Enjoy Chinese New Year in London with these great bottles of wine February 16, 2026 Today marks the start of the Year of the Fire Horse and fifteen days of celebrations for the Chinese Lunar New Year. Red lanterns are hung and red, money-filled envelopes exchanged over dinners with friends and family. Never shy of a reason to celebrate, London’s hospitality scene is going all out. Restaurants including Hakkasan (a [...]
From Elton John to Kylie: 10 best alcohol free wines for Dry January January 12, 2026 The best alcohol free wines to try this month Put down that sad glass of tap water. If you are taking a break from alcohol, I have some of the very best options out there, none of which involve pretending you enjoy drinking London’s chalky, limestone-heavy water. Spoil YourselfEven in the driest of months, there [...]
The Traitors winner Alan Carr on his new approach to drinking January 5, 2026 On Christmas Eve I was on The Celebrity Traitors winner Alan Carr and Lee Peart’s new podcast Bottom’s Up!, a hilarious series all about friendship and wine, which, as you are reading this ‘Wine Without the Snobbery’ column, may be right up your decanter. Carr clearly has celebrations in mind. “As I approach a milestone [...]
Asda: Will 2026 be the year supermarket giant bounces back? December 26, 2025 This time last year, analysts warned that Asda needed to “dig down into its soul” if it was to turn around its fortunes. After a rollercoaster 2024 in which it struggled with debt, strikes and falling sales, the Leeds-headquartered supermarket giant was hoping the new year would begin to reveal green shoots of recovery. Under [...]
Waitrose Partners With SOLUM to Introduce Electronic Shelf Labels Nationwide December 11, 2025 Waitrose and SOLUM have announced a partnership to deploy Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) across all Waitrose stores. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251211692071/en/ The rollout, planned for completion in 2026, will reduce the time spent on manual ticket updates, freeing up Partners to spend more time providing customers with the [...]
No-zempic: Jolly Brits swap weight-loss jabs for stuffing this Christmas December 9, 2025 Brits are set to go all out this Christmas as nearly half plan to swap out their weight loss jabs for an extra helping of turkey and pudding. One in three don’t plan to return to their normal dose until after New Year in order to take full advantage of the festive season, according to [...]
Woodford Reserve teams up with fashion house Markarian for 2025 holiday bottle December 9, 2025 Kentucky Bourbon brand Woodford Reserve has launched a limited edition 2025 holiday bottle, created in collaboration with New York fashion designer Alexandra O’Neill. Best known as the founder of luxury label Markarian, O’Neill’s design features a classy take on traditional sprigs of mistletoe and festive stars. The palette – with a backdrop of sage green [...]
Deloitte’s big Christmas quiz 2025 December 9, 2025 The 2025 Deloitte Christmas Economics Quiz by chief economist, Ian Stewart and team The Christmas quiz offers a test of your knowledge of the festive season, economics and politics, in 12 questions. The answers and a brief explanation of the factors at work are provided at the end. 1) Which British politician (past and present) [...]
Christmas adverts 2025 reviewed… Part 2 December 3, 2025 To see part one of our Christmas adverts review click here Are you starting to feel Christmassy yet? It tried it’s damndest to snow last week didn’t it? And what with the lights getting switched on all over town ‘the season’ is increasingly hard to avoid. To be honest I gave in this week, and had [...]
Weight-loss drugs ‘fundamentally changing’ the way Brits eat December 3, 2025 The rise of weight-loss drugs is starting to affect supermarket sales, with experts warning that the sector is unprepared for the change this Christmas. More than one in ten Brits is set to host someone on GLP-1 medication this year, prompting less alcohol and fewer sweets on the menu. “There is a worry that Christmas [...]