This week in comments – supermarkets, steaks and data safety

Do supermarkets mess with our minds?

Milk at the back, sweets at the front – we discussed the supermarket tricks that could persuade you to fill your trolley. Gillian thinks her local supermarket is being sneaky with the snacks:

‘My local Waitrose has the ‘sandwiches and snacks’ section right at the far end of the store. What? I’ve never been in a supermarket that puts ‘lunchtime’ food deep within the aisles of the store.’

And John Ward had an interesting solution:

‘In my ideal world the cereals and canned vegetables and fruit – and loads of other things – would be arranged in alphabetical order.’

Can you convince me to camp?

This week might have been a bit of a wash-out, but would that put die-hard campers off? As it’s National Camping and Caravanning Week, our travel researcher Jonathan challenged commenters to convince him to ditch the hostels and pitch a tent. Liz said it was a mixed bag:

‘On the one hand there is the cost effective nature of ‘roughing’ it, and there can be a real sense of getting back to nature and enjoying the fresh air. But on the other hand, once the sun has gone down and the cold sets in, the romantic idea of camping can go out the window.’

Steaks, sausages and suggestions for a great BBQ

Talking of the great outdoors, we asked you for your tips for the best barbecue. We’ll need them when – eventually – the sun comes back out.

Em advised:

‘If you are serious about barbecuing, stop fiddling with charcoal and invest in a gas barbeque with lid. After about 20 years of doing it the hard way, and I can’t tell any difference in taste. Maybe I’m getting old – but then I never did like dry, burnt food from trying to cook directly over flaring coals.

‘Gas is far more versatile and so the BBQ gets used throughout the summer, and sometimes even at Christmas for a treat – or when the electric oven fails. As long as it’s not actually raining, you can cook more or less anything, including small whole chickens and roasts.’

Your data – is it safe?

When LinkedIn and eHarmony got hacked, it was a wake-up call for those of us who don’t use strong, unique passwords.

Thelm offered some suggestions for the future, and we’ve made his our comment of the week:

‘It is time to shift a duty of care on to websites that retain personal data – some of these issues have been caused by recklessness, mismanagement and sloppy practice, but rather than spending money on bolstering the security of their systems they seem more keen on insuring themselves against the consequences of hacks, attacks and data leaks (leaving users out in the cold generally).

‘You can have strong passwords, but if you download a trojan/virus/key logger due to a false sense of security, the strength of your password will mean absolutely nothing. Then your only hope is your security software (if it’s good enough).’

Comments have been edited due to length, so make sure to read them in full on their relevant Convos (by clicking on the red title link).