A beef with Tesco

After all, the financial bottom line – the driving force behind most commercial decisions – should not be a factor for a British firm which reported profits last month of £3.8bn. Yet, because the supermarket’s new boss, Philip Clarke, was not satisfied with the dividend, or the company’s failure to make its mark in the United States, he wants Tesco to do even better.

It is why the firm recently increased the price of a litre of British milk by three pence.

This money will, inevitably, boost the Tesco bottom line rather than the incomes of hard-pressed dairy farmers who have seen their margins squeezed. And it is why a small amount of beef is being imported across the Atlantic – Mr Clarke believes there will be demand for such imports. Given this backdrop, the choice facing customers is a simple one – buy British, whenever and wherever possible, so the likes of Tesco have to reflect public demand in every purchasing decision.