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We’re not even going to attempt a Tatler this week, so excited are we about exercising our democratic right tomorrow. And also, the businesses which make up this great industry we call home are too focused on navigating the minefield of public holidays which menace this portion of the year to make any actual news. Apart from Shoprite, who wish to double their network of furniture stores by opening more in small town South Africa and venturing into Mozambique and Angola. And Unilever, whose global first quarter results are not all that, coming in with a 3.6% growth in underlying sales compared with 4.1% in the final quarter of last year, due in part we are told to currency devaluation in many developing countries and the depressing effect this has on consumer demand. On the broader economic front, SA recorded a massive trade deficit of R11.4billion in March, with imports up 11.6% and exports down 3%. This as manufacturing lags the export bonanza promised by a declining rand. On the upside, there’s relief at the pumps (so the expression goes) as petrol drops15.0 cents/litre, and diesel 29.78 c/l in Gauteng. Which has nothing whatsoever to do with the elections.