The supermarket chain Asda is to stop selling single kitchen knives in its stores by the end of April. The decision comes at a time of rising concerns about knife crime in the UK. Earlier this week, a senior police chief said the recent spate of deadly stabbings involving young people should be treated as a national emergency. Nick Jones, the senior vice-president at Asda, said: “We strongly believe that we have a responsibility to support the communities that we serve. Whilst we have already taken steps to restrict the sale of knives to ensure that they do not fall into the wrong hands, we felt there was more we could be doing to support those looking at how to bring this issue under control.
John Lewis has stopped selling travel insurance after a number of years, it emerged this week. The move prompted speculation that the decision was Brexit-related, coming just weeks before the UK is scheduled to leave the EU – but the retailer has dismissed this. John Lewis has offered travel insurance, in partnership with Ageas – which is part of a Brussels-based group – since 2012, and its cover is highly-rated. But the company said with the contract coming to an end, it had decided to stop selling the insurance from 18 February.
A major British fruit supplier and a craft spirits producer have teamed up to find a way to prevent an estimated 166m surplus supermarket grapes from going to waste every year – by turning them into gin. The new Hyke gin – the first in the UK to be made from grapes grown to be eaten fresh – goes on sale at 300 Tesco (TSCO) branches later this month. Tesco is among the larger UK supermarkets and manufacturers to have signed up to efforts to drive down the UK’s annual £20bn food waste bill by committing to halving waste from “farm to fork” by 2030. Every year fruit supplier and importer Richard Hochfeld, based in Kent, loses the equivalent of 1.4m punnets of grapes in the transportation and packing process. Among the bunches of black and green grapes that arrive in the UK from South America and South Africa are loose ones and those that are damaged, wrinkled or fail to meet supermarket specifications because they are the wrong shape or size. Total wastage of these “table” grapes (as opposed to those grown to make wine) is estimated at about 2-3% per annum, meaning a large volume of rejected fruit is not being eaten. To use the grapes, the company has linked up with the West Sussex-based distiller Foxhole Spirits and Tesco.
A Labour government would oblige private landlords to offer tenancies of indefinite length, based on the German system, in an attempt to give renters more security. The plan, announced by the shadow housing secretary, John Healey, would seek to protect tenants from arbitrary eviction without having to give a reason. In contrast in Germany, landlords are only allowed to evict tenants for reasons such as failure to pay rent or committing an offence in the property. Tenants would still be able to leave the property if they gave a period of notice. The proposal is a change from Labour’s pledge at the 2017 election, when it committed to making private tenancies three years by default. Labour says the indefinite system brings more security for renters, with private tenancies in Germany lasting an average of 11 years, compared with about four in England. This would, the party says, particularly help the 1.6m households with dependant children in private rented accommodation. The scheme is also intended to reduce the extent of rent increases. Labour says UK landlords use tenancy changeovers as an opportunity to increase prices. Currently, tenants can be evicted with notice without any reason being given.
Debenhams (DEB) has called on the competition watchdog to intervene in an attempted boardroom coup by the and House of Fraser boss, Mike Ashley. Shares in the ailing department store rose nearly 16% on Friday, or less than half a penny to 3.53p, after Ashley used a stock market announcement to call a Debenhams shareholder meeting to oust nearly all its directors and install himself as chief executive. It is understood that Debenhams has raised concerns with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) about the potential concentration of control in the hands of Ashley, whose Sports Direct empire owns House of Fraser and a near-30% stake in Debenhams. Half of Debenhams shoppers also shop in House of Fraser, which stocks 90% of the rival department store group’s beauty offering. Both chains also stock the same fashion brands including Phase Eight, Oasis, Ted Baker and Coast
