Efficient electrics

Thumbs up: The British National Consumer Council (NCC) has called for the introduction of a colour-coded rating system for televisions, DVD players, games consoles and laptops, similar to that used on refrigerators and washing machines.

The NCC wants retailers to drop the least energy-efficient products and would like to see the British government steer consumers toward the greenest products with incentives such as a lower VAT rate on eco-friendly electronic goods.

Want fries with that?

Thumbs down:McDonald's is launching a campaign to change the Oxford English Dictionary's definition of a McJob. The fast food chain says the current entry is "out of date" and "insulting" to workers. A McJob is described in the dictionary as: "An unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, especially one created by the expansion of the service sector." McDonald's plans to launch a petition calling for the term to be changed.

Cast your net wide

Thumbs down:Fish-eaters need to experiment a bit more to take the pressure off the most heavily exploited species, a conservation group has warned. The five most popular types of seafood account for up to 80 per cent of sales, according to the British Marine Conservation Society.

Cod, haddock, tuna and warm and cold-water prawns account for the vast majority of sales.

A healthy addiction

Thumbs up:Good news for coffee addicts from a new study suggesting that healthy women who drink more than six cups of coffee a day are no more likely than abstainers to develop high blood pressure. Strangely, women who drink coffee occasionally - up to three cups a day - have a greater risk of developing high blood pressure than the heavy coffee drinkers or the abstainers. For men, the risk of high blood pressure does not significantly increase or decrease, regardless of how much coffee they drink.