Buy booze online

Call it Anglicising the Web, a recognition of UK culture or just plain old commonsense, but the Web is starting to become really useful with the launch of two online off-licences. One, by high-street store Oddbins, has been set up to cash in on a champagne frenzy for the New Year. Going for your classy consumer, the site offers 60 types of champagne but will expand next year to cover the full range of beers and wines. Second up is Lastorders.com, which has gone for the lad approach featuring a lingerie-clad tippler and big pics of beer bottles. It's done a deal with lastminute.com and confetti.co.uk to boost traffic and does a grand job of reflecting Britiain's obsession with booze. However, much as The Register applauds such enterprising behaviour, a look at the prices caused shock and dismay. The main disadvantage with selling beer online is that it's not expensive and it is very heavy. And it seems as though delivery costs have been tied into the price. We urge you to sort this out as fast as possible. In the meantime, we're off down the pub. ®