Has the time come to be hard on soft drinks?

Amid the much criticised news that the government is to continue with its cooperative approach with the food industry in reducing fat, this does not seem unreasonable when the soft drink industry seems to have been completely overlooked. Of course Coca-Cola is the leading sweet drink in the world and is - irony of ironies - a sponsor of the Olympics. The tooth decay it engenders is well-known, but less so is that unless you burn up the energy you consume in a soft drink virtually immediately (and here let it not be forgotten that Coca-Cola is selling not to the athletes but to the spectators) this energy will be changed into fat. So fine if your are running the 500 metres and like your dentist, but surely not such a good idea if you are not or don't.

Contained Joy?

News that the container ship that hit the reef of New Zealand's North Island has at least half a million pounds worth of wine on board is not good tidings for wine suppliers or customers. Certainly delays in someone's supplies are inevitable. There are no insurance claims yet permitted as the goods aren't yet lost, though the recent revelation that 70 or so containers have fallen into the sea may engender a rethink. Maybe there will be scenes as there were some years ago when the MSC Napoli came to grief off the South Devon Coast and "Sauvignon Blanc Galore" will turn out to be the sequel to "Whisky Galore"...
October 11

Australian non sequitur

As Autumn approaches we are brought down to earth with a bump as an Australian health body is adamantly declaring that alcohol does you no good at all. The 'Alcohol Policy Coalition' says that more than half of all alcohol-related deaths globally are from diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer or liver cirrhosis. Now here they are undoubtedly stating no less than the truth - but what they seem to have ignored is the length of life before death. After all, the fuss about the French paradox was not that Frenchmen didn't die (that really would have been a marketing gift for their wines!) but that they died later (or lived longer, to put it a little more genteely) than most and in particular than would be expected from their fat and alcohol intake. That seems still to hold. The message is still that red wine in moderation is likely to help you live longer and, we hope, more happily. But not, alas, for ever...

Mad Dogs, Midday Sun - and wine

Now we learn that drinking wine or eating grapes can help to prevent sunburn. According to researchers at Barcelona University, certain flavenoid compounds found in grapes are capable of stopping the death of cells and scarring of skin tissue caused by spending too long in the midday sun. How extraordinarily convenient. Remember you heard it here first - that large glass of red consumed with lunch earlier is purely and simply preventative before stretching out for a tan.Soon there should surely be a UV protection rating on the bottle next to the alcoholic strength..

Civil Disruption

Amid the extraordinarily sad news of the recent riots in areas of London particularly, it grieves us to have to advise that this may adversely affect some of our deliveries - most particularly to areas of London where there have been diversions and road closures. One or two deliveries have been delayed and although they have all now reached their intended destination if rioting continues it may be that some further delays result to currently outstanding orders. At the time of writing London and adjacent portions of the home counties are the only areas affected. There is a useful summary on the ParcelForce website here - though on a slightly more optimistic note, in these areas the majority of our deliveries are undertaken by UK Mail/Business Post which, because of their depot locations, seem rather less affected.

The Nuclear Option

Some Californians have set up a website 'beers not bombs' (link here) to change the world - they say - 'one beer at a time'. Still heavy on word play they want to move 'from War to Peace' and so are selling bottle openers recycled from disarmed nuclear weapon systems. So if, when you open a beer with your new opener you feel a warm glow - well - keep your distance and don't call us...

Special Relationships

As those of you who keep up with such things will already know Poland has taken over the Presidency of the EU. They have decided to celebrate the historic friendship between Hungary and Poland (of which in our ignorance we confess we were unaware) by serving wines only from Hungary at the EU functions hosted during their Presidency. We wonder if this could set a precedent? Perhaps it should even be a condition of the presidency. It might be that only German wines could be served when the French hold the Presidential seat or only French wine when the Brits are in charge. Maybe only Greek wines when the Portuguese are on duty and only Portuguese when the Greeks hold sway. The fun could be enormous...