I think it was Hercule Poirot who said (so to speak) 'Once is a coincidence, twice is a connection' and so I can't help noticing that all of a sudden I'm surrounded by promotions and ads that have taken on a sheepishly green hue (if there's such a thing).

The 'greenness' in each case is a hasty affection for all things British. Nationwide and Tesco are giving away Great Days Out; Walkers have billions of Brit Trips up for grabs; Bulmers, with great British production values, exhort us to soak in (sic) the British summer; and even little old Belvoir Fruit Farms (that's 'Beaver', apparently) are bestowing trips to British Sporting Classics. Just where these days can you find a Maldive when you want one?

The cynic in me can't help suspecting there's some sort of bandwagon rolling here. Isn't it amazing how quickly brands will jump aboard when the latest politically correct charabanc begins to gather momentum?

I hate to use the generally pretentious phrase 'joined up thinking', but when it comes to greenness - and carbon footprints and food miles and all that - as a nation and an industry within it we're about as joined up as my four-year-old's first attempts at writing. (Second thoughts, less so.)

I suppose the fattening-food and booze manufacturers are glad at least to divert the spotlight away from their own inherent problems, and to maroon centre-stage something that can instead be blamed on 'the powers that be'. But I feel - as they say where I come from - we're all over the 'ockey on this one... at a time when tens of thousands of Man U and Chelsea fans are burning up the jetoil, when we've just had the blue half of Glasgow empty itself down the M6 and pour into Manchester (where some clearly felt at home), I really wonder if average Joe consumer will feel the slightest obligation or desire to buy into the idea of 'Stay at Home Britain'.