Home with the range

EVEN though currencies and company results and the like may not seem to impact on you directly, there’s a lot in the business pages that affects and reflects the way we live.

In particular, readers cocking an eye at some of the stories in the business pages of the Irish Examiner recently will have gotten an updated snapshot of some remarkably speedy changes in the what, when, where, and how we are drinking alcohol.

The big picture for the drinks trade as David Clerkin amusingly put it last December resembles a Christmas party: Spirits are going down, the beer is flat but the wine is doping nicely. More recent company results from Guinness, Heineken and Beamish underline that picture.