To get away from all the Budget and election noise, the Dealer made a trip up north this week to do a bit of shopping ahead of the Christmas rush.

I always expect to pick up a few bargains, especially now that I’m getting a good exchange rate for my euros at the minute.

Marks & Spencer at Sprucefield is one of my favourite shops and I thought I might pick up a steak or two, seeing as we are now on the same side with beef when it comes to the protected geographical indication (PGI).

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However, I quickly put it down again when I looked at the price – £100/kg for what admittedly looked like a nice piece of beef. It looks like the extra few cents the factories are paying this week is being comfortably recovered from the other end of the supply chain.