Supermarkets
Tesco’s new Brexit supermarket doesn’t stack up
How patriotic should our supermarkets be?
The best Rioja has lost the right to its name – thankfully
The best Rioja has lost the right to its name – thankfully
Whatever happened to Sir George? A festive finale to an eventful year
Many (well, several) of you asked me what happened to George, the supermarket chairman who was the anti-hero of my…
The sexy new face of cigarette packaging
Something for which to thank the government, at last. It is much, much more fun buying cigarettes these days. It…
Apples of discord in today’s supermarkets
Apple Day, on 21 October, is a newish festival, created in 1990, by the venerable organisation, Common Ground. Intended to…
The delicious secrets of the Douro Valley
They’re called quintas, Joana tells us, because the rich families who owned the land along this stretch of the Douro…
Lionel Shriver: The Trump election is starting to feel like a civil war
When an old friend X came to dinner in London, I sampled what it must have been like during the…
What makes Argos worth £1.4 billion? I reckon I know
When I was at school in the 1970s, some of the richer kids would come back from their summer holidays…
Oh, how I will miss the plastic bag!
It has taken years, but finally England has joined the rest of the United Kingdom and other countries around the…
We let programmers run our lives. So how’s their moral code?
A few years ago, in the week before Christmas when supermarket sales are at their highest, staff at one branch…
Not just a fad: the dangerous reality of 'clean eating'
The ‘clean eating’ revolution is more likely to make you ill than healthy
The trick that makes self-checkouts almost tolerable
I spent the last few days in Deal and Folkestone with Professor Richard Thaler at Nudgestock, Ogilvy’s seaside festival of…
The greatest wine I’ve ever drunk
The supermarket chains are not always blameworthy. Their missionary efforts have helped to ensure that wine drinking in Britain is…
Two shops. Two philosophies. Which side are you on?
Are you Lush or are you Aldi? Me, I’m Aldi all the way. So much so that when someone —…
Why cheap oil could mean a Labour victory
BP’s profits are down, and the oil giant is slashing up to $6 billion out of its investment plan for…
The RMT’s Mick Cash and Tesco’s Dave Lewis win my prizes for media manipulation
Mixed results for the Brits at the Golden Globes, but I’m pleased to announce that my Golden Monkey Wrench for…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my future son-in-law saying ‘must of’
Q. My future son-in-law has been successfully house-trained in the use of upper-middle-class English over the years that he has…
Yes, Wonga lent at shocking rates – but it was customers who lied
‘Payday Lady is not trading at this time,’ says her website, sounding a little like La Dame aux camélias. Indeed (since…
Forecasting is a mug’s game – but I was right about the economic revival
‘Perhaps I should shift my prediction to 23 July 2014,’ I wrote in April 2012. ‘That’s the opening of the…
Martin Vander Weyer: Why I’d rather run M&S than Tesco
This first working week of January is apparently the time when we’re most likely to think about a change of…
Investment special: Which shops to bet on as recovery begins
After a long, cold and sometimes lonely winter for shopkeepers, at last there are glimmers of sunshine. Retail sales volume…
Rage against the tagine: Supermarket swipe
Wine is one of life’s great joys – so why, asks Jason Yapp, do major retailers do such a dismal job of flogging it?