I was interested to note an uncharacteristic lack of business nous at Asda this week, with the retailer buying 2,000 Manchester United shirts on the grey market to sell in its stores in the Manchester and Lancashire area (page 14). Surely any fool knows that richer pickings would have been had in the leafy suburbs of Surrey and Kent. De-dum.

Don't you just hate it when this happens. Off we went to the CIES IT and Supply Chain conference in Geneva to hear about great logistics strategies from some of the biggest companies in our sector. That was all very well, but it didn't take long for the organisers to be tearing their hair out. The bus taking delegates from the hotel to the conference centre on day one of the event should have arrived within a few minutes. Alas, it took a circuitous route meaning we missed half an hour of the first speaker. I can only blame poor logistics.

Confectionery manufacturers were clearly out to prove the buoyant nature of their industry at last week's Confectioners' Benevolent Fund bash, which was held on the fine naval vessel HMS Belfast. It was quite a fitting venue if the truth be told. The Belfast was at one time the queen of the seas before coming under strong attack and nearly being destroyed. But after some hard work, she was rebuilt and restored to her former glory (almost) and is now very popular with the UK population. Remind you of a certain food category?

So Chippenham inventor Simon Rhymes has patented a device using lightbulbs to boil an egg. Will he have more success than the unfortunate Dragons Den contestant James Seddon and his electronic water free egg cooker? Under pressure he forgot to put the egg in first time, then his invention yielded two undercooked eggs. Let's hope that Rhymes has cracked the problem.

bogofs.week@william-reed.co.uk


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