A rare and valuable copy of the US Declaration of Independence has been discovered in the National Archives.

Even with Shopping Bag's great modesty notwithstanding, this is a great tip. From this morning, until Sunday at 7pm there's a jumble sale that will justify that oft-used tag "unmissable".

Born amid the mud and misery of the Western Front trenches, the curious British tradition of the official "war artist" has now yielded almost a century's harvest of sobering, disturbing and often hauntingly beautiful works snatched from places of death and destruction. In recent decades the lens as well as the brush or pencil has enriched this heritage.

When I was a young boy growing up in rural Pakistan, my grandfather would entertain me with stories of a man called Abu Zayd. He was a rascal who roamed from place to place conning people with his wit and stunning use of language. Each story began with Abu Zayd giving an eloquent sermon in the mosque or the bazaar. "How long will you persist with your folly?" he would ask the people who gathered around him. "How long will you cheat, steal, and do and eat all those things that God has forbidden? How long will you be greedy and chase material goods?" He never failed to impress, both by his message and his oratory; some gave him money and thanked him, others he would cheat. But Abu Zayd lived a life of luxury in a cave, with his two wives, where he greedily consumed forbidden things and did exactly what he had denounced in the bazaar.

I like finding stuff that others aren't going to have. I got this dress at a jumble sale in Hackney about eight years ago. It was in a suitcase under a table. I love the unusual fabric, and the dancing sailors run all the way around the bottom. It fitted me perfectly, so I decided it was meant for me. It cost me about 50p.

The publicity-shy Mike "stuff the shareholders" Ashley was hosting his own conference call yesterday, so things must be bad. Certainly the results were extremely bad.

More bad news from the high street. After stripping out inflation, there was virtually no growth at all in like-for-like sales at Sainsbury in the 12 weeks to 14 June, despite what Justin King, the chief executive, calls "strong growth in non-foods". Sainsbury is facing much tougher competition from a resurgent Morrisons and Asda, but the main cause of this relatively poor performance has to be attributed to the consumer slowdown.