Recession hits UK, what a crumpet is, and other thoughts

Today's front-line news was that the UK has officially declared that it is in recession, which is a shocker to the people, obviously. Nonetheless, that combined with the fears of a few days ago that Britain's bailout package would come in too light for the situation, sent the Pound tumbling. This meant only one thing to an obnoxious American MBA like myself: shopping time! The absolute best way to make good of a terrible situation is to shop when the local currency is down against your own, and all of the retail sector is being pummeled by weak holiday sales and is extending their big blow-out liquidation sales. So I did my part for the UK people today (but of course waited to see customer service to collect my tax-back form.)

I've become a huge fan of British TV, and here's this week's Channel 4 Dispatches program on the cost of cheap food during a recession. If you have time, and you can watch it from where you are (have already confirmed it's a no-go in Riyadh,) it's really entertaining from a pure information standpoint as well as a cultural observance. When food tastes good, you say "it's nice." The conclusion of the program is equally charming - in a recession, grocery store chains should make every effort to take a hit on profits in order to improve the quality of their cheapest lines of food products because the health of the nation is at stake. Totally admirable and probably true, but would we hear 60 Minutes back home in the US ever saying the same thing?

http://www.channel4.com/video/brandless-catchup.jsp?vodBrand=dispatches-the-true-cost-of-cheap-food

Speaking of cheap food - Tesco (large grocery store chain) sells packaged crumpets - which I learned are... English Muffins!
Arugula is called "Rockit"
Endives are "chicory"
Eggplant is called, in the French, "aubergine"
And one can waltz around town with a huge cup of mulled wine in hand and no one is bothered at all - what a great country!