The Times Luxury Cartoon: June 9, 2025
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Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Why $4.50 items from Coles are sending Aussies into a frenzy as shoppers give their seal of approval: 'I need it'
Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn more A $4.50 item you can pick up at Coles is flying off shelves around Australia after going viral on TikTok. Ranch dips, dressings and sauces have long been a household staple in the US, but the flavour's popularity is suddenly skyrocketing Down Under thanks to a wave of Gen Z influencers sharing the creamy condiment with their followers on social media. Black Swan - a mainstay in Aussie fridges with its range of dips including hommus, tzatziki, and guacamole - has sent shoppers into a frenzy with the launch of two new limited-edition ranch dips. Available from Coles, the American-style dip comes in two flavours: classic Creamy Ranch Dip, and Buffalo Ranch Dip, created in collaboration with cult-favourite Frank's RedHot Sauce. The versatile snack accompaniment is made with yoghurt, garlic and herbs, and is a popular addition to salads, wraps, sandwiches, or drizzled on hot food and for dipping chips, fries, wings, and more. For those who enjoy a little more heat, the Buffalo Ranch Dip featuring Frank's RedHot Sauce blends the cool, creamy ranch with Frank's signature tangy spice. Ranch is the most popular condiment in American households, with over $1.3 billion in sales in 2024, outperforming even tomato ketchup. Black Swan Seasonal Edition Creamy Ranch A classic creamy ranch made with yoghurt and a bright blend of garlic and herbs. Perfect for dipping chips, drizzling on salads or adding to wraps and sandwiches. $4.50 Shop Black Swan Seasonal Edition Buffalo Ranch Made in collaboration with Frank's RedHot Sauce, it blends the cool, creamy ranch with Frank's signature tangy spice. This zingy flavour is great as a dip, added to a burger or as an accompaniment to wings. $4.50 Shop Its popularity is spreading across the globe, with many crediting British content creator Dawn Farmer for alerting international Gen Z taste buds to the flavour in 2020. Starting her account as a way to pass the time during the pandemic, the then 21-year-old shared videos of herself taste-testing American snacks, and delighted followers with her enthusiastic reaction to discovering ranch sauce. One particular video, which saw her trying fried pickles dipped in ranch, was liked 1.3 million times and amassed more than 17,400 comments. Since that viral video, appreciation of the condiment has only increased globally and now homegrown influencers and foodies alike are jumping on the bandwagon to try all the delicious ranch dipping possibilities for themselves. Classic dunkers such as corn chips, carrot sticks and fries have been given a widespread thumbs up paired with both Black Swan Seasonal Edition ranch dips, while others have taken the trend in more adventurous, even head-scratching directions, teaming them with everything from Tim Tams and Wagon Wheels to spring rolls and sour worms. Aussie content-creating couple Kaitlin and Josh, who boast over 290,000 followers on TikTok, shared a video in which they competed to find the best food dunker to pair with the Creamy Ranch and Buffalo Ranch. Kaitlin opted for the classic dippers - carrot sticks, plain crackers and corn chips - while Josh loaded up his plate with chicken nuggets, pizza and honey soy potato crisps. After battling it out, Kaitlin said carrot sticks paired perfectly with both dips while chicken nuggets took the lead as the overall winner after both agreed they 'tasted so good' with Creamy Ranch and Buffalo Ranch. 'Nuggets with the dips was the clear win,' Josh said. Followers' stomachs were set rumbling by the video, with many commenting that they 'had to try', while a popular reaction was a straightforward 'YUMMMM!' 'I'm gonna have to go buy some nuggets and ranch dip,' one viewer said after watching the clip. 'Yum! I need to try these,' another shared. 'Yum they look SO GOOD,' one added. The limited edition dips are on sale now at Coles, so add them to your shopping cart now: dip your chips during your Friday night movie, include them in your weekend grazing platter, or switch out the tomato sauce and enjoy with chicken nuggets. We can't attest to pairing with sour worms, but each to their own. .
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
US tariff collection falls short as implementation issues bite
The United States is collecting fewer duties than expected from exporters in the UK and elsewhere, as the country's border agency grapples with the biggest rise in tariffs in more than a century. Between April 5 and June 30, when the UK's trade deal with the US came into force, the vast majority of British exports to the US faced a minimum 10 per cent tariff. However, data from the US Census Bureau analysed by The Times showed that the country's Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP), responsible for administering President Trump's tariffs, collected duties equivalent to an average tariff rate of 6.2 per cent in April, rising to 7.9 per cent in June. A recent report from Oxford Economics found that in July the ratio of duties paid on imports was 10.5 per cent, well below its estimate for the effective US tariff rate of 18.2 per cent. Adam Slater, the author of the report, said there were probably two main reasons for the gap. Firstly, the fact that some goods in transit could have been exempted from tariffs and, secondly, that the US's duty collection systems were not quite up to speed. 'It's a lot more complicated with a system of exemptions,' Slater said. 'If you just had across-the-board import tariffs with no exception for all classes of products, it would probably be quite a lot easier to collect the tariffs quickly.' The most significant impact of the inconsistent collection of tariffs has been to further complicate the picture of how the tariffs are affecting the US economy. Slater said: 'This just pushes the full impact economically [of the tariffs] down the road even further, by however many months it may be; we don't really know at this point.' A separate report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond found that the CBP appeared to collect no duties at all from $74 million of imports of aircraft between 2,000kg and 15,000kg from Canada in May, despite the product facing a US tariff of 25 per cent at the time. The bank attributed the shortfall between declared and actual tariffs to 'implementation frictions' in their rollout, due to shipment timing issues, deferred payments and delays in customs systems adapting to the new tariff schedule. For some UK exports, the US still appears to be receiving considerably less in levies than it should be. According to the US Census Bureau, the average tariff rate on British gin exports to the US was about 8 per cent in June, below the 10 per cent rate the products nominally face. Jose Sedano, the commercial director of Glenrinnes Distillery in Scotland, which makes Eight Lands Vodka and Gin, said that while he and his American counterparts had paid a 10 per cent duty, it had been charged on two different bases over the past three months. 'I'm sure if you ask different customs authorities in different ports of entry, you'll get different answers,' Sedano said. 'I have been dealing with international trade for the best part of 30 years and tariffs are always a nightmare in every country in the world.' Nonetheless, the US has still raised more than $100 billion from tariffs this year, with census data suggesting that British companies contributed about $1 billion of that between April and June.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Pay of FTSE 100 bosses rises for fourth year to new record
The total pay of the chief executives of Britain's biggest public companies has increased for a fourth successive year to a new high. The median earnings of the bosses of companies in the FTSE 100, the UK's premier share index, rose 6.8 per cent in the past year to £4.58 million, from £4.29 million in 2023-24, research by the High Pay Centre think tank showed. That was 122 times the median salary of full-time UK workers of £37,430. The highest pay was at Melrose, the aerospace business, where executives were awarded tens of millions of pounds each, boosted by a five-year incentive scheme, triggering a large shareholder revolt at the company's annual meeting this year. Among the ten highest paid chief executives were Sir Pascal Soriot at AstraZeneca , Britain's most valuable public company, who was paid £14.7 million, and Charles Woodburn, who received £11.7 million at BAE Systems, the defence company. The number of FTSE 100 companies paying their chief executives £10 million or more increased from ten to 13 in the past year. Executive pay has been a contentious issue in corporate Britain for years, particularly during economic downturns, and the issue led to sizeable shareholder revolts during the annual meeting season in the spring. Chief executives' pay in the United States, the world's biggest economy, tends to be even larger, with stock awards making up a significant component. The median total compensation for S&P 500 bosses was $17.1 million (£12.6 million) in 2024, a 9.7 per cent increase from the previous year. The prime minister with BAE Systems chief Charles Woodburn GETTY IMAGES A number of FTSE 100 companies have driven through higher American-style incentive schemes recently, arguing they are necessary to hire and retain talented executives in the US. They include Ashtead, Smith & Nephew and Convatec. The High Pay Centre, which campaigns on the issue, argues that excessive spending on top earners often comes at the expense of pay increases for the rest of the workforce. It is calling for the Employment Rights Bill to be introduced in 'full', arguing that higher trade union membership and collective bargaining coverage are linked to reduced pay inequality. Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, said: 'The contrast between the multimillion-pound pay awards for the CEOs of Britain's biggest corporations and the wider economic uncertainty and social division across the country is really stark. These figures will feed a growing sense that low and middle earners don't get a fair share of the wealth that their work helps to create, while those at the top take much more than they merit or need.' Its research was based on chief executive pay disclosures made in annual company reports for financial years ending between April 2024 and March 2025 and on the FTSE 100 as constituted at the end of the second quarter of 2024.
