Andy was born in London just in time to see England win the World Cup, and much later began his career in academia, gaining a PhD in American Literature and lecturing at several universities, including Maryland and Gothenburg in Sweden, and pursuing a sideline in sheep-farming before moving back to London and becoming a literary agent and TV documentary-maker (working for various broadcasters and making series such as the BBC’s Monsoon Railway, set in Bengal).
He has written several biographies, including the Second World War story American Pimpernel, and became the official biographer of India’s Prime Minister (then Chief Minister of Gujarat) publishing Narendra Modi, a Political Biography (Harper Collins).
Andy joined Asian Media Group in 2018, his first “proper” job, and has been there ever since, believing that, while trade journalism might not save the world, it might just save journalism.
Between October to December 2023, the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association commissioned a nationwide poll of 12,000 smokers on their attitudes, awareness and understanding of illegal tobacco.
This is the ninth year that this survey has been carried out and trends are presented where possible.
The illegal tobacco market is now growing despite repeated Government attempts to curb the problem. While the number of adult smokers in the UK has decreased by 30 per cent (to 12 per cent of the UK population) since the TMA commissioned its first "Anti-Illicit Trade Survey" in 2014, the number of respondents who claim to purchase non-UK duty paid tobacco has reached a new high point of 80 per cent, with one in five smokers only buying "branded" tobacco, even though all legal tobacco has been sold in plain packaging in the UK since 2016 – eight years’ ago.
Repeated tax rises coupled with continuing "cost-of-living" pressures have had a cumulative impact on consumer spending behaviour, and pushed many consumers towards buying illegal tobacco through criminal channels. This should come as little surprise to the Government, with price sensitivity being such a key driver of consumer spending patterns.
To put it into context, in January 2024, the mean average RRP for a 20-pack of legal cigarettes was £15.26 compared to between £3.00-£6.00 upwards for a 20-pack of "illegal" cigarettes, and the mean average RRP for 50g of legal Roll-Your-Own was £34.84 compared to between £5.00-£8.00 upwards for 50g of "illegal" Roll-Your-Own.
The illegal tobacco market has "bounced back" and adapted after the Covid pandemic, with the purchasing of illegal tobacco online and via social media channels becoming commonplace.
Prohibition doesn’t work
The Government’s proposed "phased generational ban" (or de facto prohibition) on any adult born after 31 December 2008 from ever legally being able to buy tobacco risks pushing an even larger share of the UK’s tobacco market underground – with every passing year – into the hands of the organised criminal gangs that spread violence and disorder up and down our country.
Numerous retail representative organisations, including USDAW, Scottish Grocers’ Federation, British Retail Consortium, Retail Trust and the National Federation of Retailers have all recently evidenced that UK retailers are facing unprecedented levels of verbal abuse and physical violence from customers, with "age-related sales" already representing the most prominent trigger for violence and abuse towards staff – only behind shoplifting.
There are real concerns among retailers that the introduction of a phased generational ban will lead to an escalation in more threatening anti-social behaviour against retail staff, as the weight of enforcement will fall entirely on their shoulders, with no penalty proposed for consumers who try to break the law and buy tobacco when they are under the new legal age threshold, which will change each year, every year.
The Government has committed an additional £100 million over five years, spread between HMRC, Trading Standards and Border Force to clamp down on criminals trading illegal tobacco. Given by the Government’s own HMRC estimates, the illegal tobacco trade already costs at least £2.8 billion a year in lost taxes (and over £54 billion in total since 2000) it is very difficult to see what sustained impact this funding will make.
"The illegal tobacco market in the UK has now reached an inflection point," said Rupert Lewis, Director of the TMA. "In previous years, the TMA Anti-Illicit Trade Survey has painted a picture of a stubbornly resilient illegal tobacco trade, which in spite of overall smoking rates down-trending year-on-year, has remained resistant to decline.
"The latest evidence in this year’s survey, canvassing the views of over 12,000 adult smokers across the UK, points to the highest increase in consumers who are buying illegal tobacco at least once in the last year – 80 per cent of those surveyed – and even more worrying, one in five respondents claim to only buy branded tobacco products which have been illegal in the UK since 2016.
"Repeated increases in tobacco taxes and ongoing cost of living pressures are changing consumer behaviour and driving more smokers to buy illegal tobacco through criminal channels. This is especially alarming, given the Government’s intention to introduce a ‘phased generational ban’ on the purchase of all tobacco from 1 January 2027.
"I believe that there will be profound and far-reaching repercussions for consumers, retailers, law enforcement agencies and communities across the UK if a phased generational ban becomes law. In time, it will push the entire UK tobacco market underground, and I urge the Government to reflect hard on the consequences of this policy decision and the lasting impact that it will have on the UK."
SPAR North of England has launched Fyffes’ new ethical trade brand Trudi’s in a UK exclusive for bananas.
The large premium bananas are free of plastic packaging and are available in a paper banded pack of five or loose, including as part of SPAR Meal Deals. This is meeting shifting customer demands and is driving sales in store.
'Good Fruit, Doing Good’ is Trudi’s consumer claim and brand DNA which is giving back directly to communities that grow them.
This is supporting the building of school facilities, empowering women in their careers, and providing nutritious meals to communities where Fyffes own farms and supplier farms are located.
Fyffes has brought a choice of tropical produce to millions around the world in its 130-year history, and SPAR customers in Northern England have gained a taste for the new Trudi’s brand with encouraging boosts in volume into stores and sales through the tills.
Wilf Whittle, Trading Controller at James Hall & Co. Ltd, said: “We have been working with Fyffes for years now. We enjoy an excellent relationship with them, and we are delighted to be making the first move in the UK market with their new Trudi’s brand. The quality of fruit is excellent, and we are offering an improved sized and specification with Trudi’s.
“Modern day consumers like to know where their fruit is coming from, and we were cautiously optimistic that customers would take to the brand. When customers think of quality ethical and sustainable bananas, we want them to think of SPAR.
“The purple branding really stands out in store, and it has triggered a purple patch for our sales of bananas in the large, banded packs of five, and with the loose single fruit.
"We pride ourselves on availability, and while the market across retail has been short recently following shipping delays, we maintained full availability which is a credit to all involved within this supply chain.”
Toni Direito, Sales Manager at Fyffes Group Ltd, said: “Trudi’s is founded on consumers’ desire to not only eat healthy, fresh, and nutritious produce but to ensure that the fruit we eat is also doing good in the communities and with the people who cultivate our fresh produce.
“We are on a mission to show the world that nothing tastes better than knowing your fruit is doing good and our Trudi’s brand is deeply rooted in creating the best for both worlds – our growers in Central America and our consumers in Europe.
“A huge thank you to SPAR and James Hall & Co. Ltd for embracing the vision and taking the lead in ensuring communities benefit while providing a choice to consumers who wish to give back and do good by buying a purpose driven brand.”
James Hall & Co. Ltd is a fifth-generation family business which serves a network of independent SPAR retailers and company-owned SPAR stores across Northern England six days a week from its base at Bowland View in Preston.
A food and drink makers body is calling on the government to work with industry to boost growth and the competitiveness after a recent survey drop in the confidence among the maker as inflationary pressures including energy, labour and raw material costs gain pace.
According to the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), business confidence plummeted to -47 per cent in the final three months of last year, down from -6 per cent in the previous quarter, as companies in the sector were hit by measures announced in the October budget.
The confidence score among the country’s 12,500 food and drink businesses has slid to its lowest level since the final quarter of 2022, a time when inflation was surging after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier in that year.
Rising energy and commodity costs are among the pressures facing food and drink manufacturers in the coming year, according to the FDF’s state of industry report, as well the costs associated with government policies, such as changes to employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs).
Food and drink businesses are also due to carry the lion’s share of new packaging rules known as the extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme designed to improve recycling rates and tackle plastic pollution estimated to cost at least £1.4bn a year from October.
The FDF said the financial pressures weighing on confidence were causing businesses to reconsider investment, which could affect growth in the industry.
More than half (54 per cent) of the businesses that responded to the FDF’s survey said taxation was the leading factor that would constrain investment over the coming year, while 52 per cent said forthcoming regulation would act as a barrier to investment.
As higher labour costs bite, almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of manufacturers said their main motivation for investment was workforce efficiency, as they aimed to increase productivity from their current employees rather than hiring more staff.
“This marked decline in business confidence shows that government and industry needs to take action now to ensure we have a thriving, productive food and drink industry into the future,” said Karen Betts, the FDF’s chief executive.
“With pressures on industry mounting, government must act to remove the roadblocks and accelerate growth.”
The FDF is calling on the government to work with industry on regulation to boost growth and the competitiveness of the UK’s food and drink sector.
A range of measures has been recommended, including securing a share of the UK’s research and development spend for food and drink manufacturing to encourage businesses to invest in developing new products and healthier choices for consumers.
It is also calling for government and industry to work together on a workforce and skills plan and for ministers to prioritise a more strategic approach to trade relations with the EU, which despite Brexit remains the sector’s most important trading partner.
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Fed’s national deputy vice president Hemanshu Patel
Independent retailers will seriously think twice about providing Payzone services in their stores following the news that the company is increasing its fees by 3.5 per cent from April, the National President of the Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) has warned.
Letters advising of the increase have been arriving with members since the beginning of this month. They state that the increases to its weekly charge to £5.54 - and to £8.85 for those offering card processing - are in line with its annual retail index price adjustment.
Payzone says that the move will enable the company to continue investing in service improvements, security updates and partnerships that bring value to its network of retailers.
Describing the increase as a bitter pill for Payzone retailers to swallow, Mo Razzaq said, “Members who are affected by these fee increases may seriously think twice about continuing to offer Payzone services.”
They took effect as businesses prepared to face the perfect storm of higher wage costs and rises to employers’ national insurance contributions, Razzaq continued.
The Fed’s national deputy vice president Hemanshu Patel added that he had already cancelled his Payzone contract.
Mr Patel said: “Payzone has become an unsustainable service for retailers like me. The system is slow, unprofitable, and has seen little meaningful improvement over the years.
“With rising operational costs and better alternatives available, it simply does not make sense to continue offering this service in my store. Given the current economic climate, many small businesses will be forced to reconsider their partnership with Payzone, just as I am doing.”
It was reported in July last year that Payzone has partnered with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) to provide easy access to newly modernized ZoneCard tickets for public transport across the Strathclyde region.
The partnership was expected to benefit both retailers and customers, with increased footfall into stores resulting in a boost to local business and community engagement.
Active police response was seen across the country in the past couple of days , resulting in the arrest of alleged thieves targeting convenience stores.
According to local reports, a man has been charged after three convenience stores in Norwich were raided with a crowbar.
The incidents happened at shops in Poringland, Stoke Holy Cross and Sandy Lane, near Trowse in Norwich between Feb 26 and March 19.
Money was stolen in each raid, with a crowbar being wielded. Some of the convenience stores were broken into overnight while others were targeted during working hours.
Jamie Curtis, 31, of Saxlingham Nethergate, has been charged with two counts of robbery and one count of burglary.
He appeared at Norwich Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and was remanded into custody. Curtis is due to appear at Norwich Crown Court on April 23.
Meanwhile in Colchester, a man has been arrested after being tracked by a police dog from the scene of a knifepoint robbery in Colchester.
Essex Police were alerted to an incident at Johnson Newsagents, a convenience shop in London Road, Lexden, shortly after 11.30am on Tuesday (25).
A man threatened the female cashier with a knife and demanded money from the till. He then left, taking about £200.
Officers were quickly sent to the scene and took a detailed description of the man. The police dog picked up the trail leading officers to arrest the suspect.
A knife was found nearby and was seized. The suspect remains in custody for questioning.
The investigation will now be led by Colchester CID.
Detective Inspector Tim Coyles said, “No one should face the threat of violence whilst simply going to work – and any report made to us concerning this will see a really robust response.
“Officers got there very quickly after the report was made, which meant we were able to very quickly identify a person of interest and ultimately make a key arrest.”
Hamesh Patel, owner of the Johnson Newsagents, said that the cashier was "scared and afraid".
Patel called the response by police "fantastic" and added, "The local community all came together in the search with police within minutes.
"The police sent numerous uniformed police, CID and forensics were on the scene in minutes. I have never seen the police act so fast and they were so brilliant.”
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D&I in Grocery LIVE! takes place on 26 September 2025
GroceryAid’s D&I in Grocery LIVE! has announces that award-winning journalist and broadcaster Steph McGovern will host this year’s event on 26 September 2025.
Award-winning presenter, journalist, content creator, speaker and disability activist, Lucy Edwards, will also join Steph on stage as the keynote speaker, offering an immersive and experiential session which brings to life the commercial value of D&I alongside its role in shaping culture.
McGovern is a passionate advocate for inclusion, using her platform as a broadcaster to promote diversity and acceptance, particularly around social mobility and women in business.
Steph McGovern
She is also involved in community and education projects outside of broadcasting, mentoring young people in her native Teesside and supporting initiatives that empower disadvantaged children through her patronage of the charity Rubies.
Having lost her sight at the age of 17 due to Incontinentia Pigmenti, Edwards has dedicated her career to raising awareness around the challenges faced by the blind and visually impaired community and promoting a more inclusive society.
She is a leading voice in the global diversity, equity and inclusion space, and consults for a variety of businesses. By focusing on the commercial value that D&I can bring organisations, GroceryAid said her keynote will be unlike anything delivered at previous events.
Lucy Edwards
“Steph and Lucy are both passionate and dedicated to diversity and inclusion and will be invaluable additions to this year’s event – we are absolutely delighted that they will join us to inspire the industry further by bringing their own perspective and experiences to the day,” Felicity Bexton, category buying manager at Tesco and chair of the D&I in Grocery LIVE! steering group, commented.
“Our recently launched D&I in Grocery 2024 Impact Report and 2025 Maturity Model results have shown the great progress our industry is making, and yet never has it been more important to work together to ensure we stay on the right path. This event is a fantastic opportunity to bring everyone together to drive real change within the industry.”
This year, the event will scale up its customer-focused approach, to support D&I in the currently challenging climate, and highlight the commercial value it can offer in driving business success. Content on the day will be shaped by the results of the Maturity Model launched last year to track and measure annual D&I progress within the industry.
This year will also see the return of the popular Topic Hacks which were launched in 2024. Bringing together a broad range of perspectives, skill sets and experiences, these sessions offer an innovative and collaborative approach to tackling key issues impacting D&I in the grocery industry.
D&I in Grocery LIVE! takes place on 26 September 2025 at the InterContinental London - The O2.