Supermarkets
Gene-editing won’t save our fruit
The other day, I had a dismaying experience while making my usual frugal lunch. Usually, a cheese sandwich does me.…
Why are we routinely buying disgusting bread in Britain?
Tasteless, adulterated, mass-produced pap bears no resemblance to an independent baker’s slow-fermented loaves, full of flavour, texture and nutrients
Is anything still cheap?
Things used to cost approximately what you expected them to cost. Now, the price of almost every item is eye-wateringly,…
In defence of the supermarket
Supermarkets are once again back in the firing line. Henry Dimbleby, the Leon co-founder turned government food tsar, has blamed…
You’d never believe what goes on in the Sainsbury’s car park
Psychogeography takes many forms: Sebaldian gravitas, Will Self’s provocative flash and dazzle and Iain Sinclair’s jeremiads for lost innocence. Gareth…
Tesco’s new Brexit supermarket doesn’t stack up
Supermarkets have always moved with the times. After the recession we wanted affordable luxury, so we got M&S’s ‘Dine in…
My tip for the next cool shop: Argos
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…
The dangerous food fad
The ‘clean eating’ revolution is more likely to make you ill than healthy
A lightbulb moment at the self-checkout
I spent the last few days in Deal and Folkestone with Professor Richard Thaler at Nudgestock, Ogilvy’s seaside festival of…
A taste of heaven on earth
The supermarket chains are not always blameworthy. Their missionary efforts have helped to ensure that wine drinking in Britain is…
A tale of two shops – and two philosophies
Are you Lush or are you Aldi? Me, I’m Aldi all the way. So much so that when someone —…
Unwanted consequences: will cheap oil lead to a Labour election victory?
BP’s profits are down, and the oil giant is slashing up to $6 billion out of its investment plan for…
Prizes for Mick Cash of RMT and Dave Lewis of Tesco – but praise for Jon Moulton too
Mixed results for the Brits at the Golden Globes, but I’m pleased to announce that my Golden Monkey Wrench for…
Dear Mary
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…
Wonga lent too easily at shocking rates, but it was often the borrowers who lied
‘Payday Lady is not trading at this time,’ says her website, sounding a little like La Dame aux camélias. Indeed (since…
I’m celebrating Glasgow’s Games as my forecast comes true at last
‘Perhaps I should shift my prediction to 23 July 2014,’ I wrote in April 2012. ‘That’s the opening of the…
Brand loyalty, or lack of it: why I’d rather run Marks & Spencer than Tesco
This first working week of January is apparently the time when we’re most likely to think about a change of…
