Everyone's a fruit and nut case

My Mother used Persil washing powder and Fairy washing-up liquid her whole life. Loyally, I do the same. For me, the brand association is cleanliness combined with motherly love. And no matter what the price difference is between them and other brands, I always buy the same.

The Cadbury brand, omnipresent in the news these days, is also close to my heart. When I was a little girl, my Father would come home from work on a Friday night with a paper bag of treats. I didn't realise at the time but Friday was pay-day and on his way back from work, he'd stop off at the newsagents to pay the paper bill, buy his weekly cigarette supply and treat us all with a bag of goodies. There was always a couple of quarters of boiled sweets, such as Everton Mints or butterscotch, a few bars of Fry's Turkish Delight or Mint Cream or maybe Walnut Whips and for, Dad himself, a large block of Cadbury's Fruit and Nut Dairy Milk. That was his favourite and remained so for the rest of his life.

So like thousands of others, I reacted with horror to the prospect of a Kraft takeover that seemed to threaten even the very memory of my Father, such is the nostalgic power of the Cadbury brand for me...... ridiculous, isn't it? Once the battle cries had died down, reading recently more measured press commentary, it seems in many respects that Cadbury might just be on to a good thing. Kraft will lead them into global markets that they otherwise would not have reached and and production will still be based in Britain. Long live sharing and giving, and long live Cadbury Fruit and Nut!