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.