• It's still on the cards

  WHAT'S THE STORY WITH BANNING CREDIT CARD CHARGES? AT THE BEGINNING of last summer Irish consumers were given a little bit of hope that one of the more widely despised charges they had regularly been forced to pay over the preceding decade was about to be made illegal. p
  

• VALUE FOR MONEY TOMATO SOUP

  Tested by Conor Pope . p
  

• Messages from extraterrestrials

  SOUNDING OFF:  Roger Hurley got in touch with a query about the postal service: "Mail arrives from the UK, or even from Ireland, bearing a label which suggests it was dispatched from Sweden, or Germany, or from even further afield. How do these services work?" p
  

• NTL's contribution to an ulcer

  BLOG ON HERE: Is there a way to stop NTL sending me its offers addressed to "The Resident"? I'm not a customer, have no intention of becoming one either, but I get its direct mail at least once a fortnight. p
  

• Drink and be green

  THUMBS  UP : Brewing company Adnams has developed what it claims is the UK's first carbon-neutral beer. p
  

• Turning up the heat

  THUMBS DOWN: One in three children, including some as young as eight, are using sunbeds, in direct contravention of guidelines from the industry trade body, according to a survey by Which?, the British consumer group. p
  

Most popular stories