Consumer Power – The Fakecharities And NuPuritans Loathe It…

This wasn't just a meal deal. This was a Marks & Spencer meal deal - without alcohol.

Yet when the High Street giant trialled the new version of its hugely popular Dine In For Two for £10 offer with better quality food, but without the usual bottle of wine thrown in, it seems customers were just not interested.

Who could blame them?

Instead of snapping up the deals as usual, the normally loyal shoppers took their business elsewhere, and some even spoke up about their outrage.

Oh noes! Not only are they refusing to obey, they are speaking out!

Now the trial has come to an end, and Marks and Spencer has no plans to repeat it - promising that the 'Dine In' offer will continue, but with a bottle of wine option included as standard.

And why did they trial such a bonkers idea in the first place?

The experiment, which was carried out in a handful of stores over the New Year, came after a series of attacks on shops for encouraging heavy drinking by offering cheap alcohol.

But middle class Britons have evidently shown that they remain a pushover for bargain booze, in spite of the warnings of experts.

Or, to put it another way, middle class Britons have shown they are sick and tired of the hectoring, nannying claptrap that issues from the mouths of single-issue fanatics who claim to be ‘experts’ yet pull their ‘evidence’ straight out of their fundaments…

But Julia, you cry, why should teetotalers not be catered for? Why should alternatives not be available? What about freedom of choice?

Oh. Well, you always had that. You didn't have to have the wine!

Although customers are offered a soft drink as an alternative to the wine, campaigners against alcohol abuse raised questions…

Well, of course they did.

Leaving people to make their own decisions? What sort of campaigner ever does that?

… and over the New Year, the trial alternative without any alcohol was tested.

Went down a storm, didn't it? Heh!

According to the industry magazine The Grocer, feedback on the re-jigged deal on the internet consumer forum Money Saving Expert was overwhelmingly negative.

Ouch!

Are they downhearted? Do they see this as proof they were wrong?

Last October the British Liver Trust claimed such deals should carry health warnings, as they encouraged heavy drinking among middle-aged professionals - yet were promoted in sections of stores away from the alcohol department.

Hmmm, the Liver Trust. It's not a fakecharity - over 90% of its income is marked as 'voluntary'.

That doesn't stop it being a hectoring busybody, though:

British Liver Trust spokeswoman Sarah Matthews said: 'These meal deals are prominently advertised and make regular drinking at that level seem like a perfectly acceptable everyday habit. They are totally wrong.'

According to you...

'If a couple share a bottle of wine every night, the woman would be more than double her limit by the end of the week and the man would also be way over.'

And since those limits are based on nothing, IT DOESN’T MATTER ANYWAY.

But the final delicious irony came when I looked up their website. They are running a competition for feedback on their newsletter.

And look at what you get if you win:

/facepalm