Rice work if you can get it

The heatwave of July may be a fast-fading memory, but the Diary’s favourite, and hottest, time of year is coming up.

National Curry Week runs from October 22 to 28 and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Cobra Beer has signed up as lead sponsor. More intriguingly Oxfam has jumped aboard as the official charity for this year’s event, which has been tied in with National Eating Out Week, presumably for those with weaker constitutions, although figures show we now spend more in restaurants than supermarkets.

Diners are being asked to donate &£1 a year to Oxfam. If everyone who visits a restaurant donates that sum, then &£23m would be raised a year.

However, the Diary can’t help wondering how long it will take Tesco to notice that in 2004 people spent &£35 a week in restaurants, compared to &£34 in supermarkets. The leviathan retailer must already be plotting the opening of a Taj Tesco Tandoori to take on the Diary’s favourite – Mirch Masala in Tooting.