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.