear to be eating marmalade. It seems younger generations have lost their taste for marmalade with around 80% of sales being to shoppers over the age of 45. Overall sales were down 3% last year. The rise of eating on the move has been blamed for the decline as it appears less people take the time to sit down to toast for breakfast. Production has also been hit by price rises in ingredients such as fresh fruit and sugar. Personally I do buy marmalade but find I use it more in recipes rather than eating it on toast.

According to this article scientists have created a tomato that can stay fresh for up to six weeks. The tomato which is the result of genetic engineering will stay fresh for around 45 days, three times longer than a normal tomato. Researchers believe the process could also be applied to other fruits including bananas and mangos. It has been created by researcher in India who have managed to stop the production of ripening enzymes in the fruit. The increased firmness stops the fruit going soft for longer. The one problem may be that no one has yet tested the tomato for taste. It would also need to undergo extensive safety testing before it would be allowed to go on sale. I’m not convinced myself, I find fruit and vegetables at their best when they are fresh and am a little dubious at something that can be kept so long.

According to this article Kellogg’s will change the recipes of their brands of cereals in order to cut the salt content. The Move comes after a health watchdog criticised the salt content in brands such as Corn Flakes and rice Krispies. The salt content in these brands will be cut by 30%. The new recipe Rice Krispies are already on sale and the new recipe Corn Flakes are expected to be available in March.

If you are tempted by the by one get one free offers when you go shopping but often find you can’t use the products before they go off, then you might find this article interesting. It seems Tesco are looking to reduce food waste by offering a buy one get one free later deal. Under the offer customers will be able to take advantage of the deal but instead of having to take both products at the same time, they will be given a coupon to redeem against the second product at a later date. It seems like a good idea to me and would certainly encourage me to take advantage of the offers on perishable items which I would usually bypass.

If this article is correct then online food shopping is set to double within the next five years. That’s according to new estimates from the Institute of Grocery Distribution. Their research shows that customers will spend nearly £7.2bn on grocery shopping online by 2014, that’s nearly double the figure spent last year. Personally I do most of food shopping online. It allows me to shop for the whole month without worrying about getting it in my small car and I find I budget better and am less likely to overspend.

According to this article the number of people advertising for a lodger has risen by 27% in the first two weeks of the year. According to Spareroom.co.uk the rise is down to people looking to raise extra income because they have over stretched financially after the Christmas period. The group have said that they saw a record number of people advertising for lodgers during 2009 and that it expects the trend to continue this year. With the average weekly rent costing £87 it seems like a good way to bring in some extra cash if you have a big enough house to be able to do it.

According to this article women’s handbags are getting lighter. The average weight of a woman’s handbag is now 1.5kg, that’s down 57% from last year when the average weight was 3.5kg. The research carried out by Debenhams  in order to help them to design suitable bags. It seems the change is not down to the fact that we are carrying less in our handbags but more the fact  that popular gadgets such as mobile phones and PDAs are simply getting smaller and lighter.

If you need another excuse to go shopping then you might find this article interesting. It claims that the average woman burns off around 48,000 calories a year just by shopping. According to the article most women burn off around 385 calories walking around the shops every week. In fact this amounts to around 154 a miles a year, the same as walking from London to Nottingham. The figures are based on the assumption that the average woman covers 2.96 miles on a shopping trip and spends about 2.5 hours browsing in stores every week. So next time you don’t feel like heading down the gym you might be justified in hitting the shops instead.

If you have put on a few extra pounds over Christmas then you might be interested in this new dress from Asda. It is designed to hide all of those lumps and bumps that you would rather you didn’t have. It works in a similar way to hold it in pants, having built in control panels in all the right places. At £28 for the dress and £16 for a skirt it claims it can take as much as inch and half off the waist. It certainly looks interesting but I feel the article would be better illustrated by using a model who has some lumps and bumps herself, that way it would be easier to see the effects of the garment.

According to this article you could soon be paying a bit more for your pint. Many of the country’s biggest brewers are likely to increase their prices in a move that will mean an increase of around 10p on popular beers. Guinness are putting up the recommend retail price to £3.03 per pint from February 1st. InBev who make Stella Artois, Becks and Budweiser are increasing the wholesale price of all its drinks by 4p a pint from the same date. Heineken UK have also announced a price rise and Carlsberg and Moulson Coors are yet to make an announcement.

If you want to pop the question but don’t have a very big budget, then Asda might have the answer. They are selling engagement rings for just £397. The average amount spent on an engagement ring is £1,800 according to the wedding site Confetti.co.uk but it is traditional to spend at least one month’s salary on the ring. The Asda ring, then seems something of a bargain. The ring is the best selling one on offer at the store and is an 18ct gold ring with 1 caret 7 stone diamonds and looks quite good for the price.

If this article is correct we could soon expect to pay a little more for a carton of orange juice. According to the article cold weather and disease have hit the citrus groves in Florida which produce much of the world’s orange juice. This has already led to the price of concentrated juice doubling in the past year. As yet this has not affected the prices we pay in the supermarket because stores usually fix their prices a long time in advance, however, we should expect prices to rise by between 10 and 30 per cent when contracts are renegotiated.

According to this article some British sausages are made up of as much as a third fat and only 32 per cent meat. The rest of the sausage is usually made up of ground wheat rusk which is used as a bulking agent to cut costs and improve the texture of the sausage. A study has been carried out on 36 brands of sausages including the country’s biggest sellers to find out exactly what goes into them. Researchers for the journal Meat Science looked at the packaging for information on meat fat and salt content. On average the sausages contained 62 per cent meat but four of the sausages that were looked at had less than 50 per cent and the worst one had less than a third pork. The study did not identify the different brands but did reveal that the two sausages with the lowest meat content were Asda Smart Price with 34% pork and Sainsbury’s Chipolatas with 32% pork.

According to this article online retailer Amazon is considering a move into the high street. The move comes as Amazon has started to stock larger products which can be problematic and expensive to deliver. If it goes ahead Amazon would have outlets where customers could pick up purchases that they have ordered online. The article suggests that Amazon is currently looking for high profile sites across the UK to pilot the scheme. The move would not only allow Amazon to supply those larger items but also allow customers to pick up their purchases at a time to suit them rather than relying on being in to sign for a delivery.

Kit Kat has recently achieved Fairtrade certification for its four finger Kit Kats. They are now able to display the blue and green logo of the Fairtrade Foundation on their wrappers. The logo is likely to start appearing on Kit Kats from January. The certification will later also be extended to include the smaller bars.

I dread having to go Christmas shopping, because the shops seem to be so hot at this time of year. I also have a tendency to pass out when I am standing for a long time in hot conditions, so as you can imagine I have embarrassed myself ending up in a heap on a number of shop floors. I have wondered whether the tropical conditions are all in my mind but this article now makes me think otherwise. It claims that some shops are as hot as tropical holiday destinations. A survey of the major chains on Oxford Street found that Topshop had a temperature of 80.9F (27.2C). Other shops such as the Bodyshop, Debenhams, Esprit, HMV, Clinton Cards, Boots and Monsoon all had temperatures above 77F (25C) with the average temperature being 74.5F (23.6C). It’s no wonder then when I am dressed in my winter coat for the cold conditions outside that when I enter these sorts of conditions I overheat and pass out on the floor. It would certainly be more comfortable to have the temperature a little lower in department stores and would also waste a lot less energy.

According to this article many energy saving lighting bulbs have a design flaw which means they start to become dimmer over time. Whilst it is advertised that the bulbs can last as long as five or six years, it appears that many will need replacing long before that. A good quality bulb is likely to lose about 20 per cent of its light over its estimated 8,000 hour lifespan with cheaper alternatives emitting just 60 per cent as much light as a new bulb. The problem is with CFL bulbs which give off light when a current is passed through a gas filled tube. The gas glows with ultraviolet radiation which lights up a coating of white phosphor on the inside of the tube, over time, however, this coating starts to lose its ability to light up. Other low energy bulbs such as halogen lights and LED bulbs are more reliable and more likely to stay bright throughout their life. With conventional bulbs being withdrawn from sale it appears we will soon have little alternative but to purchase the slightly dimmer alternative.

This article suggests that some supermarkets are misleading customers with bargains that are not all they seem. The main focus of the article is a half price deal being offered by Tesco on Bernard Matthews turkeys. The turkeys are being offered at £20 which Tesco claims is half price, however, the turkeys have only been on sale for the full price of £40 for a short period of time. Tesco began selling the turkeys on the 3rd of September and made the price cut on the 1st of October allowing the birds to be at half price in the run up to Christmas. The chains rivals, however, say that the product should retail at just £20, the price they are all charging. It seems then, this particular deal is not such a great one. I wonder how many other offers are real reductions.

According to this article a bottle of champagne from Sainsbury’s that costs just £16 has performed better than some brands which cost twice as much. The champagne beat Moet and Chandon and 11 other champagnes to come second in a blind tasting. A total of 14 champagnes were tested, nine from major supermarket chains and three from big champagne houses. The Sainsbury’s Blanc de Noirs champagne was only beaten by Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label which received 90 points whilst the Sainsbury’s champagne received 89. At half the price though you can’t help thinking you might be better off going to Sainsbury's. The cheapest champagne tested was Aldi’s Veuve Monsiny which costs £9.99. It managed 10th place with a score of 84 points.

According to this article nearly half of cheddar sold in Tesco is actually imported despite the pack implying that it is British. The packaging may say that the cheddar is packaged in Britain but it means just that. It is actually made elsewhere and imported. Nearly half of it is made in Latvia, Ireland and New Zealand and is simply packed in Britain. Whilst this might not seem like a big deal, people have different reasons for buying British and in this case it seems they are led to believe a product is British when it clearly isn’t. Personally I prefer to buy British produce where possible because I would rather support British farmers especially during the recession when times are tough. I also believe that the less distance my food has to travel the fresher it is likely is to be and of course the impact on the environment is less. I will certainly be checking the labels much more closely and will steer clear of anything marked “packed in Britain” in favour of “made in Britain” in the future. 

If this article is correct the recession is responsible for a rise in middle class shoplifters. Rather than stealing goods to sell them on it appears more people are stealing to maintain the lifestyle they have become accustomed to. It seems when people have less money rather than cutting back, some decide to simply steal what they can no longer afford.

According to this article Aldi and Lidl are both selling a bottle of champagne for just £9.99. Aldi’s Vue Monsigny and Lidl’s Comte de Brismand both sell for just under £10. They get mixed reviews from critics with some experts suggesting the taste is not that great but others calling it elegant and fruity. Unfortunately I don’t have an Aldi or a Lidl near me otherwise I would buy some and post a review. Have you tried either of these bottles of champagne and if so what were they like?

If you fancy doing some shopping on Boxing Day then its looks like you might in luck this year as a record number of supermarkets will be open. More than 300 large supermarkets are due to open this Boxing Day  compared with only a handful two years ago. Both Tesco and Sainsbury’s are doubling the amount of stores that will open in response to customer demand. Tesco will open 252 stores and Sainsbury will open 94. Supermarkets will also open later on Christmas Eve with some stores being open until 10pm meaning some stores will be closed for less than 24 hours over the Christmas period.

Marks and Spencer have announced that they will hold a Penny Bazaar on Friday. The sale which will last one day only will see 15 different items going on sale at just 1p each. Items include socks, card games, puzzles, handkerchiefs, money boxes, tea towels, mugs, notebooks, ties, knickers, keyrings and chocolates. Marks and Spencer have previously hosted a similar event which saw people queued outside stores trying to pick up a bargain. If you want to get your hands on some of the cheap items customers are limited to five purchases each and you can check which stores are offering the promotion on the website.

According to this article it is possible to cook Christmas dinner for eight people for just £2.78 a head. The Good Housekeeping Institute priced 11 ingredients mainly from Lidl and Morrisons and some from Tesco and Sainsbury’s. It found that it is possible to buy a turkey from Lidl and Morrisons for just £9.99. Lidl also came out best for some of the trimmings such as sprouts, carrots and parsnips whereas Tesco had the best value Christmas pudding at just £1. If the article is correct it appears that you can find a bargain if you shop around.

It seems the recession is good news for the restaurant chain Taybarns which runs all you can eat restaurants. The chain offers a choice of food including fish and chips, carvery, pizza, pasta and Mexican all for a fixed price. Customers pay £5.99 during the day or £7.99 in the evening and can take a plate and help themselves to whatever they fancy as many times as want. The business model appears to working, whilst other restaurants are closing at a rate of a 100 a month Tayburns has seen a 3% increase in sales in the last six months and serves around 10,000 people a a week in their most popular branches. They are planning to open 30 new branches to take advantage in the growing popularity. I can see how the restaurant might appeal to cash strapped families who are struggling with the bills. It is certainly interesting to see that even during a recession it is possible to capitalise on certain markets.

According to this article some parts of the UK could soon see an invasion of ladybirds. Numbers of the non native Harlequin ladybird have dramatically increased over the past few years. At this time of the year when the weather starts to get colder the ladybirds looks for cracks in walls to hide in and often find ways into the house in an effort to stay warm. Unfortunately whilst the ladybirds are fairly harmless the rapid expansion of the non native species is bad news for our native ladybirds which compete for the same food. Scientists have launched the UK Ladybird Survey to track the spread of the harlequins which are larger and have more spots than the native seven spot ladybird. If you see any you can email your pictures to the Harlequin Ladybird Survey website or text LADYBIRD to 83040 to receive a link to upload your photos from your mobile.

It seems that business is booming at McDonald’s despite the recession. According to this article many McDonald’s drive through outlets are struggling to cope with increasing demand as the recession fuels a boom in fast food sales and a move towards more expensive meals. In order to deal with the increase in business the company will be installing an extra lane to many of its drive through restaurants. This will enable two drivers to order their food at the same time thus increasing capacity. The two lane system will be trialled at outlets in Telford, Shropshire, Kent and Edinburgh, and if successful will later be rolled out across the country.

According to this article Marks and Spencer are now selling more British cheeses than they are French cheeses. They are now selling two British cheeses for every French one with sales of British cheese increasing by 30%. The figures were considerably different five years ago with French cheese being much more popular. It appears the rise in popularity may be down to the fact that during the recession consumers are more inclined to buy British to support British businesses and farmers. However, British cheeses such as cheddar and stilton are also becoming more popular abroad with Neal’s Yard Dairy now exporting about 35 tons of cheese every year to France.

According to this article 65% of supermarket chickens contains a bug called campylobacter. The bacteria causes around 55,000 people a year to fall ill every year and causes symptoms such as diarrhoea, cramping and stomach pain which usually last for about a week. People with weakened immune symptoms can be at risk of the bacteria spreading to the bloodstream and causing a life threatening infection. The illness can however, be prevented by properly cooking food. Surprisingly Free range and organic chicken are actually more likely to carry the bug than battery birds.

According to this article sales of quality beers are on the rise and it is claimed that beer could be the new wine. It appears that sales of quality bottled beer are up as is keg and cask beer. One brewery Hepworth and Co has seen an 18% rise in sales on last year. If the article is to believed beer especially the quality varieties is also becoming more popular with women. If this is the case and beer is experiencing something of a revival I wonder why so many pubs are closing down. Personally I like beer but prefer to sample real ales rather than drinking lager which is many peoples first impression of beer and perhaps what puts them off trying others.

If this article is correct then consumers will soon have less choice when they choose a credit card. Natwest and HSBC have recently decided to offer credit cards to existing customers only. To qualify for a credit card with them you will now need to also have a current account with the bank. The move obviously cuts down on the risk to the bank but if other banks start to follow suit then it looks as though people are going to be quite restricted when choosing a credit card in the future.

According to this article the Jaffa Cake could be changing shape. For the first time is also available in an oblong shape rather than the traditional round one. The makers claim that the new shape is better because of its edge to edge filling. The new shape is on sale alongside the round ones so its up to you which you prefer. Personally I can’t bring myself to eat Jaffa Cakes after an incident when I ate too many and was very sick.

If this article is to believed then jellyfish could soon be appearing on the menu at some restaurants. Carme Ruscalleda wants to add them to menu of her restaurant Sant Pol del Mar. Jellyfish are eaten in Japan and China but most Europeans seem reluctant to try it. It is, however, meant to have many health benefits such as improving the cardio vascular system and balancing blood pressure. Before she is allowed to serve the jellyfish she must first prove that the local variety is safe to eat. It seems she has eaten jellyfish many times with no ill effects and compares it to fresh squid. Would you fancy eating jellyfish?

According to this article some high street chains are starting to see an increase in sales and profits. Four of Britain’s largest retailers have seen rising earnings suggesting that consumer spending night be starting to improve. Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Laura Ashley and Thorntons have all seen and increase in half year sales. Industry experts are still cautious about the outlook for Christmas and the new year due to the VAT rise in January and rising unemployment but perhaps we are starting to see those elusive “green shoots”.

Waitrose has come to the rescue of the Duchy Originals brand which has been struggling during the recession. The brand which was founded by Prince Charles in 1990 to promote organic food and farming has seen a slump in profits during the last two years. It is thought that customers have been put off buying the brand due its high prices. Waitrose is the biggest stockist of the brand and have now struck a new licensing agreement which will give them the exclusive right to make and distribute the product across its 214 branches. Waitrose will also sell the products wholesale but will only allow independent stores and restaurants to stock them. They also have plans to extend the range from 200 to 500 products.

I have been aware for some time that Christmas displays in shops are getting ludicrously early. This article, however, suggests that some stores are starting to sell their Christmas range now and are even considering offering Christmas items all year around. Debenhams, for example will start stocking Christmas products before the end of the month. The move comes partly to try and take advantage of the summer tourist trade but also because it is thought people are more likely to want to stagger their Christmas purchases because of the recession.

I feed the birds everyday but have never considered that the bees also might need some food. According to this article gardeners are being urged to leave out energy drinks for tired bees to try and help the declining bee population. The RSPB has been inundated with calls reporting bees lying on the ground unable to fly. They recommend leaving out an egg cup filled with two tablespoons of sugar and a tablespoon of water so that tired bees can boost their energy levels.

Having just moved house I have been having a look at some furniture websites with a view to replacing some of our old furniture with items that fit better in our new home. One of the websites I came across is Spacify who have a good range of contemporary Dining Tables and coffee tables. I quite liked this Vincent Extendible Dining Table which has a walnut finish and is made in  Italy. It is available with free delivery within the US and Spacify offer a 100% price match so if you should find a lower online price they will give you 100% of the difference.

Tesco are now offering double the amount of loyalty card points in a bid to tempt more customers. According to the article sales growth at Tesco has been outpaced by its main rivals in the past year prompting the supermarket to look at new ways of retaining customers. All Clubcard holders will now receive double the amount of rewards every time they shop meaning you will now get two point for every pound you spend in store or online. I do have a Tesco Clubcard but personally I find I currently receive very little rewards and that I frequently forget to use the vouchers I receive. I wonder why Tesco don’t go the same way as Sainsbury’s and simply allow you to take the money off your shopping bill at the checkout. I find this works a lot better and means that I can save my points up for an expensive event such as Christmas to buy a few luxury items that we wouldn’t usually be able to afford.

I have spent quite a lot of time looking for new web site hosting provider over the past few weeks and have been a bit overwhelmed by the amount of choice out there. Not knowing an awful lot about web hosting it can be a little hard to know who to choose. Obviously the most important factors are reliability and uptime and also the level of support that is available when there are any problems but the problem is not knowing this information before signing up. That’s where comparison websites such as Web Hosting Geeks can come in really useful. They offer information and review about hosting providers so you can get a better idea about how they perform. They also highlight which hosting providers perform best in certain categories, for example the best budget hosting or the best blog hosting. Each hosting provider is reviewed with a short overview of the service and bullet points highlighting the main features of the service such as how much storage space you get, whether they offer multiple domain hosting, what sort of support is available and how much bandwidth you get. There are also individual reviews from customers who have used each hosting provider so you can find out what their current customers think. It’s all very useful stuff and well worth checking out if you are looking for help with choosing a hosting provider.

If you are looking for a new furry friend then you might want to contact Battersea Dogs Home. Whilst it might not be the first place you would expect to find cats, they do in fact also re-home other animals as well. At the moment they simply have too many cats with 143 of their 145 cat pens being full and 174 cats waiting for a place at the home. The shelter has blamed the recession for the 20% rise in the number of animals being dumped but there are also 10% fewer people who are taking on cats leading to the huge backlog. Some of the cats have been waiting for a new home for as long as a year. Unfortunately I already have fours cats so don’t have room for anymore but if you have room for another kitty in your life then you might want to contact them, you can see some the furries here.

If this article is to be believed eating junk food does not only cause you to gain weight, it can also make you less intelligent. Research was carried out at Oxford University on a group of rats. The rats were fed a high fat diet over ten days. It was found that the rodents short term memory was damaged and that they were less mentally alert. The high fat diet also decreased the rats ability to exercise in turn making them more likely to gain weight.

Its a busy time for students as they receive their A Level results this week and there has been lots in the news about record pass rates and those students that have received all A grades. With headlines like this is easy to forget that not all students are lucky enough to get enough points for their chosen course. Whilst it might seem like the end of the world if you can’t get on your chosen course there is lots of help available when looking into alternative. That’s where the UCAS Clearing system can help. The University of Bedfordshire has already opened up their Clearing 2009 vacancies and have a variety of different courses available. If you need help you can contact the University of Bedfordshire Clearing 2009 hotline on 0800 013 0925 and see how they can help you.

It appears its all change for the Oxo cube as the traditional cube gets a new shape. Rather than being a simple cube it will now have grooves cut into it making it into a X shape. The reason for the change is that the new shape is supposed to be easier to crumble than the traditional cube alternative.

According to this article the average British family throw away £610 of food every year. The figure is based on a household with children and amounts to 6.5 million tonnes of rubbish. Based on this ministers want supermarkets to replace buy one get one free offers in favour of half price deals as well as introducing a larger range of pack sizes. They also want supermarkets to use clearer labels so that customers are sure of the difference between the use by date and the best before date. The article made me wonder how much of our household waste is food waste. I am certainly getting better at reducing the amount of rubbish we produce and try to make as much use of leftovers as possible mainly to try and save a bit of money but we still seem to have several sacks of rubbish every week.

Several major shoe brands have demanded a moratorium on the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Clark, Adidas, Nike and Timberland are among the brands that are putting pressure on suppliers to make changes. According to this article around 65 to 75% of deforestation is linked to the growth of ranching. As well as the moratorium on leather from newly deforested areas the footwear makers want suppliers to bring in a traceability system which will guarantee the source of all leather. Currently some Brazilian companies linked to rainforest destruction export products to blue chip companies across the world. The three major processors Bertin, JBS and Marfrig have now agreed to reject cattle from illegally deforested land. The footwear companies will also refuse to buy leather which is sourced from farms on both legally and illegally deforested land.

According to this article Asda has actually increased the price of one one in five of its products despite its pledge to roll back prices. Trade magazine The Grocer has found that in many cases the supermarket has been rounding price up rather than down. It checked 969 products and found that 173 actually cost more in July than they did in March. A third of the products were the same price that they had been in March and 477 products were cheaper in July than in March. The Grocer found that one in five of the round pound lines which are heavily publicised has been sold for less than pound in recent months. Often customers often see the items priced at a £1.00 and fail to realise that they were actually previously on sale at a cheaper price.

According to this article a report has concluded that organic food is no better for you. The report which was commissioned by the Food Standards Agency found that organic food contained no more nutritional value than factory farmed meat or fruit and vegetables grown using chemical fertilisers. I think the report might be missing the point. I don’t necessarily buy organic produce because I think its better for me but I do like to know that what I am eating has been farmed in a responsible way and I do like to know where my food comes from. I don’t necessarily purchase organic produce but I am aware that organic farming has stricter animal welfare rules and that it bans artificial chemical fertilisers so am more likely to choose it if the price is not a consideration.

According to this article chocolate bars could be made smaller in a bid to try and fight obesity. The food standards agency wants the average chocolate bar to be reduced by a fifth to reduce the calorie intake and is trying to get chocolate makers to make voluntary changes to the size of their snacks. By 2012 the watchdog wants all confectionary to weigh no more than 50g. Manufacturers are also being asked to sell bite size bars as single items instead as part of a multipack. Under the plans fizzy drinks would also be sold in smaller containers. I’m guessing the pack size will go down and the price will not, meaning you get less for your money.

If you fancy driving something a little unusual, then you might be interested in purchasing this van. It is one of the six yellow Reliants which was used in the filming of Only Fools and Horses. The van is for sale on autotrader for £6,995 and it comes with a sheepskin coat, a flat cap, a market keepers suitcase and a bottle of Peckham spring water.

Coca Cola are trialling a new drink that contains fizzy milk. Called Vio it comes in several flavours including cherry, lime and lemon and costs £1.50. It is made from skimmed milk mixed with sparkling water and is flavoured with fruit and cane sugar. The drinks have gone on sale in New York but there are currently no plans to launch it in Europe.

If you don’t have the time to boil an egg then you can now buy them ready boiled at the supermarket. The eggs are produced by The Happy Egg Company. They are peeled boiled and peeled by machine before being packed and have a shelf life of nine to ten days. The eggs will be on sale at Waitrose, Asda, One Stop and Ocado at 89p for a pack of two or £1.49 for four. The Happy Egg Company is marketing the eggs as an ideal snack for picnics and a tasty snack that can be prepared in minutes. Personally I would rather just boil them myself.

According to this article Marks and Spencer is the worst supermarket for packaging waste. A study found that the supermarket is worse than Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and Morrisons when it comes to packaging. Which? found that its packs of bacon, punnets for mushrooms and tubs for ice cream were all heavier than similar packaging from their rivals. Which? brought 27 own brand items from leading supermarkets including fresh and frozen food and washing up liquid and fizzy drinks. In each case the total packaging including the labels was weighed. The total weight of Marks and Spencer’s packaging was 415g, Sainsbury’s was the lightest at 369g and Tesco was just slightly more at 370g. Marks and Spencer said the study was flawed because it failed to take into account the amount of recycled material that was included in the packaging. They claim that in many cases their packaging may weigh more but is actually more environmentally friends because it is made from more recycled content.

According to this article some supermarket salads contain more fat and calories than you would find in a Big Mac and fries. The consumer group Which? looked at a number of salads on sale in supermarkets. It founds that a Smedleys Atlantic prawn marie rose salad from Morrisons contained 855 calories and 66.3g of fat. A Sainsbury’s tomato and basil chicken salad also had a high fat content with 27.7g of fat and 595 calories. In comparison a Big Mac and medium fries contains 820 calories and 40g of fat. The reason for the high fat content of most of the salads was the fact that they contained a large amount of mayonnaise, creamy sauces or pasta all of which are high in fat.

According to this article Waitrose shoppers are increasingly choosing the supermarkets budget range as they try to save money. Their essential range of products are packaged in simple white boxes and packets are similar to the basics range of products produced by Sainsbury’s. Sales of the range are up 11 per cent compared to a year ago and the supermarket expects to sell £600 million of essential products over the next 12 months. Sainsbury’s have also recently published figures that suggest shoppers are choosing the budget range of products. What do you think? Are you cutting back?

For those who thought they had seen the end of Woolworths the good news is that is back but in an online form. The new website has recently been launched and is proving to be popular according to this article which says nearly 100,000 people logged on in the first few hours. Much loved brands such as Ladybird clothing and pic ’n’ mix sweets can still be found on the site. The new owner Shop Direct brought the brand name in February and has kept the red logo that customers will recognise from the stores. The online stores will sell much the same things that you would expect to have found in a Woolworths shop but they will also sell some larger items that were to big to sell in store.

This is interesting its an idea for laser guided cars that do all the driving for you. The cars would allow the driver to do something else whilst still being behind the wheel meaning you could sleep, read or perhaps catch up on some work. They would work using sensors and wireless technology which would lock the cars together in a convoy with each vehicle following the one ahead. The car at the very front would be manned by a professional driver and all the other cars would simply follow. Drivers would pay a subscription for the service and would need to book ahead in order to secure a place in the convoy. They would then join the end of the convoy at the allotted time via a slip road and when they choose to leave their car would be guided off onto their chosen slip road. I’m not sure I fancy it, it seems to bring back memories off getting stuck behind a tractor for some strange reason.

Sainsbury’s will be the first of the major supermarkets to scrap cereal boxes on its own brands. The supermarket will stop using cereal boxes and will instead use recyclable plastic bags. Sainsbury’s have already started selling milk in polythene bags in an attempt to cut down on packaging. Scrapping cereal boxes should mean that they cut down on packaging by a third. They have already started stocking basics Rice Pops in the new packaging and eventually hope to scrap boxes for all of their own brand cereals. They have also reduced packaging on soft fruit by replacing the plastic punnet with a lid with a heat seal wrap and are looking at reducing packaging on meat.

Millions of Setanta customers have been left without their sports channels after Setanta went into administration and the channel was switched off. Customers who have paid £12.99 for the service which included being able to watch Premier League football are likely to be left without compensation. In addition more than 200 people have lost their jobs and 950 more jobs are at risk in call centres which are connected to the firm. The broadcaster recently lost the rights to continue showing the Premier League matched, something which appears to have instrumental in the companies demise. It all seems very similar to when ITV digital went under about 7 years ago. They also relied heavily on their sports channels to bring in the money. I think the problem is relying on one prime channel to make money rather than concentrating on providing quality content across several channels.

Shoppers in Germany will soon be able to buy something a little more high end from vending machines as machines selling precious metals are introduced across the country. The machines are being introduced by TG Gold Super Mart at 500 locations across Germany including train stations and airports. The aim is to tap into increasing interest in the buying of gold and the prices will be updated every few minutes, although they will be around 30 per cent higher than the current market prices. The prototype machine offered the choice of purchasing a 1g wafer of gold for 30 Euros, a 10g bar for 245 Euros and gold coins. It appears the aim is to take advantage of people that want an investment they can put in their pocket rather than something that is invested in markets you can’t see. It will be interesting to see if the machines prove to be popular.

One lady got a shock when she opened a jar of tikka masala sauce from her local Asda and found that it contained something extra. Along with the curry sauce she found a dead mouse which it seems had fallen into the jar before it was sealed. The jar of sauce has since been sent away for analysis in order to establish where it came from.

This is interesting, its an idea that is being tried by Sainsbury's to make their stores greener. Under the scheme the checkout would be powered by energy which is created by the shoppers. Kinetic road plates will be installed at a new branch in Gloucester. The plates will generate energy when customers drive over them when entering and leaving the car park. The device will then convert enough energy to power the tills inside the store reducing the amount of energy taken from the National Grid. The devices are already being tried at distribution warehouses but this will be the first time they will be used at a supermarket. If the scheme is successful in Gloucester it could soon be put into place at more stores across the country.

This is interesting, its what has been dubbed the anti stab knife. The knife is designed so that it works as normal in the kitchen but it has a rounded tip which makes it harder to stab someone. The rounded edge will snag on clothing or skin and should make it almost impossible to use it to stab someone to death as well as cutting down the risk of accidental injuries. It has been invented by industrial designer John Cornock and is likely to cost between £40 and £50 when it goes on sale. 

According to this article wine sales in Britain have fallen for the first time in ten years. Figures show that the average British household does still drink more than a bottle of wine a week, however, it appears that people are cutting back. 1.16 billion litres of wine were sold in Britain in 2008, a two per cent fall on the previous year and the first time there has been an annual fall since 1995. One factor that might be behind the fall is the increase in wine duty last year which means a duty of £1.61 on a standard bottle. It might also be that people are spending their money more wisely in the current economic climate. What do you think? Are you buying less wine?

According to this article online fraud is at its highest ever level with seven out of ten internet users regularly seeing so called e-scams in their inboxes over the last twelve months. Around 80 per cent of users have received fake banking emails or fake online shopping emails. 70 per cent have been targeted by fake requests for money and 67 per cent have been told they have won a competition only to find out it is a scam. Personally I get so many of all of these types of emails that I automatically assume they are all fraudulent. If I ever did receive a genuine email from my bank or informing me I had won something it would be deleted along with the rest.

One man got an added extra with his loaf of bread when he found a dead mouse embedded in the bottom of the loaf. He had purchased the loaf from a supermarket in Ballymoney and found the mouse when he unwrapped the bread. The company who made the loaf have since been fined £1,000 for putting unsafe goods on the market.

Sony have released two new phones that are made from recycled plastic. The phone are made from old CD cases and water bottles and have been launched as an eco friendly option for customers. The GreenHeart C901 and Naite both feature a camera, video streaming, bluetooth and WAP and work as a conventional phone would. The only difference is that the casing is made from 50 per cent recycled plastic. Both phones also include a low power charger and an in phone e-manual which reduces paper usage by 90 per cent. They also include an application that allows you to work out how much greenhouse gas emissions you can save by choosing to walk somewhere rather than using your car.

Pret a Manger has taken the decision to switch to a sustainable type of tuna after the founder watched a documentary about intensive fishing methods. They will start using skipjack tuna later this year which is more common than the yellowfin and bluefin tuna that they currently use. As well as being more common skipjack tuna is caught using smaller fishing boats using a pole and line approach rather than an intensive fishing method which often leads to other sea creatures being caught in the nets. Although the pole and line technique is more labour intensive and therefore most expensive Pret have promised that the increased cost will not be passed onto the customer. Waitrose and Marks & Spencer have also stopped selling bluefin tuna, swordfish and skate and Tesco does not sell bluefin tuna.

If like many other people you are thinking of getting an allotment to grow your own vegetables, it appears you might be in for a long wait. According to this article in some areas the waiting lists for an allotment are so long that you might have to wait up to 40 years before you get one. In Camden for example there are 883 people waiting for an allotment and in Islington, Burnley, Fylde, Wirrel and Kingston upon Hull waiting list are all longer than 10 years. Although every council has to provide 20 allotments per every 1,000 residents it seems demand is simply to high. Whether its the effects of recession or simply a renewed interest is not clear but it appears growing your own is the thing to do.

Asda is selling a school uniform priced at just £4.75. The uniform includes a cotton polo shirt or easy iron shirt, a cotton sweatshirt and Teflon coated trousers. It is available for all ages from three up to sixteen. Asda have said that the same uniform would cost around £15.25 at Tesco and £21.50 and Marks and Spencer so it seems this is a really good deal.

Royal Mail has launched a tamper proof stamp which should stop people pealing off old stamps and reusing them. The problem whilst it might seem minor costs Royal Mail tens of thousands of pounds every year. Although stamps are franked when they go through the sorting office, the markings on them are not always noticeable and often stamps with little markings on them are peeled off and used again. The new stamps, however, should make it impossible to reuse them. They have two oblong strips on either side of the stamp so that when the stamp is peeled off the strips are left behind. This leaves a useless stamp with two holes in it which should now be unusable.

This article claims that some chocolate bars have shrunk whilst the prices remain the same. Apparently the size of Mars and Snickers bars have shrunk by more than 7 per cent as the company tries to reduce costs. The chocolate bars which previously weighed 62.5g now weigh just 58g. The change happened in the second half of last year and the smaller version are now on sale in the shops. The price of the smaller bar remains the same at 37p for a Mars bar and 41p for a Snickers, so it appears customers are getting a little less for their money. Mars at first claimed the move was to help tackle the nation’s obesity problem but later admitted that it was as a result of rising costs.

According to this article Sky has struck a deal with Microsoft that will see their content offered through the Xbox. Under the deal live football, TV and films will be available through the Xbox. It is likely to be available in the autumn although no details have been released on how much it will cost. There is likely to be some deals available for people who already subscribe to Sky offering them content at a reduced cost but once again no specifics have yet been released.

It looks as thought it might be all over for Setanta as an emergency meeting has taken place to try and secure a rescue package. The sports broadcaster could face going into administration within days unless backers provide more funds. The company owes the English Premier League a total of £30 million, money that it does not appear to have. It has also failed to pay the Scottish Premier League £3 million which it owes them in television rights money. It is estimated that Sentanta is currently losing up to £100 million a year. 

Personally I’m not quite sure why you would want to visit Starbucks but that’s my opinion. Some people obviously do like the brand but other people like this man might be bordering on the obsessive. He has made it his mission to visit every Starbucks around the world. He has managed an impressive 9,100 and is now in England to visit the 400 outlets over here. After the UK he will move onto a tour of Europe, visiting Spain, Portugal, Germany and Romania. At every outlet he orders a regular cup of coffee and takes a picture and puts it on his website. So far he has spent around $100,000 on his project over a course of 12 years. He estimates that he still has 3,000 outlets worldwide still to visit.

If you are a landlord and are currently struggling to manage your rental properties yourself then you might want to look into using a property management company like Real Property Management. They specialise in the management of single family homes, apartment buildings and homeowners associations. They offer services such as tenant placement, credit and criminal background screening, accounting, project management, collections, evictions and maintenance services so they can basically do all of the hard work for you. In addition all of their property maintenance is done by their own people so you don’t have to pay overinflated charges and they have a 24 hour emergency service which is available seven days a week. If you want to see how they help you, you can contact a representative through the website. 

A TV advert for Tetley tea has been banned after the advertising watchdog decided it could mislead viewers. The advert for green tea shows a woman who decides to drink a cup of green tea rather than go out jogging with the voiceover saying 'For an easy way to help look after yourself, pick up Tetley Green Tea. It's full of antioxidants.' The advertising watchdog has ruled that this claim is misleading as there are no proven health benefits to drinking green tea. Four viewers had complained that the adverts suggested drinking green tea would have the same benefits as exercising. The advert will not be broadcast again in its current form. Tetley have said that the tea was promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle.

According to this article exports of Champagne have dropped by a third. The news comes as people cut back on luxury products during the recession. Some of the biggest Champagne houses such as Laurent-Perrier have seen a drop of 27 per cent in the 2008/2009 financial year with net profits down by 45 per cent. It’s not just Champagne exports that are suffering it appears that people are buying less high end wines and moving towards more lower priced bottles as they try to save money.

Stinking Bishop has been voted Britain’s smelliest cheese. The cheese which is made by Charles Martell and Son in Gloucestershire has been described as smelling like a rugby club changing room. It was voted as the winner at the Britain’s Smelliest Cheese Championships beating Driftwood by Whitelake Cheeses which came second and St Oswald by Gorsehill Abbey which took third place. I haven't tried Stinking Bishop but I might have to get some to see what its like. Watch this space for the review.

I came across this website the other day that offers Online poker. Called Titan Poker it has been developed by one of the leading online gaming software companies Playtech. The Titan Poker website has in depth guides on how to play poker including the rules and strategies of how to play the game, so if you haven’t played before its well worth checking these out.  The website also offers a variety of games aimed at players of all abilities. For new players there are games with a low risk factor where you can stake as little $5 and more experienced players can play for much larger prizes. Once you have downloaded the software you can join a table and try your luck. The software offers a real gaming experience and allows you to play up to 16 tables at a time. The website seems to have quite a number of players online at any one time. I visited quite early in the morning UK time and was surprised to find there were 7146 players online with 1191 active tables. With these sorts of numbers playing it’s no surprise that they have given away over $1,000,000 in jackpot prizes since the launch of the site in 2005.

According to this article the recession has seen the number of millionaires in Britain halve. The decline has been put down to a number of factors but mainly the collapse in the property market, the fall in the value of shares and cuts in city bonuses. The number of millionaires in 2007 was estimated at 489,000 but this has now fallen to around 242,000. The rise in the number of millionaires from 2003 to 2007 was mainly attributed to a rise in house prices during that period. With property prices starting to level out I’m sure there will be people waiting to cash in and make their millions once the market improves.

PC maker Dell has seen a decline of 63% in its profits. The decline of almost two-thirds means that they made a net profit of $290m in the three months to 1 May down 63% from $784m a year ago. Although revenues at the firm fell 23% to $12.3bn the results were better than analysts had expected during the current recession. Dell has already cut costs because of falling sales by reducing its global workforce by more than 9,000 people over the past year. Although no further cuts have been announced Dell have said they are continuing cost reduction efforts. The results come a week after Hewlett Packard announced a quarterly profit decline of 17% and that it was cutting 2% per cent of its workforce, a total of 6,000 jobs.

This article is interesting it suggests that eating soup can help you lose weight. Apparently if you were to eat a meal of chicken of vegetables with a glass of water you would only feel full for a couple of hours but if you have the same meal blending the water with the food to make soup it fills you up for much longer. According to the article this is down to the fact that after you have eaten a meal the pyloric sphincter in your stomach holds back food so that digestive juices can work. Water passed through the sphincter to your intestines and therefore does not fill you up. However, when the water is mixed with food the mixture stays in the stomach making you feel fuller for longer. I quite like soup but I also like bread to dip in it which I think adds any extra calories that you might save by not snacking.

I was looking around at bedroom furniture and found some nice Bedroom Sets at spacify.com. In particular I quite liked this Sterling Park Regents bedroom suite (pictured left). It includes the bed, headboard and a one drawer nightstand and you can also purchase a 7 drawer dresser and mirror to match as an optional extra. The website offers free shipping to the US and also a quick ship option on items that are in stock. They also have a 100% price match guarantee so that if you find the same product somewhere else at a cheaper price they will refund the difference.

It appears that as the credit crunch starts to make an impact on people’s spending habits they are increasingly turning to hire purchase rather than buying goods. under a hire purchase scheme the customer pays a fee every month with the appliance remaining the property of the lender until the last payment has been made giving the lender extra security. This article reports a ten per cent rise in the value of goods brought on hire purchase in the last 12 months compared with the same period in the previous year.

If you are looking around for an unusual gift then you might want to have a look at these Crystal Singing Bowls. Imported from the Himalayas they are used for meditation music and healing. The importer Silver Sky Imports travels to the region several times a year and handpicks their selection of singing bowls from Tibet and Nepal. Each bowl is individually catalogued and includes a recorded sound file and individual pictures so you know you are receiving the product you are looking for. Their latest range also includes fountain singing bowls which cause water to spout like a fountain when your hands are rubbed on the handles.

According to this article a £3 sun lotion from Asda was among the best is a test carried out by Which? The low priced lotion offered a better defence than some other brands which cost three times as much. In the survey 14 products were tested, all of which claimed to offer a protection factor of 15. However, only five of the products actually met this standard. In fact the sun cream from Asda was found to offer a protection level of 24, more than was stated on the bottle. Some the creams which failed to make the standard were sold by Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Wilkinsons. It just goes to show you don’t always have to spend a lot of money to get a good product.

If you want to lose a bit of weight are not quite sure how to go about it, then you might want to check out The Truth About Abs. The program has been devised by a certified nutrition specialist and personal trainer and shows you how to tone up your body to get the shape that you want. It includes a range of exercises combined with diet and nutritional advice. If you are unsure about the programme then there is a 21 day trial programme available with nothing to pay straight away so you can try it first to see if it’s for you.

Next has recalled a range of men’s underwear after a complaints that it featured an image of Adolf Hitler. A customer had complained that the underwear featured an image that resembled Hitler saluting as planes flew overhead. Next have since investigated the claims and found that the image was actually from a cartoon inspired by a picture of Lenin. The range of underwear, however, will still be withdrawn from sale.

Recently more and more companies seem to be using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter for their promotions.  Some examples I have come across include Hotels Combined, laterooms and Eight Hotels. Both Laterooms and Hotels Combined use their Facebook page not only to promote themselves but also to promote other events and charities.  In addition Hotels Combined offer promotions such as donating $5 to the charity of your choice if you become a fan and $20 for blogging about them and have so far donated $3400 to charity. I’m not sure how effective a marketing strategy this is but it certainly looks like a good way to raise your companies profile.

If there is one thing that Monopoly has taught us its that a bank error in your favour is a good thing. Unfortunately in real life if you find several thousands of pounds in your account then you should tell the bank and give it back or you could be arrested. An Australian couple did just the opposite. On finding that they had received a payment of £4 million from the bank they simply disappeared. The bank has recovered some of the money but the couple still have around £3 million of it. An international search has now been launched for them.

Having just sold our house I have been looking around at some furniture ideas for our new home. I came across some really nice rustic furniture that I think will fit the room quite well. I like the fact that is individually handcrafted, for me it is much more appealing than something that you can buy from most high street furniture shops.

According to this article The budget hotel chain Travelodge is launching a 99p cream tea. For your 99p you can expect to receive a collection of teas, an extra large scone, a pot of Cornish clotted cream and a choice of strawberry of raspberry jam. Not bad at all for under a pound.

In the current tough economic conditions lasting through the month until payday seems to be getting increasingly difficult for many people. That’s where a Pay Day Loan can come in useful. As the name suggests it is a short term loan designed to help through until you get paid. Unlike other loans payday loans require no credit checks and you can often be approved in a as little as 24 hours. Apex Payday Loans for example provide a service that is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You can apply online which takes just a few minutes and in some cases they will approve it within the hour.

According to this article if you want to save the planet you should stop eating lamb and drinking beer. Apparently 37lbs of carbon dioxide is generated to produce 2.2lbs of lamb. Producing pork and chicken on the other hand produces much less emissions. Alcoholic drinks also contribute to emissions with the growing and processing of hops producing 1.5 per cent of Britain’s greenhouse gases.

We have a lot of problems with other cats getting in through our cat and eating our cat’s food. For this reason I have been looking around for a new cat flap that will only let my cats enter. There are flaps available that work by using a special collar which lets the wearer in but I have heard these are not necessarily fail safe as other cats who also the same collars are still able to enter.  This idea is interesting it’s a new cat flap called the Smartflap that works using your cat’s own microchip. The cat flap looks just like a conventional flap and is made to the same size so it will fit into the existing hole but the fact that it works using your cat individual microchip is a big bonus. It is battery operated and can be programmed so that only your cats can use the flap. You are also able to programme the cat flap to lock itself automatically at night, so if like us you like to keep your cats locked in after dark then this is a useful feature. If you want one they are currently on special offer and you are able to get the item on a 40 day free trial to check that you are happy with the product. It also has an 18 month manufacturers guarantee.

According to this article around half of people who buy their groceries online receive the wrong items. A questionnaire found that 45% had at least one of their items substituted for another product and 15% received something they had not ordered. I have used the Sainsbury’s Online for about five years now and whilst it did used to be fairly unreliable with missed deliveries and broken down vans over the past couple years it has been quite good. I usually receive the correct items with few substitutes and can only ever remember receiving items I haven't ordered once. On that occasion I received a bag of cigarettes (I don’t smoke) but the situation was quickly resolved when I called the store and upon realising the mistake they collected them and brought my bag of shopping in its place.

This is interesting it’s a virtual stock trading game that allows you to trade stocks without having to risk any capital. You can build up your portfolio based upon real time stock market quotes and then trade against other users. The object of the game is to receive the highest returns on your investments compared to other traders in the tournament. You pay a small fee in order to join a tournament and then receive $100,000 of virtual money which you can invest as you please.  If your investments go well and you win the tournament you then get a cash prize.  It looks like a good way of learning about the markets without losing a great deal of money.

According to this article eating honey can shorten the length of a cold by two days. A trial was conducted on 60 patients who were recruited within 24 hours of them catching a cold. All the patients were given traditional therapies such as decongestants and drugs to lower the temperature but half were also given four tablespoons of honey a day. At the end of the study the researchers found that the patients who had been given the honey had recovered from their colds much more quickly than the others showing a significant difference in the duration of all the symptoms. I will have to remember this, next time I am suffering with a cold.

It could be bad news for tea drinkers if this article is to believed. It suggests that the price of a a cup of tea could rise by as much as 15%. The price rise comes as a combination of rising demand, crop failures and the weak pound. It could mean that leading brands such as PG Tips will increase their prices as much as 50p on a pack of 160 tea bags. Unilever which makes PG Tips has said that it can no longer absorb the extra cost of making tea bags due to increases in commodity costs and that it will need to pass the rises onto consumers.

This strange looking fruit is a Kumato. It’s basically a new variety of tomato which originates from the wild tomato. Unlike normal tomatoes it can be eaten even when it is still green. Apparently when still green it has a mild taste and is good for slicing. As it ripens to a dark brown it is sweeter and slightly spicy and is good in salads. When it finally develops a dark red colour it becomes much sweeter than the conventional tomato. The kumato will go on sale at 50 Marks and Spencer stores from next Monday priced at £2.49 per pack.

There are so many companies offering webhosting that it can be a little daunting deciding which one to choose. We recently switched our hosting to another provider and I spent a lot of time looking around at website like Web Hosting Geeks which offer reviews from people who already use the hosting providers. The website contains useful information such as the top 10 web hosting providers as rated by their users. It also gives awards for categories like the best budget hosting, the best blog hosting and the best multiple domain hosting. This in itself is quite useful especially for someone like me who doesn’t really know much about web hosting but the website also provides lots of other information. The awards not only allow you to see which hosting providers perform best in each of the categories but also provide a useful overview of the service detailing things like how much storage space the provider gives you, how much bandwidth and what level of customer service you are likely to receive. In addition to this you can read the reviews by current customers who are already using the service. All of this makes me feel a little more confident about choosing a hosting provider, after all if a provider has lots of reviews from happy customers then they must be doing something right.

It appears that proms are rapidly becoming big business in the UK but it doesn’t come cheap with parents spending an estimated £258 on tickets, transport and outfits. With this in mind Asda have launched a budget prom dress with a price tag on just £30. It comes in two colours green and pink and you includes matching shoes. The supermarket have also launched a £35 tuxedo for the boys so if you are on a budget the prom doesn’t need to break the bank.

This is an interesting idea, its a computer that could make it impossible for drivers to exceed the speed limit. It works by pinpointing the vehicles location by satellite and accessing a database detailing the roads speeds limit to determine how fast the vehicle should be travelling. The device then limits the cars speed to prevent it going any faster than the speed limit. If the vehicle should leave a 40pmh zone and drive into a 30mph zone the device is able to compensate for this and will gradually slow the car down until it is within the speed limit. The device will be trialled in the summer by TFL when a fleet of cars, buses and black cabs will be fitted with it. TFL believe that it could potentially cut accidents by around 10 per cent. It will be interesting to see how the trial goes.

If you are looking for a bargain then you might want to check the Penny Bazaar promotion which starts today at M&S to celebrate their 125th birthday. The promotion runs from today for three days and during that time they are offering a range of products at only a penny each. The promotion runs in store only and customers can choose up to five products each. Every penny donated will go to the M&S 125 charity challenge which aims to raise £125 million for charities between May and September.

If you are considering having laser eye surgery then you might want to have a look at this useful article from The Daily Mail. The article sums up the main types of laser eye surgery with the advantage and disadvantages of each and the cost of each treatment. It also looks at the risks involved and the mistakes that could occur. You might also want to read my account of laser eye surgery detailing my experience of Wavefront treatment which I had back in 2005. The article describes this treatment as as individualised treatment tailored to the patient and personally I have been very satisfied with the results.

If you want to get married but simply don’t have the money then this idea might be for you. Its a scheme being offered by St Hild and St Helen’s church in Dawdon, County Durham. Under the scheme couples are being offered a virtually free wedding including and organist and outfits for the bride, bridesmaid, bridegroom and mother of the bride. The only condition is that couple take four pre-marital lessons prior to the wedding at a cost of £50.

According to this article ministers have backed plans to give restaurant workers fair pay. Under new rules restaurant workers could face jail or a £5,000 fine from October if they use tips to make up staff wages. Currently some restaurants pay workers a low wage but use staff tips to make the wage up to the legal minimum. In some cases waiters are being paid as little at £3 an hour by employers and have to rely upon tips to make up the rest of their salary. It is estimated that around 60,000 staff could see their salaries increase after the new rules come into force.

Sainsbury’s have posted better than expected profits with a 11.3% rise to £543 million. The supermarket has said that like for like sales rose by 4.5% in the year to the 21st of March. The rise is put down to the increasing population of their Basics range and the Jamie Oliver Feed Your Family For a Fiver campaign which has been running on TV. The profits mean that Sainsbury’s staff will share a bonus pot of £60 million, compared to last year’s £47 million.

New guidelines are being brought in to give tenants and home owners who use lettings agencies more protection. The Association of Residential Lettings Agents is introducing a licensing scheme for its UK members and a code of practice for lettings agents. Under the new rules licensed agents will need to hold a professional qualification related to lettings, take part in continuing professional development, have professional indemnity insurance, have plans in place to protect any money they are holding for clients and have an independent audit carried out on clients funds. This would mean that if the licensed agent went out of business any money it owed to its clients would be protected.

According to this article Sales of beer in the UK have fallen at their fastest rate since the recession of the early 1990s. The British Beer and Pub Association have said that off trade beer sales fell by 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 contributing to a total decline of 8.2 per cent in total beer sales. On trade beer sales (those in bars and restaurants) also fell by 6.3 per cent that’s around 753,000 fewer pints every day over the first three months of 2009. The message here is clear, your local pub needs you to drink more beer.

According to this article a new type of tomato has been produced that won’t make your sandwiches go soggy. It has been produced by Tesco who claim it is the world’s first non leaking tomato. The tomatoes have been grown in Holland under a seed breeding programme that began in 1986. Unlike normal tomatoes which lose 8 per of their weight when sliced the non leaking variety loses less than one per cent of moisture meaning less juice ends up seeping into the bread of the sandwich. At 99p for four they are not cheap but if you are sick of eating soggy sandwiches then this might be the answer.

Since I heard that the government was introducing a scrappage scheme to encourage people to trade in their old cars for a newer model I have watching with interest. My car has now reached the 20 year old mark and its a miracle every year when it gets through the MOT. I would happily trade my car in a for a newer one, the only thing that is really stopping me is that I simply cannot afford to get a new car. I was hoping that the government scheme might give me an extra little bit of help to be able to purchase something a little newer, perhaps a car that is only five years old rather than twenty. It appears, however, that the scheme only allows you purchase a car that is less than a year old. I have been looking around at the prices of new cars and even if I were to purchase one with finance it is simply too expensive. I don’t want a particularly big car perhaps a Ford Fiesta or similar but prices of these start at around £12,295. It looks as though my car will be on the road for some time yet whilst I continue saving for a newer one.

This article suggests that shoppers are using their debit cards and cash rather than relying on credit cards. Spending on debit cards increased 6.8 per cent last year from £108.7 billion to £116.1 billion whilst spending on credit cards dropped to £61.1 billion. Cash purchases also increased in the same period. The news comes as credit card companies are being accused of making it harder for people to pay back their debts as well as increasing their rates.

In an unusual incentive a Spanish property company is offering customers a free divorce lawyer when they purchase a new home. The offer is open to couples who buy one of their three bedroom houses priced at 68,000 Euros. The company Geimsa realtors are hoping to cash in on those people who are delaying divorce proceedings because they cannot afford to set up a new home in the current difficult economic climate. The same company is also offering brand new apartments for 100,000 Euros which includes an all expenses paid wedding. In other schemes around 30 estate agents in Spain are offering discounts of up to 40 per cent for buyers who are going through a divorce or separation. Some deals also include a years free mortgage.

Rail fares are to rise by up to 11% next month with those customers who book in advance paying the highest increases. National Express East Coast is putting up its prices for the second time in five months. In January it raised unregulated fares by 7.4% and the further increase will mean an extra 11% on some advance purchase tickets. The First Great Western, East Midlands Train, First Capital Connect and CrossCountry companies are also increasing some fares. All of the rises are on unregulated fares which does not include season tickets. The prices of these must be decided linked to the retail price index. It is likely that train companies will not be allowed to increase these regulated fares next year so instead it appears they are increasing the costs of their unregulated fares. The move means that some fares will have jumped 16% in just five months.

It appears that one company at least is still doing well despite the recession. Tesco have recently announced record profits of £3 billion, that’s a rise of 10% since last year. It is estimated that the company currently takes more than £1 billion a weeks and profits are around £8.6 million a day. Tesco bosses say that the company is thriving because Tesco attracts customers with price cuts and discounts. Despite this claim research by mysupermarket.co.uk has shown that a basket of staple food costs 9% more than it did this time last year. As prices go up there appears to be evidence that stores are taking an large percentage of shoppers money. The big supermarkets are also accused of boosting their profits by squeezing suppliers.

Bay Trading has announced that it is to go into administration. The decision was taken after credit insurance was withdrawn following the release of it results last week. The move puts 1,000 jobs in 268 branches at risk. The accountants Deloitte will be the administrators, they intend to keep the chain trading whilst they try to find a buyer. Bay Trading’s parent company Alexon operates two separate businesses Epcoscan which trades as Bay Trading and Alexon Brands which runs Ann Harvey, Kaliko, Eastex and Alex and Co. Alexon has said that Bay Trading has been making a loss and has been relying on the rest of the group to survive. It has also said that its other brands will be unaffected by the administration.

According to this article a £16 hi-fi from Tesco has been voted the best on the market. In the online survey carried our by Reevoo the Tesco hi-fi (pictured left) beat more expensive products made by Roberts and Sony to take the gold award in the hi-fi category. The winners were chosen by half a million consumers who submitted reviews to the website about products they owned. The £16 Tesco stereo came first with the Roberts Sound MP43 which costs £186 coming second and the Sony MHC-EC78PI costing £100 taking the bronze award. For your £16 the Tesco hi-fi has a CD player and two speakers. It was praised for it good sound quality and easy to use controls. At £16 I might just get one.

According to this article wine sales have plummeted as people begin to feel the effect of the recession. The article says that the amount of win brought in pubs and clubs has shrunk by 1%, that's the equivalent of around 12 million bottles. The figures from The Grocer also show that supermarkets, convenience stores and garage forecourts are also selling less wine, whilst off licenses have recorded a drop of 6% in sales value. Personally I haven't been buying less wine to drink at home but I do tend to drink less if I go out to a pub or restaurant as prices are usually overinflated.

It appears that despite the credit crunch some people are still prepared to pay for luxury items. This wedding dress costs $1.5million and is made from peacock feathers. It took eight workers 40 days to sew together. Its certainly interesting but I think it might be a bit too much as a wedding dress.

This is interesting its a suit made from recycled plastic bottles. It has been made by the Designers at Debenhams and costs £55. It is made entirely out of plastic bottles which were destined for landfill sites. The bottles are cleaned, their labels are removed and then they are ground down into chips which are melted down. The mixture is then refined and woven into a type of polyester. Around 50 bottles are used in each suit. The jacket costs £35 and the trousers £20. In contrast to the peacock feather wedding dress it is hoped that it might appeal to people who are seeking a bargain in the current difficult economic conditions. It is available in sizes 10-22 and can be purchased in Debenhams stores countrywide.

If you have a bit of spare cash then you might be interested in this swimsuit. At £2,000 its not cheap but it is hand embroidered with 5,000 Swarovski crystals in various shades of ruby, sapphire, emerald and gold. If you want one you can get it at Selfridges but they are expecting a lot of interest in the product, so there is likely to be a waiting list.

I read an article some time ago that suggested one in every 50 pound coins is a fake. This seems a lot but new figures from the Royal Mint suggest the problem is actually much worse and that the figure is more like one in every 20. It appears the current process of finding fake coins is not very accurate and only manages to find between 30 and 40% of the fakes because it errs on the side of caution rather than risk taking real coins out of circulation. Willings a company that tests coins collected from vending machines and car parks found that when they carried out a test on 2000 pounds coins between 3 and 4% were fake. Fake coins can be identified because the lettering on the side if often indistinct or in the wrong typeface.

With people suffering during the credit crunch some firms are coming up with cut price products. This article highlights a bikini that that costs just 99p. It is made by the budget chain the 99p Store who say it can help you to create the Cheryl Cole look. To complete the look you can also get a cowboy hat, aviator sunglasses and flipflops, all for under a fiver.

According to this article credit card rates are the highest they have been for two years despite the fact that interest rates are at a historic low. According to the article a borrower now pays £26.40 more in interest on a £3,000 balance than they would have done two years ago. Although the Government has promised to clamp down on credit card companies which have failed to pass on the interest rate cuts it appears that banks are still able to charge their customers high rates and that charges continue to rise. In some ways you can see why in the current economic situation banks are reluctant to lend and with lending becoming more risky might charge a higher rate. However, that isn’t going to work in the long run if their customers simply can’t afford to pay the charges and the bank does not get their money back.

In a rather bizarre attempt to sell more pollack Sainsbury’s have renamed it Colin. Apparently people do not want to ask for pollack when they are shopping and many find the name rather ugly. Colin is what the French call the fish once it has been cooked. It is hoped that the name change will make British shoppers choose pollack as an alternative to cod or haddock. Personally I love pollack and often find that it is nicer than cod. It also has the advantage of being slightly cheaper.

Until now I thought it was just me that can’t seem to find that jeans that fit properly but if this article is anything to go by it might just be that finding a perfect pair of jeans is hard. The article looks at three different women who are a size 8 a size 12 and a size 16 and shows them trying various different brands of jeans with varying degrees of success. Personally I find the same thing when I am looking for jeans. It seems impossible to simply buy a size 12 knowing it will fit. Some fit at the waist and not at the leg, some are too long, others too short and some fit badly around the bottom or crotch area. Through the process of elimination I have many pairs of jeans but none that I would describe as a perfect fit, all have minor flaws. I was beginning to think that perhaps I am funny shape, but this article has made me realise that this is a common problem.

Discount supermarket Lidl are offering a £5 lobster to attract customers over the Easter period. The lobsters are pre-cooked and frozen and weigh three quarters of a pound. As well as £5 lobsters the supermarket is also offering a whole 5lb duck for £5.99 and a 1.5lb salmon for £4.49. The promotions are part of an Easter offer which starts on the 30th of March. When the supermarket ran a similar promotion last year it attracted a huge amount of attention from middle class customers who flocked to store to take advantage of the limited offer. It certainly looks like a good deal but unfortunately I don’t have a Lidl that’s local.

This is interesting its a TV that turns itself off when no one is watching it. The new Sony Bravia WE5 Eco TV includes something called a smart presence sensor that will turn the TV off if it no longer detects any movement in the room. The TV detects the movement and body heat of anyone sitting within range of the screen. If the viewer falls asleep or leaves the room the sensor can detect this and switched the picture mode off reducing the power consumption. The set then remains idle for 30 minutes before switching itself off completely. It’s an interesting idea, but I wonder how well it copes with people who sit still for long periods of time and also how it deals with pets moving about the house.

According to this article this monstrosity is the world’s biggest burger. The tasty looking snack, if you can call it a snack contains 4,800 calories which is twice the daily recommended limit for a man. It also contains 300 grams of fat, 744 milligrams of cholesterol and 10,000 milligrams of salt. The burger has been created by caterers at an West Michigan Whitecaps’s ball park. It contains five beef patties, five slices of cheese, sour cream, a cup of chilli salsa and corn chips. It costs $20 and if you manage to finish it in one sitting you get a free t-shirt, in an extra large size, I’m guessing.

This is cool its the Terrafugia Transition a car that flies. The car works like a conventional car but has the added bonus of being able to fly with the help of some fold away wings. It runs on unleaded petrol and can fly 400 miles on a single tank of gas. It does look a little odd and at £139,000 its certainly not cheap but I think there are times we have all wished we had a flying car.

This article suggests that low energy light bulbs can cause rashes and swelling in some people with sensitive skin. The warning comes as many large supermarkets have started phasing out traditional light bulbs in favour of the energy saving variety. Currently people do still have the choice of whether to buy traditional or energy saving bulbs, however from September 2012 traditional light bulbs will be banned and only the energy saving bulbs or halogen bulbs will be available. Medical charities say that low energy light bulbs trigger migraines, epilepsy and rashes and in some cases lupus, a disease of the immune system which causes skin to become hypersensitive to sunlight. Based on this some doctors are now calling on the government to give medical exemptions for those affected when the ban comes into place. In my opinion if there is evidence that low energy light bulbs can affect people in this way, then the traditional alternative needs to remain on sale as an alternative although personally I do buy energy saving bulbs and don’t find that they affect me.

This is an interesting idea, its a pizza vending machine. The machine called Let’s Pizza has been invented by Claudio Torghele and has recently been launched in Italy. It can make a pizza from scratch in just three minutes whipping the flour into dough, squashing in into a disc and adding the topping before cooking it and serving it in a cardboard box. The machine includes clear plastic windows so that customers can watch the ingredients being mixed and cooked. It costs 3.50 Euros, approx £3.30 for a pizza which is about half what you would expect to pay in a restaurant. The inventor hopes that in the current difficult economic times his three minute pizzas will grab a share of the takeaway market. However, traditional Italian pizza makers are far from impressed with the head of the Association of Italian Pizzerias saying "Pizza that comes out of an automatic machine has nothing to do with Italian pizza."

Virgin America have introduced a charge to check in a single bag. The move brings them in line with other US carriers and means that passengers will now pay a $15 fee to check a single bag. Previously the airline charged nothing for the first bag, $25 for the second and $50 for the third. The airline has also lowered its fee for ticket changes and cancellations from $75 to $50.

Supermarket chain Morrisons appears to be doing rather well despite the credit crunch and has announced plans for 40 new supermarkets. Most of the new supermarkets are likely to be in South where they hope to lure customers away from more expensive rivals. The chain has recently announced a £43million increase in profits, a rise of around 7%. The new stores are part of a strategy to have a store just 15 minutes drive away for most of the population.

If you are too busy to crack an egg then you might interested in this product. Called Egg in a Instant it contains liquid egg. The product is 100% pasteurised British Lion eggs and contains about ten whole eggs per half litre. It can be stored for up to 21 days unopened and needs to be used within three days once you open it. It’s an interesting idea but personally I think I will just stick to using regular eggs.

The Co-operative Group will complete it's takeover of the grocery chain Somerfield next week. Under the £1.6bn takeover the Co-op will close Somerfield's Bristol head quarters and move the staff to Manchester. The Co-op has said that it hopes to relocate as many as possible of the 750 employees that will be affected by the move. The takeover means that the Co-op will take on more than 650 Somerfield stores across the UK making it the fifth largest food retailer behind Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisions.

As someone who is rather fond of red wine, I do find myself cleaning up rather a lot of spillages, so a stain remover is an important product to have in the cupboard.  I found this article quite interesting, it looks at a test carried out by the consumer watchdog Which? They tested various stain removers to see which ones performed best. 17 different stain removers were tested on red wine, coffee, blood, Ribena and chocolate. What is interesting, however, is that budget washing up liquid was used as a comparison alongside the products. Surprisingly the washing up liquid was better than half of the branded cleaners, so it appears you might be wasting your money buying an expensive stain remover. The product that performed best overall was Sainsbury's carpet and upholstery cleaner which costs £2.43.

It appears that one company at least is yet to feel the effects of the recession. Whilst many other businesses are struggling business is booming at Domino's Pizza. Profits for the last 12 months were up 25% to £23 million with like for like sales rising by 10%. There were also 52 new store openings last year. The company appears to benefiting not only from the fact that people are choosing to eat in rather than go out but also from the recent bad weather which has kept many people at home.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster are to join forces in a move that will see the world's largest concert promoter and the biggest ticket seller becoming one. The planned merger which is worth about $800m has sparked competition concerns within the US with come saying it will create a near monopoly situation in music ticketing. The deal with be scrutinised closely by regulators but if it does go ahead the combined group would have revenues of $6bn and would sell more than 150m concert tickets a year. Under the merger, Ticketmaster investors would get 1.384 Live Nation shares for each Ticketmaster share. The Live Nation shareholders would be left with 49.99% of the combined group which would be called Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster shareholders would hold 50.01%.

It appears that Woolworth's is not completely dead. This article suggests that the name will live again but as an online only brand. The brand has been purchased by Sir David and Frederick Barclay who specialise in buying up home delivery retail groups. They already own Littlewoods and some home delivery divisions of Argos including Kays, Marshall Wards and Great Universal and expect woolworths.co.uk to be running by the summer. It's good to see the Woolworths name will not disappear completely, and will be interesting to see what the online version is like.

Tesco are planning to launch an online clothing store to sell it own labels. The website would offer thousands of item including the Florence and Fred, Cherokee and My Favourite Things ranges. It is expected to be launched in the autumn and is part of Tesco plan to try and grab a slice of the internet clothing business which currently accounts for around 4% of the total clothing market. Although Tesco enjoys strong sales of its clothing ranges instore, it is currently not possible to purchase these online, but it looks like this is soon going to change.

Police in Hampshire have opened a police station with a difference, it is inside a supermarket. The facility has been opened at the Sainsbury's supermarket in Lordshill Southampton. It will be staffed three afternoons a week and is designed to be used just like a normal police station giving people greater access to the service.

British Gas have announced that they will cut the price of its standard tariff by 10%. The reduction will come into force in February and will affect 75% of customers, that's around 7.5 million homes. The news should come as a welcome announcement for those who have been struggling to pay high gas bills  during the current cold spell. The cuts will mean that an average customer will save about £79 on their bill.

I think you will find that's legal tender is a phase usually heard in England when businesses refuse to accept Scottish banknotes. Although the tender is indeed legal, traders south of the border can refuse to accept Scottish banknotes. However, they may soon have to accept them if a private member's bill is successful. The bill is being launched by Shadow Scottish Secretary David Mundell, it would require all providers of goods or services in the UK which accept Bank of England notes to also accept Scottish banknotes on an equal basis.  Three Scottish banks retain the right to print their own money - the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank but currently these notes are not backed by force of law anywhere in the UK.

Iceland have brought 51 of the former Woolworths stores that closed recently after Woolworths went into administration. The announcement comes only a few days after the last 200 Woolworths stores closed. The move will add to Iceland's existing 682 outlets and is likely to create 2,500 new jobs. A full list of the 51 stores is below.

Alton, Barnsley, Belper, Bethnal Green, Bexhill On Sea, Bicester, Billericay, Blandford Forum, Bodmin, Boreham Wood, Bow, Braintree, Broadstairs, Devizes, Exmouth, Fraserburgh, Frome, Greenford, Hackney, Hailsham, Harold Hill, Haverhill, Herne Bay, Hexham, Highgate, Honiton, Kilburn High Road, Leyton, Malvern, Matlock, Mill Hill, Minehead, Monmouth, Morpeth, Morriston, Newtownards, Palmers Green, Pinner (Rayner's Lane), Palmers Green, Plumstead, Pontypool, Poplar, Portslade, Ringwood, St Neots, Stoke Newington, Strood, Sudbury, Swaffham, Wakefield, Wallington, Whitstable

Train passengers should be able to use their Oyster cards on most of the London rail network by the end of 2009. Currently the Oyster card can be used on London Overground, the London underground, buses, trams and the Docklands Light Railway. However, many suburban rail firms do not yet accept the pay as you go card. The London Mayor Boris Johnson has said that an agreement with most rail companies is near. The one exception appears to be South West Trains which currently has no plans to allow customers to use the Oyster card on its service.

This article suggests that car insurance premiums could rise by as much as 20% this year. This would mean that the average premium for a driver with a full no claims bonus would rise from £400 to $380. The rise is due to an increase in fraud and the high cost of personal injury claims. This article suggests that currently for every £100 spent on premiums the insurer pays out as much £105. Around £30 of each policy paid by the UK 33 million insured motorists also goes to cover the costs of accidents involving those with no insurance.

MCDonald's will become the UK's leading apprenticeship provider within two years offering a total of 10,000 places. The company will offer an on the job qualification which will be equivalent to achieving five A to C grades at GCSE. The qualification will not only teach people how to cook burgers but will also concentrate on developing young people's maths and English ability. A trial which started at 80 restaurants will be extended across all of the UK's 1,200 restaurants with six thousand places being available this year. The courses will also be monitored by Ofsted inspectors.

This article suggests that 38% of small business owners do not expect to survive 2009 because of the current economic downturn. Research which was carried out by the Financial Mail and This is Money found that over half of small business owners had cut back on credit and 66% would be making staff redundant. The results show that small business owners are pessimistic about the coming year but it thought that the reality could be much worse. The Forum of Private Business estimates that as many as 200,000 firms could close next year.

This article suggests that almost an eighth of the customers who order cod and chips from the chip shop actually end up eating haddock without realising it. Whilst haddock is equally tasty the one big difference is the price with cod costing around £16.17 per kg and haddock £11.63 per kg. An investigation conducted by the Food Standards Agency found that haddock was substituted in place of cod at around 12 per cent of chip shops, 10 per cent of pubs and 9 per cent of restaurants and that it was more common when cod prices were high. Whilst most people would find it hard to tell the difference between the two fish especially once they have been breaded or battered it seems wrong deliberately mislead customers, if you pay for cod then you should get cod.

Woolworths went into administration yesterday after negotiations to try to avert the collapse failed. The chain which opened its first shop in Britain nearly 100 years ago, now has debts of £385 million. The chain has 800 outlets employing almost 30,000 people, most of whom are likely to lose their jobs. Negotiations are now under way to try and ensure that the stores stay open over the Christmas trading period. The administration of Woolworths includes its shops and EUK a DVD distribution business. Many companies including Asda, Sainsbury's and Zavi rely upon Woolworths' Entertainment arm for stock of CDs, DVDs and games, deliveries of these have now collapsed, hitting the entertainment sector.

This article suggests that supermarkets are hiking up prices at a time when their costs are actually going down. According to the article although supermarkets claim to be cutting prices for their customers, they have actually imposed price increases on staple foods. The increase in costs could add as much as £1,100 a year to a family's grocery bills. The big four stores, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons have all been criticised for fattening up their profits at a time when they could be passing the savings onto hard pressed customers.

Asda has recalled 60,000 DVD players after a fault was found in the item. The retailer has estimated that around a third of the DVD players have a hole in the outer casing that could put users at a risk of electrocution. The affected product is model DVD1072UK which retails at £17.97. Asda have not said how many have been sold to customers but have asked people who have purchased one to return it to their nearest store. Customers will be able to obtain a refund if they return the DVD player even if they no longer have the box or a receipt.

Marks and Spencer will cut the price of many of its products in a bid to take on discount grocery and fashion stores. The price cutting drive has been announced at a time when their half year profits have fallen by 34%. M&S chairman Sir Stuart Rose said that the store group was planning to reduce costs to match the publics desire for cheaper goods. The group have also been running promotions such as their "dine in for £10" and weekend promotions which appear to be tempting customers back to their stores.

Tesco will expand its discount range to try and entice budget conscious customers. Increasingly customers have been moving towards discount stores like Aldi, Netto and Lidl to try and cut costs as the credit crunch hits. Tesco has already discounted hundreds of everyday groceries but will cut the cost of hundreds more in the next few weeks. They claim that customers are already choosing less well known discount brands instead of costlier versions of products such as tomato ketchup, beef burgers, washing up liquid and lettuce. Personally I have been choosing more supermarket own brands as prices keep creeping up.

The ticket website paperticket.co.uk has been closed by the Metropolitan Police due to fraud fears. The site sold tickets for a number of shows including Barry Manilow and The Killers. It was closed last Friday on suspicion of fraud. Customers who have purchased tickets from the website have been advised to contact the Consumer Direct advice service  on 08454 04 05 06 for more information. People that brought ticket with a credit or debit card may be able to obtain a refund from their card issuer.

Some of the leading supermarkets have announced more petrol cuts in a second week of fuel cuts. Morrisons cut 2p from the price of a litre of unleaded and diesel making the prices 97.9p and 109.9p. Asda introduced the same prices for its fuel yesterday morning. Tesco have cut prices to less than £1 a litre and have said it will knock a further 2p off prices at most of its filling stations. Sainsbury's have said that they will reduce their costs of unleaded petrol to 97.9p a litre and diesel to 109.9p a litre. Total, BP and Shell have also announced cuts.

Production of White Rabbit candy products has resumed after the China milk scare. The vanilla flavoured sweets which are exported across the world were withdrawn during the Chinese milk scare after fears that they contained melamine. Chinese officials have accused milk suppliers of adding the chemical to batches of milk to artificially boost its protein content. Four babies have dies and more than 54,000 children fell sick as a result. China's state council made an announcement yesterday that they will overhaul the dairy industry and punish companies that have put profit above safety. The manufacturer of White Rabbit candy will now undergo government quality testing as checks are carried out on milk products in China. The company have not yet said when the product will be back on sale.

BHS has reported a fall in pre tax profits for the year end of March. Profits are down from 34% to £32.6m from £49.4m 12 months earlier. Total sales at BHS were down 1.4% to £860m. Mr Green who owns the chain said the results were "a solid performance in an exceptionally challenging market". Other retailers such as Marks and Spencer have also recently reported its worst quarterly sales performance for more than three years.

Gordon Brown intends to increase the Treasury's guarantee to savers from £35,000 to £50,000. He is also considering issuing a blanket guarantee to savers to protect all of their money in the event of their bank failing. Such a guarantee would reassure banks that they could continue to trade without the fear of a sudden collapse. The proposal could insure around £1.9 trillion in deposits.

It seems that everything is getting more and more expensive recently and it can be tough making it through until pay day. That’s where a short term loan like a payday loan can help. Basically a payday loan is a loan that you can get quickly with a short approval process and there are no credit checks involved. You just need to have a regular job and be over 18 years to apply for one. It is designed to as the name suggests help you through until your next pay cheque. You can apply for an Easy Payday Loan online and it often be approved in as little as 24 hours. 

Sales are up at Domino's Pizza as more customers choose to eat in. Sales across 535 UK Domino outlets in the UK and Ireland rose by 17.8% to £83.3m in the last 13 weeks. Over the past 39 weeks sales have increased by 18.9% to £253.5m. During the last recession in the 1990's Dominos eventually saw its sales flatten out but this time the company appears to be showing reliance leading analysts to increase their profit forecasts for the company.

Tesco is planning a move into the mortgage market as loans from traditional lenders become fewer. With the recent mergers of some of the larger banks like Lloyds and HBOS customers now have much fewer choices when looking for a home loan. Tesco will offer mortgages through a Tesco branded retail bank which will be launched after buying the other half of its Tesco Personal Finance venture from the Royal Bank of Scotland. The deal to but out RBS is expected to be completed in November.

A Cornish cheese has beaten more than 100 cheeses from around the UK to win a prestigious award. Sue Proudfoot makes Cornish Crumbly, a cheese which is handmade in small batches at her farm near Bude. The chief judge at the British Cheese Awards in Cardiff described it as having "a mildly acidic yet fresh taste with a delightful zing on the finish". Mrs Proudfoot also makes three other cheeses at her dairy.

Some scientists have said that energy drinks should carry warnings. The so called "performance drinks" can often contain as much caffeine as at least ten cans of coke. Recently there have been concerned that caffeine dependency is causing disruption and concentration among school children in the classroom. A drink such as Relentless made by Coca Cola contains 160mg of caffeine in a 500ml can whilst a 248ml can of Spike Shooter contains 300mg of caffeine, nearly ten times the amount in cola. Scientists have said that consumers need more information about what is in the drinks and that they should also be warned about the potential health risks such as caffeine intoxication.

Tesco has recalled its White Rabbit Creamy Candies after they were found to contain melamine. Melamine has recently been found in formula milk in China and is thought to have caused the death of four babies and made around 53,000 children ill. Although the sweets are not thought to have made anyone ill, Tesco are withdrawing them as a precaution.

This is interesting, its a firm that allows companies to produce pictures of their advertising in space. What the company called JP Aerospace does, is launch a billboard into space that contains the advertisers logo and message and then take pictures of it. They use specially constructed balloons to send the billboard 20 miles into the air. Then they take hundreds of pictures of it and return it to Earth by parachute. The result is something like the picture on the left.

According to the Royal Mint there are now around 30 million fake £1 coins in circulation meaning that one in 50 is now counterfeit. The question is, how do spot a fake one? This article should help. It contains this diagram which compares a fake and a real coin. Signs that you have a fake are a poorly defined ribbed edge, the wrong typeface and an indistinct or blurred design.

A dental surgery has opened in a supermarket in Manchester. The surgery has been opened at the Sale branch of Sainsbury's becoming the first dentist clinic to open in a UK supermarket. It will be open seven days a week and follows a similar initiative to open a GP surgery in a supermarket. The dental surgery will charge £16 for a check up which is slightly less than the current NHS charge of £16. It is hoped that it will make dental treatment more accessible and convenient for the patients. 

A leading expert has said that everyone should have at least one meat free a week to help save the planet. He says that meat farming produces enormous amounts of greenhouse gases and that if every ate vegetables just once a week it would be more beneficial than other measures such as cutting car journeys.

I have noticed recently that the economy bin bags I usually buy in Sainsbury's seem thinner. Whilst they look the same I have found that they appear to more prone to spitting and tearing often resulting in my rubbish ending up all over the floor. To combat the problem I have stopped buying the economy bags and have now started to buy premium sacks which cost more. Whilst I have no proof that the sacks have been made thinner this article made me wonder whether I am right. It highlights the fact that Sevenoaks District Council have started using thinner bags because of rising oil costs. They have reduced the thickness of the bags by one micron in order to save £17,000 from their budget.

A rise in the sales of canned food has been put down to the fact that that consumers are looking for cheaper options as food costs go up. Sales of baked beans increased by 12% over the past year with sales of other canned foods also booming. Figures also show that shoppers are starting to buy cheaper cuts of meat such as choosing chicken thighs rather than breast meat.

If you still haven’t secured a university or college place for the current year then you might want to check out the University of Bedfordshire’s clearing service. They still have places available through their clearing system and can offer you advice even if you are not sure what course you want to apply for. They have a dedicated University of Bedfordshire - Clearing 2008 team who are on hand to offer advice and talk through the options with you. You can give them a call on 0800 013 0925 and can also check out the list of available courses online before hand to see if there is something to suit you.

Tesco are to open a supermarket that is built to be pensioner friendly. The supermarket which is planned for Newcastle would supermarket feature extra wide aisles, anti-slip flooring and trolleys with locking wheels and built in chairs. The plans are still is the early stages but follow a similar idea that has been implemented at a supermarket in Germany.

If you are looking for some exposure for your travel blog you might want to check out this site. They run a weekly feature called (oddly enough) Travel Blog of the Week and are currently looking for suggestions. The feature give a short write up, highlighting some of the best articles from the chosen blog with a link back to blog. It looks like a good way to get some increased traffic for free.

The Royal Mint has launched a coin to mark the handover of the Olympic Games from Beijing to London. The £2 coin was presented by Boris Johnson to the Mayor of Beijing Guo Jinlong on Sunday. The design shows two hands passing the Olympic flag encircled by the words Beijing 2008 and London 2012. It is the first legal tender UK coin to display the Olympic emblem.

The online ticket company Xclusive Tickets is about to go into liquidation. Around 4,329 people who brought tickets from the company are likely to be left out of pocket. However, those who paid by credit card should get a refund. The company hit problems after 18,000 tickets for the Reading, Leeds and V Festivals and the Beijing Olympics did not arrive. A creditors meeting has been called for next month and a helpline will be set up offering advice and information for customer.

Boots has opened its first drive through chemist on the site of a former McDonald's outlet. The chemist aims to fill prescriptions in under two minutes whilst customers wait at the window. It is targeting busy mothers and commuters who need to pick up their drugs quickly. Whilst drive through chemists are common in the US, they are relatively new here in the UK. This branch in Colchester will run as a pilot. If it is successful Boots are likely to  open other branches across the UK.

This article suggests that customers are losing out as some supermarket brands are reducing the pack size but are still charging the same price. Effectively this tactic means customers are paying more for their goods without realising it. Many brands are reluctant to put up prices but instead appear to using this rather underhand method to protect their profits. Some examples include Pampers which have reduced the amount of nappies in some packs whilst keeping the price the same. Dairylea, Pringles, Strongbow and Rolo has all also cut pack sizes without cutting prices.

A Government advisor has said that fatty foods should carry health warnings. Professor David Hunter has said that the NHS could become unaffordable within decades because of the cost of treating conditions linked to obesity. He said that ministers should force manufacturers put warnings on food which contain high amounts of fat, sugar or salt. He also said that warning labels could help to phase unhealthy foods and eventually lead to their withdrawal from the supermarket shelf. Its an interesting idea but personally if I saw a warning on a big chocolate cake, I would still buy the cake. I know it might not be very good for me but I will be off to the gym to work it off after I have eaten it.

According to this article food prices have risen by 9.5% in the last year. The increase is the highest for 15 years and is despite the fact that the main supermarkets claim they have been making cuts. The figure for fresh food is up by 10.8% for the last year according to the British Retail Consortium. The increasing cost of food, fuel, gas and electricity is currently outpacing salary rises and means that many families are having to cut back just to afford the essentials.

Morrisons have cut the price of petrol by 2p in the latest round of the supermarket price wars. Oil prices have recently fallen but oil giants have been criticised for falling to pass on the savings to the consumer. Price reductions can often take weeks to filter through but any cuts should in the wholesale price should reach the pumps within days. However, it appears only the supermarkets are passing on the bulk of these reductions. Morrisons have cut their price by 2p off a litre of diesel and unleaded with Asda saying it will do the same. Tesco have also said it will match the lowest local petrol price at its forecourts.

This article suggests that garlic could lower blood pressure as effectively as drugs. It is based on a study in which scientists monitored patients who were given a daily dose of powered garlic. They found that there were significant blood pressure falls among the patients and that those who had the greatest drop had the higher blood pressure readings to begin with. In some cases the effects were similar to those achieved by common anti blood pressure drugs such as beta blockers and ACE inhibitors.

The wedding list company Wrapit has called in the administrators leaving 2,000 couples without their wedding gifts. The company which is based in Wandsworth was set up in 2000 and allowed wedding guests to buy presents from an online list. It handled up to 3,000 wedding list a year but has made a loss for the last six years and has failed to honour orders worth £3.5m. HSBC has said it will ensure any guests that used their credit cards will receive a refund but an estimated 20,000 people who brought gifts using switch and Maestro debit or who paid by cheque are unlikely to receive their money back.

If you have a lot of outgoings that need to be settled before you get your pay check, then you might want to look a payday loas The loan as the name suggests is a short team loan designed to give you a bit of extra cash to see you through until you get paid. You can apply for a payday loan online using the three minute application form and it can often be approved within the hour. You just need to have proof of a steady income, proof that you have a bank account and proof of residency. Because Payday Loans are different to personal loans they do not require a credit check so even if you have a poor credit history as long as you meet the criteria you should still be approved.

Richard Branson has launched his mothership, a craft that will soon launch the first space tourists into the atmosphere. The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft which is named after Branson's mother is capable of reaching a height of 50,000ft. The first passengers are likely to be launched into space in around 18 months time but there is currently no set launch date as safety tests still need to be carried out. More than 250 customers have already paid a $200,000 deposit to be among the first space tourists.

A Cornish creamery has become the first cheese maker to become supreme champion for two years in a row at The Nantwich International Cheese Show. The Davidstow Creamery has been making cheese for more than 50 years using a traditional Cornish recipe and milk produced in Devon and Cornwall. The Nantwich International Cheese Show has over 2,700 entries from 30 countries. Despite this Davidstow won the supreme champion, Champion UK, Reserve Champion UK and a further seven trophies and cups. This cheese sounds really good, I must get some.

The pub group Mitchells & Butlers has acquired 44 restaurants from Whitbread in return for 21 hotel sites. The group whose brands include Harvester and All Bar One currently owns around 2,000 pubs nationwide. The outlets it is gaining currently operate under the Brewers Fayre and Beefeater brands. In exchange Whitbread will get some of its Express by Holiday Inn hotels.

Sony have announced a fall in profits with the net profit down 66.5bn yen from a year ago. The news comes due a strong yen and price competition and is despite the fact that Playstation sales are still strong. Sony have said that that its net profit in the year to March 31 2009 is likely to total 240bn yen down from an earlier forecast made in May of 290bn.

Amazon has beaten its profit forecasts for the three month to the end of June, doubling its profits to $158m. Sales of books, CDs, and DVDs have risen by 31% whilst electronics and other merchandise are up 58%. Analysts have said that Amazon is benefiting from high petrol prices which make shoppers more likely to shop online.

A British schooner has started carrying bottles on wine in a move that could revive the merchant shipping industry. Its first commercial cargo consists of French wine and is being transported on a six day journey to Dublin on the 108 year old ship called the Kathleen & May. The initial contract is with 80 vineyard owners from the Languedoc Roussillon region of France and will carry their bottle from France to Dublin on the tall ship. This form of transport has the advantage that it is pollution free as the ship simply uses wind power rather than emitting carbon dioxide like conventional merchant ships.

European scientists are working on an idea that could use solar energy from the Sahara to power parts of Europe. The plan would see vast fields of solar panels set up in the desert and would cost around £35.7bn. Because the sunlight is more intense the solar panels could generate up to three times the electricity compared with similar panels in Europe. Under the plan countries across Europe would also share electricity from green resources such as wind energy in the UK and Denmark and geothermal energy from Iceland and Italy.

Apple has seen its profits beat forecasts with a rise to $1.07bn in the first fiscal third quarter. They have also issued a warning that the current quarter profits will fail to meet analysts forecasts. Whilst the company's results were ahead of expectations the warning of lower sales concerned investors and sent shares 6% lower.

Marks and Spencer have cut the price of selected men's suits to only £24. It has also cut prices of some dresses to £9 and T-Shirts to £2. The cuts are part of its summer sale, in which they are taking 60% or more off of some items to try and turn around a bad sales performance.

The first half of the year has seen a rise in the amount of money spent on the internet in the UK. Shoppers spent 17p in every pound online with the total internet spend going up by 38% compared to the same period last year. Online sales have now reached nearly 20% of retail spending.

Some of the leading supermarkets have recently cut their fuel prices. The cuts are as a result of the recent drop in oil prices. Asda has dropped its prices by 3p a litre, Morrisons cut prices by 4p and Sainsbury's have said they will offer a 5p a litre reduction for customers who spend £50 or more in store.

Nike has withdrawn its range of Air Stab trainers due to the recent spat of knife crime. The trainers which sell for £90 will be taken off the shelves due to the current regarding knife crime. A spokesman for Nike said 'The shoe was first launched in 1988 as a stability running shoe, hence the name Air Stab. It has nothing to do with knives or knife crime."

The government is looking at introducing a rent first buy later scheme to inject some new life into the housing market. Under the scheme people with household earnings under £60,000would be able to rent a property at a discounted rate for two or three years. They would then have the option to buy part of it. The government hopes that the scheme will benefit 75,000 first time buyer households to get on the property ladder.

Intel has reported a 25% jump in profits for the three months to the end of June. Record sales of laptop chips have boosted the firms income to $1.6bn up from $1.28bn last year. Analysts had feared that demand for computer had been hit by tough economic conditions worldwide but the soaring demand for laptops and notebooks has helped Intel to continue to prosper despite this.

BT is going to invest £1.5bn in fibre optic cables to give around 10 million households access to faster broadband. Under the plans 40% of homes would be able to receive a faster service by 2012. They are also planning on putting fibre optic cables into 1 million homes giving those customers an even faster service. Remaining customers would be offered broadband speeds of between 40 and 60 megabits a second.

The Chancellor has scrapped plans for a 2p rise in fuel duty. The rise was meant to take effect in October but the Chancellor has said he will suspend the rise to help motorists and businesses through the difficult economic conditions. The rise has now been put off until next April when it will be dealt with in his next budget. Road user groups have welcomed the announcement but have said more needs to be done to help motorists and hauliers.

Ministers are looking at cutting stamp duty in an effort to boost the housing market. Under the plan first time buyers could be offered stamp duty "holidays" and other home buyers could have tax rates reduced. Ministers are also looking at the possibility of raising the price bands at which stamp duty is charged. Currently stamp duty in charges at 1% on homes between £125,001 to £250,000, 3% between £250,001 and £500,000 and 4% over £500,000. As a result homebuyers have paid a record amount of stamp duty over the last 10 years according to official figures. I certainly think the price bands need looking at, you can't buy much for less than £125,000 these days, perhaps a shed somewhere and for first time buyers finding that extra cash just to line the governments pockets can be really hard.

This article suggests that some fast food meal contain a whole days' intake of fat or salt. The National Consumer Council criticised the country's seven biggest fast food chains for not making it clear to customers what is in its food. It is calling for restaurants to print nutritional information on menus. The report was particularly critical of Pizza Express which shows no information of the levels of fat, sugar and salt that is in its dishes. Meals from KFC and McDonalds were also revealed to have high levels of ingredients linked to obesity and heart disease. A KFC Tower Burger meal contained nearly a days intake of salt whilst a McDonalds quarter pounder meal had 90% of the the recommended daily calorie intake for a woman. Personally I don't find this is surprisingly. We all know fast food is bad for us and many people only eat it every now and again. The problem comes if you eat food like this everyday.

I was thinking of getting a new car, perhaps something that has a lower fuel consumption to try and cut down on the fuel bills. Before I consider the car itself I thought I would check out an auto loan. Looking around I came across this website called up2drive that specialise in auto loans and say they can lower my payment. They finance all makes and models and have no hidden cost or application fees. You simply complete their secure online credit application and submit it online. The website also has a handy payment estimator so you can input the loan type and amount that you require and get an idea of what the rate will be before you even apply.

The Co-Operative Group has become the country's fifth largest food retailer after agreeing a £1.6billion takeover of Somerfield. The takeover will mean that the Co-op will acquire 3,000 outlets across the country and an eight per cent market share.

Santander have brought Alliance and Leicester for £1.26bn, less than half the UK lender's value at the end of last year. The banks had held talks about a possible deal last December when Santander was prepared to pay nearly 700p a share for the bank. Since then Alliance and Leicester's share price has dropped due to recent market turmoil. Santander will combine Alliance and Leicester with Abbey which it purchased in 2004. It also plans to inject £1bn of capital into Alliance and Leicester to cover rising bad debts and further treasury write downs.

Britain's first eco nightclub has opened in London. The night club offers free entry to cyclists and walkers. It also has its own wind turbines and solar energy systems. The venue has air flush waterless urinals and low flush toilets. It sells all of its drinks in polycarbon cups and has a high tech dance floor that generates its own electricity when people dance on it.

If you are looking for a new pair of glasses you might want to check out these incredible stylish new frames from zenni. The company that makes them Zenni Optical was on FOX news a few weeks ago and received a favourable review based on their claim that they can have you seeing 20-20 for only $20. The website has a huge range of prescription glasses online including their Zenni Optical $8 Rx Eyeglasses which are great if you are on a budget. They also have tinted sunglasses, potochromic lenses and progressive lenses and because they sell their own frames directly to the customer with no middle man you can get a really low price.

When booking a holiday you might want to check the small print to see what is says about fuel surcharges. This article highlights a case where a couple were hit with a surcharge of £892 a few months before they were due to set off on a cruise holiday. In their case the extra charge was simply too much to afford and they had no choice but to cancel the holiday. Unfortunately because the charges amounted to £8 less than 10% of the total holiday cost they were not entitled to a refund of the £900 deposit they had paid for the £9,000 holiday.

A hydrogen refuelling station has been unveiled. The refuelling station could be installed in the home as an alternative to visiting the petrol station. You do of course need a hydrogen powered car to go with it. The unit can produce enough gas overnight to power a car for 25 miles but it could soon be possible to have high pressure units that could power a car for 100 miles. At the launch of the refuelling unit ITM also introduced a hybrid Ford Focus that has been converted to run on hydrogen.

Laws banning hidden costs on air fares are likely to be in force by the end of the year. The move would mean that airlines would have to include all airport taxes, fees and charges in the basic ticket price they offer to customers. The laws would mean that all costs must be clearly set out making it very clear the final total that the customer will pay. The new laws are currently waiting the final approval from Euro MEPs.

This article suggests that supermarket price cuts have helped to stem the increase in grocery bills. Although the increase is still running at 17.8% it has fallen from 19.8% and this has been attributed to special offers and reductions on a number of products including broccoli and sausages. Supermarkets have been slashing prices on some products in an effort to become the cheapest store at a time where customers appear to be becoming more price aware.

Sainsbury's has started putting electronic tags on chickens in its Eastbourne store. They have introduced the measures after an increasing amount of people have been stealing chickens. Previously tags were only used on high value goods such as alcohol but with the increasingly high costs of meat it appears that chicken is now much sought after. Anyone who tries to steal a chicken from the Eastbourne store will now set off an alarm.

Boris Johnson has quashed the proposed rise in the London congestion charge. The former mayor Ken Livingston has planned to raise the daily charge from £8 to £25. Boris Johnson has said that the £25 charge would hit small businesses and families the hardest and this is why he is scrapping the rise. He also said that his aim is to achieve a "fairer and more effective congestion charge".

A survey by a rail watchdog has found that only four out of ten passengers feel they get value for money. Its hardly surprisingly when you pay to use a service where you rarely get a seat and in many cases can hardly find standing room on a train. The same report found that people are 5% less satisfied with the service than in 2007 with satisfaction ratings falling for 13 companies since spring 2007. One of the main things that passengers were dissatisfied with was fare increases.

If you are looking for a new pair of prescription glasses you might want to check out zennioptical.com. They have a wide range of frames includes tinted sunglasses, bifocal and progressive frames and even goggles. Personally I quite liked their range of rimless frames. Most of their frames come in a choice of colours and once you have selected one you can also select the lens size and shape, add an anti reflection coating, choose whether you want a lens tint and also add a clip on sunshade. You also need to enter your prescription. They currently ship within the US at a cost of $4.95 per order and most orders are received within two weeks of ordering. 

The AA has scored rather badly in a survey of roadside breakdown firms coming just seventh out of eleven. The poll included 32,000 drivers and rated breakdown firms on value for money, friendliness, helpfulness and overall service. GEM Motoring Assist came out top with Churchill coming bottom. In response the AA has said that 95% of people would recommend the service to family and friends. Personally when I have used the AA I have also found the service to be very good.

The full list, in order of overall rating, was:

1. GEM Motoring Assist;
2. Autonational Rescue;
3. RAC;
4. National Breakdown;
5. More Than;
6. Green Flag;
7. The AA;
8. Norwich Union;
9. Tesco;
10. Direct Line;
11. Churchill

eBay have been ordered to pay 40 million Euros in fines for selling fakes. The company will have to pay the money to LVMH, a French luxury goods group because they have allowed fake versions of their products to be sold on the eBay website. LVMH demanded 50 million Euros in damages after claiming that eBay's French business has not done enough to prevent users selling counterfeit items. LVMH also told the court that in 2006 90% of the LVMH branded goods for sale on eBay were fakes. eBay plans to appeal against the decision and says it quickly removes any goods that are found to be counterfeit.

I found this website the other day that sells a range of personalised jewellery. One thing that they have which is slightly unusual is a section devoted to medical ID jewellery. The nice thing about this site is that you can pick a medical id bracelet and then customise it. You start off by selecting the bracelet type from a traditional design or a charm bracelet. You can then select what sort of chain you would like to have on your bracelet and you can even select which clasp you would like. You can also choose the length of the bracelet and can add an alert charm. The next stage of the process allows you to choose what you want engraved onto to your bracelet. Once you have entered the text to be engraved you can run it through the spell check and preview it before checking out. Despite the fact that all the items are made to order you can still get them fairly quickly, the standard service takes approx 3 weeks or the rush service costs £5 extra and items are made with 3-5 days. Shipping to the UK costs an additional £4.00 by Royal Mail first class or just £8 on the DHL express option.

It appears that real ale is enjoying something of a revival as shoppers cut back on lager in favour of the more traditional British beer. That's according to this article which says lager sales fell by 5.7 per cent last year whereas ale sales increased by 3.3 per cent. One reason for the change could be that's supermarkets have started to stock a bigger range of premium bottled beers. Tesco for example now stock 300 bottles ales instead of only 50 two years ago. All Hail the ale.

I came across this website the other day which offers a useful service for players of online bingo. The website is called Bingo Port and it monitors and ranks all of the UK's online bingo sites. It shows information such as the ticket price, the number of players and the expected jackpot so that you can work out which game to play. The site also has various special offers and discounts, for example the current bingo site of the month which gives you £10 free at Gala Bingo. Not all of the games require you to pay you can also use the website to register for some free bingo games, such as Bingo Night live, a free weekday game that runs every day on ITV at midnight. Either way, whether you like to play the free games or the paid ones, its certainly worth checking out this website first.

Some of the leading supermarkets have announced cut price promotions as customers start to move to discount stores to save money. Stores like Aldi and Lidl have seen strong growth as they sell items such as bread and eggs for as little as 50p. In response Tesco has said it will cut the cost of 3,000 items on Monday with some items being cut by as much as 50%. Sainsbury's has also responded with temporary price cuts on summer items such as strawberries.

Scientists have found a way to make white wine as good for you as red. Red wine is generally thought to be better for you because it contains high levels of polyphenols which lower cholesterol. However, these are present in the skins of the grapes which are taken off when making white wine. However, research has found that leaving the skins to ferment with the pulp for a short time and adding a small amount of pure alcohol can preserve the polyphenol content of white wine. The downside is that the wine tastes like a dessert wine because the added alcohol inhibits the ability of the sugar in the grape to convert to alcohol.

Sales of frozen food have risen by 4.2% in the past year. The rise has been put down to the fact that food costs have soared leading shoppers to look for cheaper alternatives. After five years of little growth, the frozen food sector appears to be enjoying a growth spurt with fish products seeing an 11% increase in sales and frozen vegetables a 5.5% increase.

Cheap supermarket alcohol could be banned under new plans by ministers. They plan to introduce a minimum price for alcohol which would put the price at least 35p per unit. The move is aimed at cutting down binge drinking among teenagers. If it goes ahead it would an end to cut price deals in supermarkets and would mean that a can of Foster's would cost at least 72p, whilst a can of Stella would be priced at 88p. Some supermarkets currently sell a can of beer for as little as 23p.

Concerns have been raised about the safety of microwave heat packs after an elderly died whilst using one. Doreen Ghiloni had used a heat pack called a Hottie rather than a traditional hot water bottle. Heat packs are heated in the microwave and are made to slowly release heat over a period of time. In this case the item caught fire in her bed and it is thought she was overcome by the fumes. Firs investigators in West Yorkshire have dealt with six other incidents involving heat packs in the past year and Mrs Ghiloni's family are now campaigning for the instructions of the packs to be changed to try and prevent any further accidents.

I tried a new shampoo from Lush the other day. It is called Curly Wurly and according to the lush website it is meant to "calm curls and tame tangles. It has quite favourable reviews on their site but I hated pretty much everything about it. Firstly the smell and texture of the shampoo is fairly awful. It contains lots of pieces of coconut and after applying the shampoo it took me over an hour and half to try and remove these from my hair. I can only think that it is meant for people with thin hair, but if you have thick hair, be warned that coconut will take a long time to wash out. Secondly rather than removing tangles it seemed to add them to my hair, it also dried it out leaving it more fluffy and if possible thicker than usual. The only thing I liked about the shampoo was that the next day my hair smelt really nice but I will not be using this again.

I was looking around for some gift ideas and found this website that sells silver jewellery. They are based in the UK but can ship items all over the world. The interesting thing about their range of jewellery is that the items are not available on the high street. They are sourced directly from the jewellery makers in Thailand and sold through the keysilver website. As they are not available at any larger retailers and are not produced in large quantities  you can you can find something a little more unusual and exclusive.

Their range includes silver bracelets and bangles, silver necklaces and silver pendants. All of their items are stamped with a quality mark of 925 to indicate the purity of the silver and most items are available for shipping within 24 hours. I particularly liked their range of silver bracelets especially the silver star bracelet (pictured) which costs £15.00. Many of the items also have matching necklaces and all items are sent packaged in an organza jewel bag so are great to send as gifts. They currently offer free shipping within the UK on orders of £10.00 or more and they offer a 14 day money back guarantee. Its certainly worth bookmarking this website for future use especially as they are adding new products all the time.

This article suggests that supermarkets are profiteering from the huge rise in the price of eggs by taking the greatest share of the 47.4% increase in prices. Although supermarkets claim to be protecting shoppers from the rising prices of food, they have taken the bulk of the profits made from the rise in egg prices. Eggs have gone up by 47.4% or 83p since last May but farmers have seen only 12p of this which is barely above the cost of production. In contrast the supermarkets and packers get 71p of the rise.

Carphone Warehouse will offer a free laptop with broadband. Customers will be able to choose from six different models of laptop when they buy a broadband package from one of seven providers. Customers will be able pay more if they want a higher spec laptop. The offer is currently available at 100 of their stores but will be rolled out across all 800 stores this summer.

This article suggests that the CD single might have had its day. It is based on the fact that the leading high street chain Woolworths plans to stop selling them and instead concentrate on music downloads. The store will not sell CD singles from August although it will stock some one off event singles that are guaranteed to be large sellers. It has launched its own website for music, video and games to offer downloads. I wonder whether other high street stores will follow their lead.

Not surprisingly it has been found that cows that eat outdoors produce healthier milk. A study showed that milk from cows that graze outside on grass and clover contains more antioxidants and vitamins than milk from conventional dairy farmers. Its not rocket science cows are meant to eat grass.

Diet Coke will drop the additive known as Sodium benzoate or E211 in response to customers demands for a more natural product. The additive has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children. It is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy. By the end of year no can or bottle will contain the additive. It will also be replaced in some other products once a suitable alternative has been found.

As of last weekend alcohol has been banned on the tube and its easy to see why when you see the scenes from the so called "tube alcohol party". The party was organised on Facebook so that people could enjoy the last night of being allowed to drink on the tube. During the party six tube stations has to be closed and services were seriously delayed. Predictably it ended with 17 people being arrested and four train drivers, three London Underground staff and two police officers being assaulted. All good reasons why the ban is a good idea.

This article suggests that some brands of vegetarian sausages and burgers contain more salt than the meat equivalent. Researchers found that some vegetarian burgers contain six times more salt than a meat burger with others containing as much salt as five packets of crisps. Fry's Vegetarian Traditional Sausage contained 2.8g of salt, more than four times the pork equivalent meaning that just two sausages would provide the recommended daily intake for an adult. Other leading brands also fared quite badly in the test.

According to this article music can enhance the way a wine tastes. Research by psychologists has shown that people perceive a change in taste when different music is played. Researchers found that cabernet sauvignon was most affected by powerful and heavy music whereas chardonnay was affected by zingy and refreshing sounds.

In Tesco's latest clamp down on underage drinking the supermarket has been refusing to sell to customers if there are accompanied by their children. In one case mentioned in this article a 39 year old lady was refused alcohol because she was shopping with her 18 year old son, despite the fact her son is old enough to purchase alcohol. In another a man was refused alcohol because he had his 15 year old daughter with him. He was told that Tesco do not sell alcohol to people who have children with them. It seems a little odd to think that someone who was actually buying alcohol for a minor would have the child accompany them in the trip around the store. In my experience when you see this happening the children usually wait outside whilst the adult purchases the drink. One thing is for sure Tesco can be little overzealous in their attitude, despite being 30 and clearly old enough to drink I regularly get asked for ID when purchasing alcohol at Tesco and nine times out of ten I don't have any ID on me because I don't expect to get asked at my age. I am finding now that a trip to Tesco means I must take my driving licence with me. The annoying thing is the people that usually ask me for ID look half my age and probably are not old enough to sell alcohol without being supervised anyway.

Tesco has recently spent nearly £1 billion to acquire stores in South Korea. It has owned stores in Korea for nine years but is now buying 36 Homever discount hypermarkets. Tesco already runs the Homeplus chain in South Korea which comprises of 66 hypermarkets and 72 Homeplus Express stores but the new stores will put Tesco neck and neck with Shinsegae who are the current market leader in the country.

Waitrose has been experiencing a pasta shortage after it ran out of suppliers of its own brand dried pasta at the start of April. The problem was caused by a row between the supermarket group and its supplier in Italy over quality issues. Waitrose customers have for the last few weeks only been able to buy other branded pasta from the store, most of which costs more than the own brand alternative. The supermarket chain has now said that the issue has been resolved and that the shelves would be fully stocked within two weeks.

A man in Suffolk has found a baby tarantula in a bunch of grapes he brought from Asda. He caught the spider which was later rehomed at a local reptile centre. I hate stories like this, they always make me a little wary when buying fruit.

Waitrose have recalled organic eggs from one of its suppliers after fears they could be contaminated. It is thought that the chickens had eaten lead shot. The affected eggs are Blacktail Columbian organic eggs with the code OUK20137 stamped on them. Other organic eggs from Waitrose are not affected. Customers who have purchased the eggs are advised to return them for a refund.

Tesco is currently having talks about selling its property website. The website was launched in June last year with a view to undercutting traditional home sellers. At the time some estate agents took legal action to stop properties they were marketing appearing on Tesco's website. Now one of those who originally criticised the website are having talks regarding buying the business. Spicerhaart is the UK's largest independently owned estate agency network. They would own and operate the business with Tesco marketing it.

Well, maybe not world domination but lots more coffee shops. Whitbread plans to double the number of Costa coffee shops and increase the number of Premier Inn rooms by 50%. The company announced the plans after it unveiled better than expected profits. There are currently 992 Costa coffee outlets worldwide but Whitbread will increase this to 2,000 in the next five years with half of the new shops being in Britain.

Tesco will scrap its online florist service from the beginning of May. The decision was taken after Valentine's Day sales were disappointing. The move comes despite the fact that Tesco revealed record profits earlier this month. It is thought, however, that they are reviewing costs ahead of what is likely to be a competitive time for the sector.

Asda have launched a mobile phone that costs just £5 making it Britain's cheapest pay as you go mobile phone. The available models including the Nokia 1112, Sagem My212x, Sagem My220x and Sagem My150x on a number of tariffs from Virgin, T Mobile and Orange. Over 50,000 handsets went on sale last Friday at Asda stores across the UK.

This is an interesting idea, a suit that can be worn and washed in the shower. It is made from fast drying Australian merino wool and is designed for the Asian market. It is aimed primarily at businessmen who are required to wear a suit in the humidity of an Asian summer. At the end of the day all you need to do is hose the suit down in the shower and hang it up to dry. It regains its shape and is ready to wear again the next morning without the need for dry cleaning.

I read this article the other day that suggests its worth shopping around for your car insurance. Apparently lots of people fall into the trap of staying with the same insurer rather than looking for a better rate. The problem is that often the insurance company will only offer its best rate to new customers so people, who stick with the same insurer year after year, tend to lose out and often end up paying more. The only problem I have is finding the time to look around for a better deal. Comparison websites such as www.autoinsurance-4u.com can save quite a lot of time. You just have to enter your zip code and the website brings up a whole list of cheap auto insurance companies in your area. Then you just fill in the online form to complete your quote.

Scientists are trialling a drug that could cure sleep apnoea syndrome. The condition causes people to stop breathing during sleep and also causes them to snore heavily. The pill called BGC20-0166 has so far been successful and had shown a 40% reduction in symptoms of people who have taken part in the trial.

JJB Sports has announced that it is shutting 72 stores with the loss of 800 jobs. JJB currently has around 400 outlets in the UK. The closure plan comes after a business review by the new management which found the stores are unlikely to make a contribution to profits and that many are close to newer and larger stores. The stores will close by the end of this month.

Tesco are due to announce record profits. They have managed to make a £5,300 profit for every minute of last year, a total profit of around £2.8bn. This is 6% more that their profits for the previous year and about the same as the combined profits of Sainsbury’s and Asda. They have benefitted from growth within the UK and the expansion into international businesses in Poland, Hungary and South Korea.

The Food Standards Agency has called for a ban on six artificial colours because they cause mood swings. Tartrazine (E102), quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura read (E129) have been linked to hyperactivity in a study carried out by Southampton University. The researchers estimated that 30% of hyperactivity disorder would be prevented if compaies removed these colours from their products. The colours are found in products such as Sherbet Lemons, Minstrels, M&Ms, Cadbury’s Crème Egg, Haribo Jelly Beans and Irn Bru.

HSBC are latest company to admit to losing customers’ personal data. The information was on a disk that was password protected but was not encrypted. The disk contained the personal details of 370,000 customers including names, dates of birth, policy numbers and details about their insurance cover. The disk was lost after being sent by courier to the groups Southampton office.

Without our Dyson vacuum cleaner our house would just be completely covered in pet hair all the time. It’s great for cleaning all the fur off the sofas, and an invaluable piece of kit to have around the house if you, like us have four cats. It can, however, be a little bulky for carrying up the stairs and cleaning the car so I was interested to see that Dyson now do a compact version called the Dyson DC16. It is designed to be handheld and easily portable and is also bagless and like the bigger version is well suited to picking up pet hair. The advantage with this smaller version, however is that it can easily fit into all the gaps that its bigger brother can’t quite reach and is also great for cleaning the car as you don’t need to worry about trailing wires outside.

BT has been named as the worst landline provider in a customer satisfaction poll. In a survey of 11,000 customers BT got the lowest score for all but two categories for home phones. uSwitch.com claims that around three million of BT’s 10 million landline customers are dissatisfied. Other surveys have found that BT offer poor value fro money and fail to sort out problems. Citizens Advice also found that 89% of all landline complaints are about BT.

The last UK lender to offer a deposit free loan has now withdrawn the deal in a move that appears to signal the end the 100% mortgage. Abbey withdrew its 100% mortgage yesterday making it the last lender to do so. Buyers will now need a deposit of at least 5% before they can purchase a home. The move is likely to make it harder for first time buyers to get a home loan and specialists are predicting that lenders will soon start to drop their 95% mortgages and perhaps even insist on a minimum deposit of 10%.

An environmental study has found that some bottles of wine from France are contaminated with pesticides. The survey analysed 40 bottles of wine and found that 34 bottles contained pesticides, some of which are classified by the EU as health threatening. Among the affected wines were three Bordeaux cru classé wines and a Burgundy Santenay. On average the bottles tested contained more than four different pesticides but they were found to exceed EU pesticide limits.

It appears that free range eggs are becoming more popular as sales have overtaken those from battery farms for the first time. The British Egg Information Service said that 51% of eggs brought last month were free range whilst 41% came from caged hens; the remainder came from a mixture of barn and organic farms. Some supermarkets such as Waitrose and Marks and Spencer now sell only free range eggs.

Just five months after putting 200 lines of clothing on its Tesco Direct website the group has abandoned the service. Tesco say that they only intended to sell clothing online for a trial period but will not say whether the service will resume.

Six cough syrups are being removed from sale after five children from overdoses. The medicines regulator has warned that the medicines should not be given to children under the age of two and has ordered that the products can be sold only under the supervision of a pharmacist until the labels are changed. The six medicines are Asda Children’s Chesty Cough Syrup, Boots Chesty Cough Syrup 1 Year Plus, Boots Sore Throat and Cough Linctus 1 Year Plus, Buttercup Infant Cough Syrup, CalCough Chesty and Bell’s Children’s Chesty Cough.

The Italian government has recalled buffalo mozzarella that has been linked to a dioxin contamination. The affected cheese comes from 25 producers in the Campania region near Naples. They have traced the farms at the source of the contamination and have destroyed their milk as a precaution.

Japan has banned imports of mozzarella over the recent toxin scare. Carcinogenic dioxins have been discovered at several farms in Campania and there are fears that the herds of water buffalo could be ingesting poisons from illegally dumped rubbish. Japan has impounded all mozzarella from Italy. This follows similar action from South Korea which banned the cheese after 29 toxic samples were found.

The high street pub chain which owns the Slug and Lettuce and Litten Tree chain has gone into administration after failing to find a buyer. The group currently has 90 loss making bars within the 330 site group. 239 of the pubs and restaurants were immediately brought from the administrators but 90 sites will remain under their control.

It appears there are procedures for cleaning up an energy saving light bulb if it breaks. A Government department has said that if you do break one you should leave the room for at least 15 minutes. Apparently this is because the mercury inside the bulb can cause problems such as migraines and dizziness. The Department for Environment has said that a broken bulb should not be vacuumed up but should be swept up by someone wearing rubber gloves. It should also be put in a sealed bag and disposed of at a council dump rather than in a household bin. Is this an example of extreme government regulations or are these light bulbs actually toxic?

Tesco has launched an inquiry to investigate claims that its overseas workers are paid as little as 8p and hour. There have been reports that job agencies have been charging migrants up to £1,500 in order to place them in a job at Tesco in Malaysia. The agencies also tell the workers that they will earn between £180 and £215 a month. However in practice, they find that they end up working 360 hours a month for only £20 to £50 after various deductions have been made. Tesco have promised to investigate the claims and have said they will make improvements if necessary.

The fashion chain Morgan will close all 40 of its UK stores because of losses. The chain has suffered because of competition from cheaper rivals and the slowdown in consumer spending.

If you want to improve your time management skills then you might want to have a look at timethoughts.com. They have a lot of useful information on personal goal setting including 15 useful time management tips to help you manage your time better. They include advice such as writing things down on a to do list and prioritising your list so that you can spend your time on the things that are most important. There is also a useful section on setting your career goals. There is plenty of useful information on the website but if you feel you need more help they also offer a free start up kit which includes a video and workbook.

A new biomass power station has just been opened near Lockerbie. The power station which is owned and operated by E.ON is the largest wood fired power station of its kind in the UK. The plant converts waste from the wood industry into energy and will provide enough power to supply up to 70,000 homes. The power station will also create 50 jobs.

I just opened a bottle of Porcupine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 which I purchased from Sainsbury for £6.99. The wine is from Boekenhoutskloof in South Africa. I was browsing the South African wine section at Sainsbury and I must admit my attention was caught initially by the bottle because it has a picture of a porcupine on it. The blurb on the back of the bottle says very little about the wine and more about porcupines, making me wonder exactly how this is relevant to the wine. Apparently the only connection is that porcupines live in the area where the wine is produced. This said, the wine itself is really good and even my husband who is not that keen on red wine loved it. It is quite full bodied and fruity, tasting a little of blackcurrants. At 14.5% it’s a rather strong wine but good value for the price and very drinkable. I give it a rather respectable 4 out of 5 stars.

Banana Republic have opened a three storey store in Regent Street. The chain which is owned by Gap is a success in America and Japan and is now expanding into Europe. However, the opening of the store was overshadowed by claims that they pay their Indian workers just 15p an hour. The chain plans to open a further four shops in the UK.

I have been aware of payday loans for some time but until now I thought they were only available in the United States. It appears that there are now companies such as Payday UK offering the service within the UK. For those that haven’t heard of the term a payday loan is basically a short term loan that is designed to help you though the month until you get paid, hence the name. The idea is that you can get immediate access to cash and the amount is fully repayable on your next pay day.

To get a payday loan all you need to do is fill in an online application form detailing your income, how long you have been with your company and how often you are paid and within a few minutes you will know whether or not your application has been approved. Then you just enter your bank details and you should receive your money within 48 hours. You can borrow anything from £80 up to £750 for a small charge, just £25 based on a £100 loan. On the agreed pay day your bank account is then debited for the balance of the loan. If you do need to defer the loan then you can also do this but you need to repay the charges on the original loan.

Eight buffalo herds in the Naples area have been quarantined on the suspicion that their milk could be contaminated. The animals have been grazing on land where toxic industrial waste has been dumped illegally by criminals. The milk produced by the buffalo herds is now being tested for dangerous levels of dioxin. Although only a fraction of the herds in the region have been affected sales of Neapolitan mozzarella have declined by nearly 50% following the scare. The Government says consumers would need to eat large quantities of mozzarella over a period of several months for their health to be affected.

Scottish and Southern Energy will raise its domestic energy prices by an average of 14.2% for electricity and 15.8% for gas. The company is the last of the big energy suppliers to announce a price increase, following announcements by Npower, EDF Energy, Scottish Power, British Gas and E.On. They blame the increases on the rise in wholesale energy prices. The increases mean an average electricity bill will rise by £50 whilst a gas bill will increase by around £85.

The Sat Nav trolley could soon be coming to Britain. The device will help shoppers by guiding them around the store to the items they want to buy. It will also suggest recipe ideas based on the food that you put into them. The trolley is made by Media Cart in conjunction with Microsoft and could be in UK supermarkets by 2009. It will also be able to download your shopping list and plot the quickest route around the store, depending on what you want to purchase. The trolleys are fitted with a location device so they know where in the store, they can they work out what the best route is from the current location to the product the customer requires. It seems like an interesting idea, I wonder how well they work in practice.

If you play a lot of golf you might want to consider getting some golf insurance especially as there are around 12,400 golf related injuries every year. Golf Care offers a package that covers you against damage to property, personal injury and personal liability. It also covers you against the theft, loss or damage of you equipment. The prices start from only £29.99 a year for their bronze package which includes cover for equipment of up to £1,250 and personal accident cover of up to £50,000 as well as cover for third party equipment and dental treatment.

Woolworths will introduce charges for plastic bags from May. They will charge 1p per bag in all of their high street stores and if the trial is a success it will be rolled out nationally. All the money raised from the bags will go to the charity Woolworths Kids First.

BA shares have fallen after they issued a warning on profits. They have said that its profits could fall by 25% over the next year because of rising oil prices. The price of crude has hit an all time high of $105.97 a barrel meaning that the airline will have to abandon its target of making profit margins of 10%.

Backgammon Masters the home of online backgammon is now available in Bulgarian. Previously the website was already available 13 different languages including French, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Greek, Chinese, Italian, Japanese with the addition of Bulgarian making the 14th language. Users are able to switch between languages in the game lobby by clicking on their countries flag to select their chosen language.

Backgammon Masters currently offers a number of online games including backgammon , poker, blackjack and perudo. The nice thing about this particular website is that because it is available in so many different languages, they have one the largest online gaming communities allowing you to play with people all over the world. The site also supports several different currencies including US Dollars, British Pounds, Euros and Canadian Dollars with the cashier converting your transaction into US Dollars at no extra charge and based on the best exchange rate. There are currently plans to expand the community further with the future addition of other languages including Dutch and Russian so it looks like they will soon be able to accommodate most nationalities. There are also plans to expand their live online help facility which is currently only available in English to include multi language operators. At this rate it looks like Backgammon Masters will soon achieve world domination.

It appears that the growing demand for Champagne has left wine growers in the region struggling to cope. Annual sales have now grown to £7 billion meaning that French authorities are considering expanding the region in which wine growers are allowed to make Champagne. Currently 317 villages have been judged to have the right soil and weather conditions that are needed to produce grapes of sufficient quality to make Champagne. The boundaries are now likely to be redrawn to include a further 40 villages which will start producing Champagne within ten years. Last year the British were the biggest Champagne drinkers outside of France, consuming 39 million bottles.

Marks and Spencer will start charging customers for carrier bags with the money raised going to an environmental charity. Customers will be charged 5p for every carrier bag. The move follows a successful trial at 50 of its stores in Northern Ireland and south west England. The trial saw the demand for bags fall by more than 70%. Chief executive Si Stuart Rose said that if this figure was replicated across the county the number of bags used could be reduced by 280 million a year.

Household water bills are set to increase by 5.8% on average across England and Wales. The regulator Ofwat said that the increases will mean the average combined bill will be about £330 a year, a rise of about £18. However, in some areas of the country the combined bill rise is as much as 8% although the increase is actually lower than last years average price increase of 7%. Customers of South West Water will see the smallest rises of 3.7% on their annual water bill meaning and increase of £18. Southern Water customers will see an increase of £26, whilst Wessex Water customers face an increase of £29.

As someone who uses my car rarely I have not really noticed a rise in fuel costs. This article, however, suggests that drivers are now paying around £18.84 a month more for fuel. Petrol now costs 17p a litre more than it did this last year with the average price at £1.04p a litre. This means that a driver with an average 50 litre fuel tank pays £8.79 more every time they fill up with petrol. Diesel is up too, having soared to an average price of £110.3p a litre compared with 91.1p a year ago. The huge rises have been blamed on the weak dollar and unrest in oil producing countries. The situation however, is likely to get worse, if Alistair Darling goes ahead with his plans to add an extra 2p per litre to fuel duty. Business groups and the motoring lobby are currently calling for the government to scrap the planned rise in the light of rising prices.

Sainsbury’s will launch a new collection of clothes that are made from recycled plastic. The clothes are made from plastic such as soft drink bottles, fruit and vegetable packaging and meat trays. The new range will include shirts, trousers and skirts and will go on sale at half of the group’s stores later this year.

French vineyard owners are to start shipping some of their wine by boat. This method of shipping was last used in the 1800s but could help to reduce their carbon footprint. Although shipping by boat takes around a week longer than by plane it is estimated that it will save 4.9oz of carbon per bottle. Later this month 60,000 bottles from Languedoc will be shipped to Ireland with further voyages planned soon. Each bottle shipped by boat will be labelled as “carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet”.

Tate and Lyle sugar is to be Fairtrade accredited. This will make it the largest UK firm to carry the Fairtrade label. Granulated white cane sugar will be the first Fairtrade product but Tate and Lyle expect the whole range to follow by the end of 2009.

npower are the latest energy company to report a massive rise in profits. The firm has reported a 41% rise in profits making £724m last year. The news comes after British Gas reported a fivefold increase in profits. The consumer group energywatch have launched an investigation into household bills amid concerns that companies are profiteering at the expense of their customers. News of npower's profits came only weeks after it raised electricity bills by 12.7% and gas bills by 17.2%.

PC2Paper have just launched their virtual printer. The product has launched initially at a beta version but if early indications are anything to go by, it should make sending a letter from your computer much easier. Previously you had to log in and go through the process of uploading your letter or writing it online. The virtual printer, however, acts just like a desktop printer. Once you have installed it you simply select the PC2Paper printer option from your list of printers, add the address you want the letter to go to and choose your print options from the different types of paper and formats available. Then just enter your user name and password and the letter is automatically transferred to PC2Paper who take care of the printing and posting for you. What a great idea.

Weather balloons could be used to provide mobile phone and broadband services to rural Britain. An American company called Space Data has already used small phone masts attached to balloons to provide wireless internet access to remote areas. The group has supplied military and commercial clients for four years but is now preparing to link with broadband companies to offer services to residential customers. Space Data has patented the service in 41 countries and is now considering the US as a potential market. The service uses a small transceiver attached to a balloon which then rises to an altitude of 30,500m after it has been released. The company says that one balloon can beam a signal to an area equivalent to 80 mobile phone towers. The service does have one drawback, the balloons only last for 24 hours before bursting which means a constant supply has to be released to maintain the connection and the radio equipment on the burst balloon has to be retrieved by a team using location devices.

Northern Rock has scrapped its Together home loan which was launched in 1999. The loan was the first of its kind and allowed homeowners to borrow up to 125% of the value of their property. It worked by securing a maximum of 95% on the value of the property and the other 30% on an unsecured loan which was payable at the same rate as the mortgage. Other big lenders have also recently moved away from offering 100% loans with only one in every ten lenders still offering the product.

The cost of driving tests will rise on the 1st of April. The theory test will increase in price by £1.50 to £30 with the practical test rising £8 to £56.50. The fee will also increase for motorcycle riders from £60 to £80.

Asda will start large scale expansion this year in a plan that will open 22 new stores. The plans will create around 9,000 new jobs both in store and as part of its home delivery service. The first of the new stores will open at Andover in March. Other new stores will open at Dalgety Bay in Scotland and Brigend in Mid-Glamorgan. Several stores will also be extended as part of the plans.

Vodafone and Orange have announced a plan to share mast sites. The deal will see the two companies working together to ensure better coverage for their customers. Sites across the UK will host both Orange and Vodafone equipment. Both 2G and 3G coverage will be involved in the scheme which is likely to mean that the total site numbers are cut by about 15% meaning 3,000 fewer masts. The move is not a merger and both companies will continue to compete with each other.

Many of the UK’s large retail names are looking to stock lightweight bottles of wine and beer to try and offset the environmental impact of their businesses. The advances made recently in manufacturing technology mean that the amount of glass used in making a bottle can be cut by more than 30%. Tesco has signed up to sell more then 40 million lightweight bottles of wine this year and aims to have 25% per cent of all wine bottles it sells reduced in weight by 2010. This should save 72,000 tonnes of glass a year. Major brewers such as SABMiller and Scottish and Newcastle are also looking at introducing lightweight bottles.

Thousands of salmon products have been recalled from eight different supermarket chains because they may have been contaminated with diesel. The alert affects 50 types of Scottish salmon products including steaks, pies and fillets. The problem has been traced to the seafood company Marine Harvest which supplies fish to Morrisons and Young’s Seafood Ltd. The fish is thought to have been contaminated by diesel from a vehicle during transportation to a processing plant. The problem was detected when some customers complained of an unpleasant white spirit like taste. The alert does not affect organic salmon.

Scientists have revealed that carbonated drinks are behind a rise in cases of gout. A study of 46,000 men found that men that drank more than two cans of fizzy drink a day were 85% more likely to get gout compared to those who had one fizzy drink a month. The risk also increased with men that drank five to six fizzy drinks a week.

Pepsi are to launch a new drink that they claim is healthier option. It is called Pepsi Raw and is made from natural ingredients with no artificial preservatives, flavourings, colouring and sweeteners. Instead it contains apple extract, caramel colouring, coffee leaf, tantaric acid, gum Arabic, cane sugar and water. It contains around 90 calories as opposed to a normal Pepsi that contains about 120.

British Gas has put up its prices by more than 18% meaning it is no longer the cheapest energy supplier. The British Gas Click Energy 4 tariff was the cheapest tariff for many people in the UK. This will now be replaced with Click Energy 5. This new tariff works out about £138 a year more expensive for the average customer.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has criticised credit card companies for making their products too complicated. It recommends that a comparison website is launched to make credit cards easier to compare with each other. The OFT found that 70% of customers do not shop around for a credit card and could be wasting money. An investigation was launched last April after it was found that the top 20 card issuers all have different ways of working out their interest charges. This means that cards with a low Annual Percentage Rate (APR) could be more expensive to use than those with a higher APR.

Scottish and Newcastle are to close its largest UK brewery. The Berkshire Brewery in Reading currently employs 360 people and produces Foster’s and Kronenbourg. It is expected the company will save 13 million a year by closing the site and moving capacity to its other UK sites.

T-Mobile and Orange are to launch a new service that will give customers a live TV service on their mobile phone. They aim to start a trial service in west London in the summer. They plan to broadcast 24 TV channels and 10 digital radio stations although have not yet said what sort of tariff customers would pay for the service. The service will offer both conventional TV channels and some premium channels.

I read this article which makes the claim that diet drinks could actually make you put on weight. Researchers in the USA have found that artificial sweeteners such as those contained in diet drinks make it harder for people to regulate their intake of food and can lead to over eating. The findings come after a study was carried out on some rats. Rats given a low calories yogurt gained more weight and body fat that those given a surgery version. The researchers say that the study could help to explain why obesity levels and the use of artificial have both increased.

In a huge crackdown on underage drinkers the supermarket chain Morrisons will ask all its customers to prove they are over 21 before it will sell them alcohol. The new measure will be put in place in stores in high risk areas and will affect all customers with no exceptions. So whether you are 21 or 80 you will need to produce proof of age. The measures seem a little extreme and whilst it might be hard to guess a younger persons age, most people can tell that a pensioner is old enough to buy alcohol.

A mushroom farm that has been operating for 50 years is due to close because of rising costs and increased competition from abroad. The farm in Godalming Surrey is one of only two left in the South East. When it closes 80 people will lose their jobs.

The blue Smartie was dropped by Nestle about three years due to concerns about artificial ingredients. At the time Nestle were able to reformulate the other coloured Smarties to get rid of the artificial ingredients and colours. However, they could find no way of recreating the distinctive blue Smartie. It appeared that Smarties have now found the answer and can create the blue sweet using a colouring from seaweed.

If you need some extra cash to expand your small business you might want to try ezunsercured.com. They specialise in offering small business lines of credit. They offer loans with no collateral and provide a fast approvals process. In fact you can usually have your small business line of credit approved in just 1-3 days with the money reaching your checking account in 3-14 days. All you need to do to apply is fill in the easy to use online form.

The energy provider E-On has put up its gas prices. The German owned company has said that from tomorrow gas prices will go up by 15% and electricity will go up by 9.7%. The announcement follows price rises from other energy providers including British Gas, Scottish Power, Npower and EDF. The rise means that a customers annual fuel bill will go up from £931 to £1031.

I found this website the other day that provides a casino portal. It offers up to date information on all of the top casinos. It provides a rating system so you can get an idea of which casino games you can find at which casinos. It also gives each casino a star rating and in some cases gives a bonus code to take advantage of some special offers. The website also features a casino of the month which is reviewed by the editor as well as having lots of useful links to gambling related articles. It’s quite a useful resource and for anyone interested in using an online casino gamblux is definitely worth a visit first.

You will soon be able to buy milk in plastic bags instead of the more common plastic bottle. Waitrose will abolish plastic milk bottles to help reduce landfill and also save the energy that is used in their manufacture. The new bags are made of biodegradable plastic so can be recycled. Currently over two third of milk is sold in plastic bottles, with Britons consuming 180 million pints of milk a week.

A Government funded survey has found that one in four battery chickens has difficulty walking. The study showed that by the time they were 40 days old 27.6% of broiler chickens showed “poor locomotion” with 3.3% almost unable to walk. There are currently around 20 billion broiler chickens reared in conditions that researchers say are biased towards economic means of production rather than the welfare of the chicken.

Yell the owner of the Yellow Pages directories has reported an increase of 23% in profits last year. The rise is mainly due to the rising revenue from online advertising. Advertising in the printing directories, however, has declined. Despite this Yell are on track to meet its predictions for its year end results.

The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 5.25% from 5.5% in an attempt to stimulate growth in the UK’s economy. The decision follows a recent cut in the US by the US Federal Reserve which cut rates from 4.25% to 3%. More cuts are expected later this year in the UK.

BA has become the latest sponsor of the 2012 Olympics paying around £40 million for marketing rights. They will also fly British athletes to this years Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. Other major sponsors of the Olympics include Lloyds TSB, EDF and Adidas.

A new high speed train has been launched in France. The train which is called the AGV will replace the TGV. The new trains will travel at a top speed of 224mph compared to 186mph, the top speed of the TGV. This would mean that the journey on Eurostar from London to Paris would now take only 1h42 minutes compared to the current 2h15 minute journey. Eurostar whilst interested in the new train have no plans to replace its current fleet of trains for the next ten years, so those who are looking forward to getting to France in less than two hours will have a to wait quite some time.

I play too many games and as a result of this I am always coming across new games websites that help to distract me from other things that I should be doing instead. That said, there are some quite good online games out there to distract yourself with. One that I discovered recently is an online backgammon website. It offers backgammon games that you can play either for fun or for real money. The nice thing about this website is that because it is available in six different languages so you can play backgammon with people from all over the world and it is available 24 hours a day. To play all you need to do is sign up for an account. Then you can either try the “play for the fun” option or deposit some money to play for real cash prizes. This should keep me amused for hours.

Sainsbury’s have withdrawn a promotion that put the price of a pint of cider as 26p. The special deal started two weeks ago and offered the own brand Basics cider for just £1.20 for two litres. MP John Pugh had criticised Sainsbury’s for lacking social responsibility. There have also been concerns that cheap supermarket deals are fuelling a binge drinking culture.

A new website has been launched to help people claim back money from forgotten bank accounts. The website www.mylostaccount.org.uk will allow users to cash in 52 building societies, 42 banks and National Savings accounts. If you think you might have a bank account you have forgotten about all you need to do is complete an online forms giving details such as any previous addresses. The form is then passed onto the bank or building society. Sadly I don’t think I have any forgotten money hiding anywhere.

BT has announced that it will give all of its customers free weekend calls. Its not all good news for customers though as they plan to raise charges elsewhere. Line rental will go up by £9 a year whilst daytime calls will be 23% more expensive. Customers will pay 4p a minute rather than the current 3.25p per minute. BT have also scrapped its evening price cap meaning an hour long weekday call will cost 90p rather than the previous 4.5p. The changes are likely to mean a huge increase in BT’s income.

There seems to be a debate going on at the moment between doctors and ministers regarding whether GP’s should extend opening hours. The government is pushing for longer hours because it says it will meet patient demand. Doctors, however, say that longer hours could affect patient care during the day. I think most people would agree that doctor’s surgery should be open at least one evening a week or perhaps a Saturday morning. There is nothing more frustrating than to arrange to take time off from work to see a doctor especially if the appointment is for something routine like a check up. Often the time taken amounts to half a day by the time you have travelled to and from the doctor’s surgery and this is usually time that your boss at work will require you to make up elsewhere.

I found this website the other day that offers backgammon online. Called Gammon Fortune they offer a safe and secure casino where you can play online backgammon against other users from all over the world. The website offers backgammon tournaments where you can play for real cash prizes. The more people that enter the tournament the bigger the prizes are. Basically you pay a fee to enter the tournament which is put towards the final prize pot. The winner then takes the cash prize at the end of the game. All you need to do to start playing is download the free software and register as a player. You can then choose to play for fun money or for real money. I found the fun money option quite useful because if you are a beginner it gives you a chance to practice before playing for real cash.

Greg Mulholland, a Liberal Democrat MP has called for pubs to introduce smaller wine glasses. He says that many licensed premises have stopped selling wine in smaller 125ml glasses and now only serve it in 175ml and 250ml glasses. His view is that these larger glasses can lead to people drinking more than they want to and more than is safe if they are driving. He plans to introduce a sale of wine bill that will force all licensed premises to offer the standard 125ml measures alongside the bigger glasses. One of these large glasses contains twice as much wine as a small glass or around a third of a bottle.

Nintendo have sold more then 5 million Wii consoles in Japan. The console has reached the 5 million mark six weeks earlier than it took the PS2 to sell the same amount although surprisingly not as quickly as the Nintendo DS which sold 5 million in just 56 weeks, as opposed to the Wii taking 60 weeks. Figures are currently not available for the PS3 and the Xbox 360

The Dixons group which includes Currys and PC World are to stop selling analogue TV sets. They have stopped placing orders for more analogue TVs making it the first electrical retailer in the UK to do so. The company will also stop selling DVD recorders that only have analogue tuners. The company will also step up its campaign to inform people about the digital switchover.

If you need a new suit but are a bit short of cash then you might want to head down to your nearest Asda. They are currently selling a pair of black boot leg trousers and a classic women’s white shirt for just £5. The outfit will be on sale until the 26 February. Asda also sell a men’s suit for only £15. At that price there is no excuse not to wear a suit, although personally I wonder how well made the items are at this price. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has purchased one.

I came across this website the other day that offers online pool and billiard games. It includes a variety of games including snooker, pool and billiards. Because the site is available in several different languages you can play with people from all over world. You can enter the daily billiard tournaments and compete against the other players for cash prizes. All you need to do to get started in download the software which takes a few minutes to install and then register for an account. You can then choose to play for real money or if you want to practise first then you can also choose to play with a “play money account”. The website also contains lots of useful information on how to play each of the games so you make sure you understand all the rules before you start as well as dedicated technical support which is available 24 hours a day.

I read this article that suggests some coffee sold by high street chain can contain a third of the recommended daily calorie intake. The article highlights coffee such as Starbucks large white chocolate mocha which contains 628 calories. In comparison a medium mocha with whipped cream from Caffe Nero contains 326 calories and a medium mocha flake from Costa Coffee contains 297 calories. Whilst this may seem a lot, all of these coffee brands contain whole milk, chocolate and cream so personally I would expect them to have a high calorie content.

I came across this website that offers small business loans. Called SFS they are based in the US and offer unsecured loans. Unlike most other companies that offer small business loans AFS have no application fees or hidden charges. You can fill in their quick five minute application and one of their advisors will contact you to help you to arrange your small business loan. The process is confidential and secure and your loan will often be approved within 24 to 48 hours so all you have to do is decide how you want to spend it.

A high court test case on overdraft charges started last week with eight of Britain’s leading banks defending allegations of unfair charges. Lawyers for the banks told the court that rules governing what is a fair contract do not apply to bank charges for unauthorised overdrafts. Around 50,000 claims against the banks have been put on hold pending the outcome of this case.

I read this article that suggests millions of BT customers could reclaim charges imposed on them because they do not pay via direct debit. The charges were brought in last year and mean that customers who not pay by direct debit are subject to a £4.50 quarterly fee. However because many of these customers were with BT before it implemented the charges they may be able to reclaim them. The Office of Fair Trading believes customers who were with the company before it brought in the charges have a strong case to argue against paying them.

EDF have announced a 12.9% price rise for gas and a 7.9% increase in electricity prices. They are the second firm to announce they will raise prices, following npower’s announcement that will raise prices by up to 27%. EDF blame the increasing wholesale and distribution costs for the rise which it says will add about £1.92 each week to the average fuel bill. Other energy providers are not expected to follow suit with similar announcements.

I was looking around at some Valentines Day gifts and came across a nice website that not only offers valentine day flower delivery but also has an extensive range of gifts. They sell gourmet food gifts and cookies as well as wine and cheese gifts. Whereas women are usually easy to by for on Valentines Day, I mean what woman doesn’t like flowers, it is nice to see a website that offers a bit more choice. I often look at valentines gifts for my husband and find I am restricted to chocolates but he would love one of these gourmet cookie baskets or perhaps a luxury cheese selection.

EMI have confirmed that thousands of staff will lose their jobs in cuts proposed the new owners. Terra Firma who now own EMI have said that they will cut the worldwide headcount by between 1,500 and 2,000 in a drive to cut costs. EMI have also recently issued a number of profit warnings and have also undergone a management reshuffle.

It can be difficult to know who to turn to if you need a loan but have credit. That’s where websites likes BadCreditOffers.com can help. They specialise in offering bad credit loans from many of the major loans providers. Their website offers a free resource for consumers who have a poor credit rating. It allows you to compare different loans from several different providers so that you easily work out which is the best loan for you. They also cover a range of different types of loan from home and auto loans to loans that can help you repair your credit rating. The website also allows you to apply online for a no obligation assessment.

A new car has been unveiled by the Indian buyers of Jaguar that costs only £1,250 making it the world’s cheapest car. It has no air conditioning, no power steering, no passenger side mirror and only one windscreen wiper but it big enough to carry four people. Called the Nano its makers hope that it will make motoring accessible to millions of Indians who can’t currently afford a car. The car measures ten foot long and five foot high and is powered by a two cylinder petrol engine. It has a top speed of 65mph and does 50 miles to the gallon.

Asda is to introduce fines for customers who park in disabled or family bays when they are not meant to be using them. The fines were rolled out yesterday across all of its stores. Any profits made from the scheme will be donated to the charity Tommy’s and to the Motability car scheme for the disabled.

Despite it being well publicised that McDonalds food is unhealthy sales are up in Britain. They are now selling more burgers than at any time since they arrived in Britain 34 years ago. Last month there were an amazing 88 million visits to McDonalds. This figure is up nearly 10 million on the previous year.  Although the McDonald’s menu has changed to include healthier options such as smoothies and wraps the most popular choices are still the traditional products such as burgers, fries and ice creams.

Land of Leather shares have lost 48% of their value after the retailer’s biggest new year sale failed to tempt customers. The results meant they had to issue a profits warning. Within minutes of issuing the announcement to the London Stock Exchange revealing a 25.5% drop in sales orders shares in the company plummeted by almost 50%.

NHS dental fees rose last year although the number of patients dropped. The amount paid by patients rose by £60 million last year, which is up 15% on the previous year. Figures show that patients paid £16.91 each in NHS dental charges in 2006/2007 compares to £14.58 the year before. This article suggests that people now have less access to NHS dentistry, that there are fewer resources and higher charges.

Marks and Spencer have managed to turn the business around and are now on track to burst though the billion pound profit mark. This is despite recent poor sales. The performance means that the business is likely to announce landmark profit figures when they issue a financial statement in May.

Several of the UK’s supermarkets have announced they will phase out the sale of battery eggs. The decision has come because of consumer concerns over the impact of cheap food on animal welfare. Sainsbury, Morrisons and the Co-op will phase out the sale of eggs from battery hens. Marks and Spencer and Waitrose have already stopped selling eggs from battery hens. Sainsbury expect to end the sale of eggs from battery hens by next year. The Co-op has similar plans and Morrisons will phase them out by 2010. Tesco are reducing the shelf space for eggs from caged hens but have not yet announced a ban.

Despite often being unhealthy ready meals are still very popular. In fact sales of ready meals have trebled in the past decade. Sales of Chinese, Indian and Thai meals have risen within the past five years with fast food sales growing by 73% between 1995 and 2005. Despite this more than 60% of people surveyed still cook at least one meal a day from scratch.

It appears that beer sales have suffered one of the worst months on record. Whilst this is obviously bad news for pubs it could also be a sign that consumer spending is slowing. The statistics which were compiled by the British Beer and Pub Association show that the volume of beer sold fell 9.7% in November. This followed a 7.7% drop in October and an 8.2% decline in September. The BBPA say that volumes in November were at their lowest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Other factors such as the smoking ban and people becoming more health conscious have also made life tough for the publican. So the message here, is drink more beer.

There is always a lot in the news about celebrities battling with drug addition. The most recent story involves Brittany Spears who was released from hospital today after being admitted two days ago allegedly for being under the influence of an unknown substance. Whilst incidents like this are widely publicised I often wonder where ordinary people go to get help when they have a drug addition problem. I was looking at this website for a drug addition treatment center that provides drug free rehab.

They are called DrugRehab.net and are one of the oldest drug rehab companies in the United States. Their rehabilitation program involves a four stage process starting with a complete sauna based detox program to cleanse the body of drug residuals so that the person no longer experiences the adverse effects of the drugs they have taken. The second phase includes a course of therapies which are designed to help the addict learn self control and focus on real life goals. Stage three addresses issues of self esteem and aims to cure the need for drugs. The final stage then works on helping the former addict back into society and helping them to lead a drug free life. Their results certainly look impressive with 76% of  their graduates going on to remain drug free and becoming productive members of society.

According to this article energy saving light bulbs could trigger migraines and even seizures in some people. The Migraine Action Association has said that the flickering and the low intensity of the light do trigger migraines in many of their members. There have also been warnings from epilepsy charities about the increased risk of seizures from energy saving bulbs. With the government pledging to prevent the sale of the conventional light bulbs within the next four years this could be worrying for sufferers of both conditions. As a migraine sufferer myself I have replaced most of the bulbs in my house with energy saving bulbs and so far have suffered no migraines. It might be prudent for the government to research this issue further before going ahead with an outright ban.

If you own a small business and are based in the US, you might want to have a look at Crest Capital. They offer help for small businesses including financing and business equipment leasing. Their aim is to help small companies finance equipment or software that is essential to the growth of their business. They offer a number of solutions including loans and leases, refinances and working capital. The advantage of their solutions is that they can be processed very quickly and can cut out a lot of the red tape which is often associated with getting a loan from a bank.

Waitrose has been criticised by human rights activists for selling fish from Zimbabwe. They say it is wrong to fly in food from a country that is on the brink of starvation. Waitrose say that the fish is sourced from a fair trade supplier which is majority owned by native Zimbabweans and which pays its worker substantially more than the minimum wage. Campaigners are planning protests at all Waitrose outlets which currently stock tilapia fillets, the fish at the centre of the debate.

I have been playing a lot of poker recently and came across this poker calculator. It is called the holdem calculator and it helps you to work out the poker odds. With the calculator you can open any online poker table and it will automatically detect your game and display the real time odds and game statistics. You can also use the tool simultaneously on multiple tables. The calculator is designed to help your decision making by giving you a clear idea of the odds and helping you to avoid making mistakes when playing. You can download a free trial version to see if it works for you but some of the larger casinos are currently offering free lifetime membership of the calculator for a limited time.

Peterborough council will start charging supermarkets for recovering abandoned shopping trolleys. Officials will fine the stores for any trolleys that their staff have to collect. They believe that this new scheme will encourage supermarkets to improve security for their trolleys and provide a better collection system.

I found this website the other day called Sloterix that allows you to play online slots. The website has several different casino slots including Eurogrand Slots that offers 10 different slots with prizes of up to $5 million You can bet anything from small amounts as little as 25 cents up to $100. All you need to do to get started and play slots is download and install the software. Many of the games also include a welcome bonus for first time users.

I read this article about a website that has been set up to reunite people with their lost gloves. The website was set up by Jennifer Gooch and so far has reunited four gloves with their owners. She is now working on four similar sites for other cities as well as a book which will show the gloves she has found.

I came across this website the other day that offers online backgammon. You can join for free and play backgammon for real money online. Prizes range from $5 up to $50,000. All you need to do is to download the free software and install it. The website offers live backgammon tournaments and also has a lot of useful information about how to play, including tips to help you improve your game. It is also available in seven languages.

Around 40,000 customers of Travelscope have been told that their holiday bookings can no longer be honoured after the company went into administration. All customers will get a refund but many who were due to depart in the next few weeks are angry that they have not been given time to make other arrangements.

I read this article the other day that suggests the chicken you buy from the supermarket could actually be months old. It suggests that a lot of poultry sold in supermarkets is actually imported from places like Brazil and Thailand and can often be weeks or even months old. The article also suggests that meat in products like ready meals could have been thawed and frozen several times. I find this particularly worrying as I tend to buy meat and then freeze it to use later in the month thinking it is fresh. I am starting to wonder if I am putting my health at risk through relying on the supermarkets to provide me with food that is fresh. The Food and Farming Minister is now backing a campaign to clarify the labelling rules so that customers do not buy a product made from thawed meat that they think is fresh.

It appears that there is no longer a demand for angel tree toppers with people preferring to put a star at the top of their Christmas tree. That’s according to this article which says Woolworths have stopped selling angel tree toppers this year. Ten years ago angels were the most popular tree topper but stars now outsell angels more than ten fold.