If I had a tenner for every time a supermarket retailer has told me that “we’re giving our customers what they want”, I’d have retired to an offshore tax haven...

In case you missed the hoopla, Dan Brown’s new novel, The Lost Symbol, was published on September 15th. In the space of a few weeks, Mr Brown has sold more...

Laithwaites, the UK’s biggest home-delivery wine business, has always reminded me of Dan Brown: loved by the general public, but dismissed as a bit of a joke by us critics....

RIP Keith Floyd. For all the headlines about boozing, bankruptcy and failed marriages, Floyd was a talented chef and a brilliant TV presenter. It’s easy to forget that, before Floyd,...

Attending a tasting run by The Bunch, a group of Britain’s leading independent wine merchants, is like watching The Magnificent Seven. Every time the posse reassembles, it seems to have...

When William Golding sent the manuscript of “Lord of the Flies” to the publisher, Faber & Faber, it landed on the desk of a reader called Polly Perkins. Her verdict...

Economic necessity or swift-footed tactical shimmy? Majestic’s decision to reduce its minimum in-store purchase from 12 to six bottles – as predicted here on 2 August – is arguably both...