Latest edition of Latte Magazine is Published on Friday!

Issue 4 of Latte Magazine, our free print magazine for Business, Economics & Enterprise teachers is now at the printers and should be sent out later next week.  Take a sneak preview at the contents and order your copy here!

Consolidation speculation in the budget hotel market

The budget hotel market in the UK has enjoyed stronger than average growth in the last decade. A small number of operators have steadily built their market share, and now there is media speculation that the two largest competitors will soon merge.

The Social Network that Friends Forgot

Browsing Facebook the other night I saw a passing reference to one of the earliest social networking sites - Friends Reunited.  I remember using that site a few years ago, before it was bought by ITV for £120m and wondered what had happened to it since?

Festive cheer’ or promoting “binge drinking”?

Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has been branded the “godfather of British binge drinking” by Labour MP John Grogan.  He chairs the all-party Parliamentary beer group, which receives funding from breweries.  He used a Commons debate to push for action against supermarkets selling alcohol below cost price.

Mr Grogan’s comments came as MPs debated the health consequences of the availability of cheap alcohol. He said Competition Commission research showed Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket group, had underpriced beer and lager during last year’s World Cup by £15.1m. And he claimed the supermarket giants carried on the practice of selling alcohol below cost price “all the time”.

According to the BBC article Tesco chief is ‘binge godfather’

Mr Grogan told MPs: “Sir Terence Leahy must address this issue. They must stop putting their heads in the sand, the big supermarket bosses. We want some leadership from these very powerful individuals.”

A Tesco spokesman said Mr Grogan’s comments did “nothing to inform the serious social debate on binge drinking.  Alcohol abuse is of course a serious concern to us all and we are playing a leading role in the efforts to tackle it. The vast majority of alcohol bought at Tesco forms part of the weekly family shop. We also know people tend to stock up on beers and wines for home use during promotional periods and consequently buy less at other times.”

Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said shops selling cheap alcohol could face new laws and old MPs “We remain concerned about the practice by shops and supermarkets of deep discounting promotions - often as loss leaders and below cost price of alcoholic products.”