In his book “ Extra Virginity: The Sublime And Scandalous World of Olive Oil”, author Tom Mueller has explored the world of the lucrative olive oil industry, pointing out the truth that wherever there is money to be made some of those involved will turn to criminal acts in order to get one over on their competitors.

In the summer of 2011, Spanish police in the region of Murcia arrested one thief who is thought to have stolen over a million of litres of olive oil which he and his gang then shipped to Italy, where the product is in great demand. In fact, olive oil is so valuable in Italy that lorry drivers have been held up at gunpoint for their precious cargo and gangs of criminals have broken into bottling plants in the middle of the night to steal millions of pounds worth of the in-demand product.

Corruption in the olive groves is far from a modern phenomenon, however. Tablets dating from over 2,000 years ago have been found in Syria detailing the activities of a group of men who were responsible for ensuring the quality and purity of any olive oil sold at the local markets.

One expert told Mueller that only 2% of the olive oil labelled as “virgin” in shops around the world would actually pass the rigorous industry standards; these include making the oil with the best olives when they are almost over-ripe and only extracting the oil by hand, without the assistance of any technology.

With such strict controls and such a labour-intensive production method, any “virgin” olive oil which is priced at anything less than £6 or £7 is far too cheap to be genuine. Companies who care about their product enough to package it in dark glass bottles, to protect the contents from sunlight, have probably also taken more care over the production methods too.

Of course, it is almost impossible for consumers to be sure they are buying the real thing. Unscrupulous producers will often label other types of oil as “virgin olive oil” or dilute the real thing with other products, including lamp-oil which has a high acid content and is thought to be damaging to the health if consumed in large quantities.

Even those in the know can be fooled by olive oil fraudsters. Food giant Nestle, which makes the Buitoni and Bertolli brands of olive oil, once bought a large shipment of Turkish nut oil which was fraudulently labelled as the genuine article. In their factories it was mixed with real virgin olive oil and sold to customers around the world.

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In both home and business settings, labels are a beneficial tool for a multitude of purposes. They could be used for addresses, inventories or stock counts, in education, for arts and crafts and other means of organisation.

We can supply Avery stickers that you can print from your printer in the office or at home or we can print them for you and have them sent ready to use. Whatever your needs, we can provide sticker dispensers for protected label rolls or label pads as an alternative. Both are designed for quick and easy use.

Your address labels can be customised by us to present all kinds of information such as name, address, email address, telephone number and fax number. You could even use your labels on promotional brochures to incorporate opening times or dates. Whatever your requirements, Avery is available to deliver a large selection of different address stickers.

We supply a wide assortment of label shapes – circular, oval or square – giving you the scope for a range of functions. Avery stickers commonly come in solid white but you may wish to make use of our yellow, green, blue and red label colours for important security labels.

Avery and the Avery Product Codes e.g. “Avery L7160” are trademarks of the Avery Dennison Corporation. These products are not made or endorsed by the Avery Dennison Corporation. We use the Avery product codes e.g. “Avery L7160” as these codes refer to the size formats that are found in most common software packages. Please refer to printer manufacturer’s instructions prior to use.

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In the space of around 18 months, the number of people with iPhones or similar models has increased twofold, corresponding with a rise in online shopping purchases in Britain. Nearly half of all mobile phone owners in the country now possess a smartphone, with 80% of those having used their handsets to buy goods and services online. The UK clearly leads the rest of Europe when it comes to browsing shopping sites on the Internet, with Britons spending an average of an hour and a half each week looking at retail websites.

While the advantages of online shopping are obvious, consumer experts are concerned that smartphone users are becoming relaxed about security issues, in particular credit and debit card fraud. Shoppers should always make sure they use reputable shopping sites which offer secure methods of payment to avoid having their details stolen.

The National Fraud Authority warns that this is a problem which is on the increase, with almost 40% of those who have used online shopping sites being a victim of some kind of fraud. Michael Phillips, one of the directors at  Broadbandchoices.co.uk, added that criminals are always particularly active around the festive period, when the number of online purchases increases dramatically and shoppers are less likely to be vigilant about checking the security of the shopping sites they use.

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If you think about it, a Christmas scratchcard is a great little stocking filler, or to put in a cracker, or even a gift for that person whose name you have picked out of the hat for secret Santa and haven’t a clue what to get for them. Lotto tickets have been used as gifts and wedding favours for a long time, but the instantaneousness of a scratch card makes these a winner every time.

To promote this, Lotto organisers Camelot have released a fun video to get the point across of what a good gift a scratchcard makes. We see one being slipped into a Christmas card, a stocking hanging by the fireplace, a cracker and into a desk drawer in the office. When the recipients open the card/stocking/drawer they are deluged in cash, and the guests at a dinner party who pull the cracker are showered with money.

So if you are stuck for that extra little something, take trip to your nearest lotto outlets and pick up a few Happy Christmas, Snow me the Money or Christmas Millionaire scratch cards. Ranging in price from £1 to £5, they are the ideal gifts to give this Christmas. You don’t have to battle your way around the High Street, or look for hours online, they are available from everywhere that has a lottery machine, so pick up yours today.

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Despite these devices being incredibly popular there has been no standardisation of the amount that each machine charges the customer. In fact, many people have criticised the machines for charging a huge range of different fees. In the case of debit cards the charge can be as little as 11p but in other cases the charge might be over 40p.

With credit cards the situation is even worse as the amount charged to the retailer will be as a percentage of the value of the sale. This basically means that the more the customer spends in the store the more the seller is going to have to pay to the bank. The average rate per transaction between the big six providers in the UK is around 20p. The average rate as a percentage is around 1.7% but the most expensive provider charges nearly 5% for every transaction.

Small businesses are finding the charges overwhelming and in the last year all of the six major providers in the UK have increased their rates. In addition to this the billing process is becoming increasingly less transparent and small businesses are finding they are getting bills much higher than they expected.

Jonathan Elliott is the Chief Executive of Make It Cheaper and he has commented, “When retailers are being sold the systems they are being taken for a ride by the providers and they are not allowed time to read the small print. The problem is that this part of the market is not regulated and so the providers can essentially charge whatever they like, they are making a large profit at the cost of small shop owners and this is not the sort of behaviour we want to see in the market.”

There are also additional fees for companies that have not filled out all the required compliance forms and often small retailers are not told how easy these are to complete. In some cases, simply filling out a form online, which takes around half an hour, can save the business 2% off each transaction. For those who own small enterprises in the UK it is very important that they start reading the small print and see what better options there are in the market for reducing their costs.

Mr Elliott continued, “Small businesses find it very difficult to understand all of the details when they sign up to a new system as they simply don’t have the manpower to do everything. These providers are making it as difficult as possible for them so information is hidden from them in huge amount of correspondence.

“There are also barriers to switching company so even when a retailer realises they are paying over the odds they might not be up to change provider without incurring even more additional costs. These include things such as setup fees and supplementary charges, which essentially remove any financial benefit that the retailer might gain from switching in the first place.”

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The group, R3, stated that it came up with this figure after interviewing 2,000 people.  However, Consumer Finance Association member John Lamidey, which works with payday loan businesses, disputes the figures that have been released.  In the middle of this debate is Downing Street ,which is attempting to bring some type of industry code into being.

According to the figures from R3, 45% of those in the survey struggled to make their finances last until their payday and another 60% were worried about how much debt they held under their name.  The group went on to say that the survey shows that money concerns are as high as they have ever seen and that this aligns with the fact that consumer bodies are now asking that payday loans be better regulated to stop people from making poor decisions due to a lack of understanding.

Payday loans are a large group of short term small unsecured loans that are designed to help people stretch out their finances until they reach their payday, but at the cost of a high interest rate that forces them to pay back a larger amount than they borrowed right away.  In fact, the payday loan has become so popular that payday companies are now worth about two billion pounds a year according to Andrew Hosken, the BBC correspondent.

Sometimes the money can be cheaper than an overdraft or credit card penalty if it is paid promptly back on the next payday, however, if the loans are not paid off right away with interest rates that are over 4000% ,debts can start to increase rapidly and before long get out of control.  One woman stated that she borrowed £300 and paid small amounts and without realising it, even with regular payments, discovered she still owed £720.  It is this very cycle that the payday loan companies count on.

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The Centre for Retail Research has recently released a figure that says around £1 billion worth of merchandise will be stolen in the run-up to Christmas. It is expected that the figure this year will be significantly higher than years past due to so many more people feeling the squeeze financially.

Joshua Bamfield is from the Centre for Retail Research and was the author behind the study, he has said, “Retailers expect that shoplifting will increase around the festive season and it is important that they realise the impact that shoplifting can have on their bottom line.Since 2010 the amount of crime being committed at Christmas time has increased and this suggests that our financial troubles have impacted on the amount of people who are shoplifting.

“The combination of a weak economy and increased shoplifting is going to mean an even grimmer season for retailers then they thought.” Many industry analysts are expecting that the financial situation is going to get quite a bit worse before there are any viable signs of a recovery.

Around two thirds of all products stolen are by shoplifters with the remaining third  being taken by staff working at a shop. A small percentage of the stuff that goes missing will be because of supply chain fraud and other factors.

Neil Matthews works at Checkpoint Systems and he has commented, “We are urging all retailers to be extra vigilant this festive season against shoplifting and theft by their own staff. Stores must introduce appropriate security measures in order to prevent theft and fraud.”

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The sale will be starting at 3 PM on 24 November, Thursday and will continue throughout the weekend and finish on Monday night. It is expected that this will be one of the largest shopping days of the year for the retailers and other electronics manufacturers are expecting big sales on Monday.

Currys and PC World are predicting a record-breaking 25% extra visitors to their sites across the 100 Hour Price Drop. The promotion, which will run on both www.Currys.co.uk andwww.PCWorld.co.uk, will offer customers some great market-beating deals across major brands and product categories, including iPads, Xbox Kinect, large screen TVs and computing products and gifts – for the whole weekend.

Commenting on behalf of Dixons Retail, Anina Castle said: “As part of our peak promotions we have been surveying our customers ‘Wish Lists’* for Christmas, to ensure that we include some of the products our customers really want to get including the Xbox Kinect , Dr Dre Beats headphones which feature in the top ten.”

“Last year we saw visitors to our websites increase by around 15% on Cyber Monday. This year we are predicting an increase of up to 25% across the whole weekend as canny customers prepare for Christmas by seeking out online bargains.”

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Knitwear this winter is all the rage with this season being all about the Fair Isle sweater. A thick Fair Isle Knit in a muted navy or brown with subtle white details is more fashionable than festive and will guarantee to keep you warm and snug while staying stylish yet casual whether you’re at home on the couch or out celebrating with your family and friends.  Why not invest in a cosy patterned jumper, or a sleeveless button-down vest that’s easy to layer with a contrasting coloured shirt underneath, or get even further ahead of the trend by choosing a cardigan but don’t forget your scarf and gloves as well as being practical you’ll be turning heads too.

To help battle the dark mornings and darker nights not to mention the horrible weather, casual clothing the is comfortable is vital and the more layers the better. Casuals enable you to dress down but that shouldn’t mean you should give up on taste!

However there are few rules for relaxed menswear to keep in mind, but think outside the white t-shirt. Polo shirts have always been a favourite alternative – consider them to be the smart shirt of the casual wear world. Buttoned up or left undone, piqued collars and colourful stripes in on-trend mouth watering shades of raspberry and chocolate add a touch of class, and short-sleeved polo shirts can be layered over long sleeved base shirts, or under a V-neck knitted sweater for extra warmth.

Another sportswear shirt remains unwaveringly popular in the style stakes – the rugby shirt. Thick cotton fabrics with banded stripes in your favourite teams’ colours, long sleeves and crisp white collars evoke memories of mud and mirth, and make a ‘rugger’ the perfect Sunday shirt, even if you hung up your boots long ago! Even with a pair of jeans and sneakers, rugby shirts will still look as gentlemanly as the sport from which they came.

Let us not forget that no wardrobe could be complete though without some great fitting trousers, and they don’t come more comfortable than cords. Lightweight, soft and tactile yet wonderfully warm to wear, corduroy jeans in seasonal hues of navy and rusty red are denim jeans’ smarter cousin, though how smart you make them is up to you. Plaid shirts and classic knitwear can be teamed with them as easily as a plain tee or rugger, and finished off with brown leather loafers or suede desert boots for a complete casual look that’s not slack on style.

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