BEACHCOMBER 108 YEARS OLD AND WORRIED ABOUT CHOCOLATE...

WARNING: the value of your chocolate may go down. Apologies for starting with such an alarming message, but apart from such investment advice being a legal obligation, I thought it best to get it in early in case there is no room at the end of this column.

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For the past 15 years, I have kept a close watch on choconomics, starting in 2010 when I noticed that for £1, one could purchase two bags of chocolate coins at Tesco, whose face value added up to £1.16.

At the time, the Euro was also trading at 1.16 to the pound sterling. A coincidence? I thought not. It seemed to me to suggest that the European Central Bank was planning to replace the Euro with chocolate money, which would bring a great boost to the Belgian chocolate industry.