According to this article sales of British blue cheese have outsold their French counterparts for the first time. The figures are according to Britain's biggest food retailer, Tesco and indicate that people are choosing to buy more British varieties. The supermarket has sold 16% more British blue cheese than French blue over the past 12 months. Favourites appear to be Blue Wensleydale, Yorkshire Blue, Blacksticks Blue and Shropshire Blue. Personally I always buy a British cheese where available, so it’s good to see other people are starting to do the same.

At a time when it is generally assumed that newspaper readership is declining this article makes an interesting read. It suggests that 12,681,472 people still buy a newspaper every day. The figures come from ABC figures and show that the 10 London based national titles sell an average of 9,540,993 a day. The 68 English regional dailies (mornings and evenings) together sell 2,085,116. In addition the non paid for dailies sell 1.344,959 (Metro) 700,000 (Evening Standard)  and 113,321 (City AM) making newspaper readership nearer the 15m mark. Personally I don’t buy a printed newspaper anymore but I do still read those that are still freely available online.

According to this article aliens can now declare themselves on the Serbian Census. There is now a new section for visitors from other planets to declare themselves if they should wish to do so. They can list themselves as aliens but do not have to give any details of their sex, religion or ethnicity. It will be interesting to see how many aliens take advantage of this.

I have always avoided store cards because of their extremely high rates of interest but was interested to read this article which suggests some may now charge you for not using them. Santander have written to customers to tell them that their terms and conditions have changed. The company which issues store cards for House of Fraser, Debenhams, Laura Ashley and several other high street chains will now be able to charge a £10 fee to customers who do not use their cards for six months. The article suggests that many shoppers take out store cards to take advantage of introductory rates over Christmas without intending to use them on a regular basis. Bearing in mind that many store cards charge almost 30 per cent interest this seems to me another good reason not to use them.

This is a rather strange idea, its a sweet that claims to make you better looking. Apparently it increases energy levels, boosts health, slows down the aging process and improves skin complexion. The product contains no fat preservations, sugar or sodium and few calories. It does contain collagen and vitamins and is supposed to care for the body from the inside. It is already on sale in Brazil and will soon start appearing in the UK. At £7.50 a pack it’s not cheap either. I wonder if it works.

Just when the remains of the last lot of snow were starting to disappear it appears to have started again. It has been snowing in Sevenoaks all morning again and is already at the stage where I don’t think its safe enough to take the car out of the drive. Unfortunately as I learnt last time, the only thing to do in Sevenoaks when it snows is to give in and build a snowman.

According to this article if you want to lose weight all you need to do is imagine eating calorific food before you eat. Scientists have found that going through the metal motions of eating something such as chocolate bar will make you eat less when you actually eat your meal. In a study volunteers were asked to imagine consuming some food such as a M&M or a cube of cheese. They were then given a bowl of food and asked to eat it. There was a 50% reduction in the amount of food consumed by the participants who has been told to imagine eating before being given the bowl of food. Personally I’m not sure it would work for me, if I imagined eating a bar of chocolate I would have to go to the shop and buy chocolate.

The Tate's Christmas tree this year is a rather bare affair. It has been created by Giorgio Sadotti and features a circle of silver postcards around the base and a coiled bullwhip. The artist is know for an art practice that “celebrates the power of nothing”. That may be so but a few fairy light wouldn’t go amiss.