The relationship between love and money is a little bit more complicated than that

Fifteen miles of conveyor belts, 3.7 million packets of stuffing and thousands of staff... Supermarkets are gearing up for Christmas as more of us than ever stock up online. Alice-Azania Jarvis reports

Fifteen miles of conveyor belts, 3.7 million packets of stuffing and thousands of 'pickers'...more and more of us do the biggest shop of the year online.

Better-than-expected UK growth figures were today overshadowed by a manufacturing slump and grim predictions the economy could yet collapse back into recession.

When the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy struck a deal with David Beckham – she would send him a handwritten poem about his ankle injury if he sent her a pair of his football boots in return – she expected a package to turn up six months ago.

Consumer confidence in the UK has slipped to levels normally associated with a recession, raising further concern over the UK's economic recovery.

Set in the grounds of a Potsdam palace, with plenty of aristocracy on the 700-strong guest list and an opulent six-horse-drawn carriage for the ride home, the marriage of Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia and Princess Sophie Johanna Maria of Isenburg, which takes place today, is being hailed as Germany's own "royal" wedding. The only difference is, the couple aren't royals.

Travel View

Outlook The Office for National Statistics continues to get it in the neck. After last Friday's humiliation, which saw it publish construction industry figures in the morning that it had to recant in the afternoon, the ONS has now been publicly rebuked by the UK Statistics Authority for risking giving the perception that it is not politically neutral.

Unlike the riots of 30 years ago, actions last week had no clear explanation. And that's a real challenge for the chattering classes

August is the cruellest month, for gossip columnists at least. Little gets “launched”, “premieres”are postponed and story-barrels are well and truly scraped.

"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly." Macbeth might have made for an interesting external appointment to the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), if only for his sense of timing. Probably not quite as back stabbing as some as well.

Racecourse operator Arena Leisure yesterday sought to woo potential bidders by revealing an 11.3 per cent rise in attendances as it battles to replace revenue lost from a fall in bookmaker funding.