Going to the dogs

This is possibly the least surprising survey outcome of the year – UK consumers put animals above the environment when it comes to their ethical priorities.

According to a wide-ranging poll by the Co-op, just 4% of UK shoppers rank climate change as their main ethical concern, compared with 21% who put animal welfare at the top. Now, issues such as intensively-reared chicken meat and eggs, recently highlighted by a bunch of so-called celebrity chefs, are obviously worthy and to be taken seriously.

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The new romantics

If the emails we’re sent by personal finance press offices were any guide, the next issue of Moneywise would be wall-to-wall Valentine’s Day. Now, most years I attempt to make my wife realise that for her, every day is Valentine’s Day – she remains to be convinced – but I appreciate that it’s a money spinner for greeting card firms, restaurants and flower shops.

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Treasure hunt

In Google’s list of the most frequently searched words on its service last year, ‘stocks’ came fourth, while the names of three top banks also featured in the top 10. Intriguingly, ‘sex’ was well outside the top 10, as were ‘Paris Hilton’, ‘Ronaldo’ and ‘Wii’.

Puzzled? Fair enough. But the internet hasn’t been taken over by investors and number crunchers with no concern for Brangelina, X Factor or the rest of the sinister celebrity vacuum – Google was referring only to its self-censored Chinese language service.

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It's not unusual

To describe it as a backlash would be exaggerating, admittedly. Yet an editorial I wrote in Moneywise, back in what we laughably called ‘summer’, perplexed one or two readers. My mistake was to confess to not being desperate to get on the housing ladder.

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