Leading Article: A bargain? No, it's a banana

Something for nothing? Not quite. When Phil Calcott calculated that Tesco was paying him 8p for every 3lb of bananas he took away, he figured he "couldn't lose". He thought that after buying pounds 942 worth of bananas he was pounds 25.12 better off.

But add on Mr Calcott's trips to the supermarket to pick up the bananas, the petrol used ferrying them to and fro and the hours spent standing in a Worcester street giving them away to bemused and reluctant shoppers. That's at least eight hours' work plus expenses, all for 25 quid. Great gesture, but we think Phil conned himself. There is, after all, no such thing as a free lunch.